Selfie, Selphy

On the invitation of a friend, I went to view an exhibition by a university student group. In line with Singapore's Jubilee (50th year of independence), the theme of the exhibition was on Singapore's heritage and history. One of the projects the students organised was a Smiling Singapore wall. Visitors to the exhibition could have their photos taken and affixed to the wall, which bore an outline of the map of Singapore. When filled, the wall would show smiling faces representing the nation.

When I visited, my friend asked if I would like to have my photo taken for the wall. I gamely agreed. He then signalled to his friend to take my photo, saying, "Hey, take a selfie." (At least, that was what I thought I heard - "selfie".) A female student came along with a tablet to take my photo. I said to her that she had to take the photo because I wasn't very good at taking selfies. She smiled.

Photo taken, we walked over to the table to have it printed. That is where I noticed the name on the printer: "Selphy". Ohhhh ... so my friend was referring to "Selphy", not "selfie"! "Take a Selphy" is what he said.

Same sound, entirely different meaning.

The next time I get a photo taken, I should just let the people do their job and keep my mouth shut. Less confusion on my part.

Go take a selfie and have it printed on a Selphy! :)

Don't label women!

International Women's Day is on 8 March annually. While not widely celebrated around the world, it still is an occasion to celebrate women for who they are.

In the Chinese-speaking world, International Women's Day is known as 三八妇女节 (literally "three eight Women's Festival). The numbers come from the Chinese way of writing dates, stating the month first, then the day (the eighth day of the third month of the year).

Most people will probably not read too much into the Chinese name of the day. However, the Chinese name has not sat well with me. You see, a gossipy and naggy woman is described as 三八婆 (read "san ba po", literally "three eight old lady"). If you find your female friend too naggy for comfort, you would say to her, "妳很三八!" (roughly translated as "you are such a nag", but the description is "three eight"). In short, 三八 or "three eight" carries a negative connotation.

So, to call International Women's Day 三八妇女节 instead of just 妇女节 ("Women's Festival") does not sit well with me. Why should a day to celebrate women include nagging and gossip?!

Maybe we Chinese-speaking women should start the change by leaving out 三八 and just call the day 妇女节 and make a big celebration out of it!

Cheers to all women around the world!

"Sang-kyou"

Some members of a LINE chat group I am part of were sending stickers that had "3Q" as part of the picture. After about 10 different stickers with the same letters appeared, I began to wonder what "3Q" meant. It took me a while.

"3Q" = "thank you".

Huh?

In Mandarin, there is no "th" sound. A Chinese-speaking person will find it difficult to pronounce "thank" with the correct "th" sound at the beginning. Too often, it ends up being "sank" you. The Chinese word for the number three is 三 (pronounced "san"). Put together with the English "you", it becomes the slang version of "thank you" (more likely pronounced as "sang kyou"). Since LINE messages are fun and informal, this is a cute way of expressing our thanks and appreciation.

A Western person will probably never understand the logic, but it does not matter. Cross-cultural communication is always fun. Just don't focus too hard on perfection.

Let's keep the communication going!

Belly-aching in different places

"He is such a good story teller. I laughed until (my) stomach-ache(d)!"

Over breakfast, my friends and I were recounting highlights of a conference we had just attended some weeks ago. What my friend said (above) is a typical description of how hard she laughed at the story, using Singlish or the form of English commonly spoken in Singapore.

"Will you quit belly-aching?"

In America, especially in the south, this retort is used when someone keeps on complaining about something.

While the two sentences have vastly different connotations, the analogy is the same: the stomach, or belly, aches. In Singapore, it is a funny occurrence, while in America, it causes annoyance to others.

These two sentences may never cross the cultural and geographical divide, but they certainly make for an interesting topic of discussion.

Here's to the uniqueness of English spoken in different parts of the world!

How was your day?

I came across this picture in Facebook. So funny! So true!

Men and women are inherently different. So much has been said about that. But sometimes, just sometimes, pointing out the differences is worth repeating. In this case, this picture of emoticons says it all!

Would you agree?

Wishing you a <3-ly day!

Bored of? Bored from?

I have seen this poster a few times and felt uncomfortable with the phrase in the bubble: "Bored of waiting?"

I kept wondering why I was uncomfortable. It has something to do with the preposition "of". We say "tired of waiting" to mean that we do not want to wait anymore. We can also say "tired from waiting", explaining that I am tired now because I had to wait earlier. "Tired of waiting" refers to the present, while "tired from waiting" refers to the past.

However, with the word "bored", we do say "I'm bored of eating the same food everyday", or "are you bored of doing the same thing every weekend?" I suppose it is not wrong to say "bored of waiting", but it does sound strange. Some things in English may be correct but do not "sound right". That does not make it wrong, just different.

The English language contains many inexplicable phrases and usages. To this day, I am still learning something new, as with the phrase above.

Here's to lifelong learning!

Can tables move on their own?

I wondered what this sign meant until I read the Chinese text. What is the restaurant management trying to say?

"Please do not move the tables around"

To "shift" something means to move it. However, "shifting" something infers that the object in question, in this case the tables, move by themselves, without human intervention, as in "shifting sands". In the latter, the sand moves about on its own from movements beneath the surface of the earth. Tables in a restaurant do not move themselves unless there is an earthquake.

When living in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual country like Malaysia (where I spotted this sign), we do end up with mastering one language over another, even though we are supposed to be proficient in both. In this case, the manager or owner who typed up this sign is obviously better at Chinese than English, hence the funny English phrase.

While English is not an easy language to learn, it does help to ask for help before putting up signs that embarrass yourself and display your lack of understanding of the language. Learning is lifelong. Let us take every mistake as a learning experience.

Have fun with English!