Words and Only Words I Know.....

My fellow blogger, Thanh, from Australia, joked in one of his articles that if he wants to become famous, he must sweat.....no.... swear like Xiaxue as evidenced in her blog of expletives. But then Thanh said it was not him to use vulgarities in his language. Another blogger, Girl Kae, from Perth was amazed Xiaxue could have 20,000 hits for her blog full of photos of herself and angmoh boyfriend. What do readers actually read and gain from her blog? Should our readers rate so high an entry full of frivolous comments and narration of mundane daily happenings?
Worse, Stomp has roped Xiaxue in as a star blogger. By doing that, Stomp implies that Stomp approves of a writer who uses vulgar language as freely as eggs for fried rice. If Professor Higgins were alive, he would be raving mad about Singaporeans' "murder of the English tongue"!

I mentioned to my Australian bloggers that in our little country, the herd mentality is very strong. As a property agent I am very amused. When property prices are really low, some buyers still dare not buy because it is a quiet market, and nobody is buying. However, once the market picks up, everyone jumps into the bandwagon, and this is why in Singapore the property market heats up so fast. I am now trying to market a property which is quite difficult to sell because of the location, mixed usage, a walk up without lifts, etc. I asked my clients why they bought the property and the answer was "All the ones in downtown Orchard were so expensive and this one was about the cheapest then... with prices going up, we felt we had to buy something".

Amu, my ex-employee at Rialto, recently complained to me, "Choo, now my English is getting from bad to worse. The current chef, David, speaks terrible English and I find I am beginning to speak like him". I smiled and I knew Amu was not exaggerating. Language is such that a person who is linguistically sensitive is prone to absorbing what she hears. I remember when I went to England for a two months' holiday when I was studying in Canada. Upon my return, I was surprised when friends commented on my British accent, which I had unconsciously picked up. After a while, my accent resumed to normal. This is why I am somewhat baffled when I hear some Singaporeans speaking with an American or British accent even after they have been home in Singapore for two to three years!!!

Amu is illiterate, yet she speaks standard English and often fools people into thinking she has at least an "O" level in English. She performs so well in her assembly work in the factory that others cannot believe she does not know how to read or write! During the 4 years that she was with me, I trained her to make pizzas, desserts and appetisers. From $5 an hour, she is now paid $7 an hour. I told Amu I would be happiest if only the young bloggers in Tomorrow.Sg understand this point. I have attempted many times to persuade them not to purposely write words and sentences like "I is a Singaporean ....... or prease exprain yourself...." etc. This is not Singlish, which is still acceptable and charming in its own way, this is language of the worst kind which I think, even an ET from outer space would not use!! Of course, I got bombarded by writers who said, "No wonder! Old aunty is really an old aunty.... etc. etc."

I smiled. I had made my point. I am definitely glad I had the foresight to leave teaching English and Literature in secondary school 12 years ago, before blogging came into vogue, and worse still, bloggers came up with a language that is neither English nor Singlish. Please do not mistake me for being pro-PAP. I fight for good English for the love of language, just as I fought for Ike See for the love of music. Someone said you have to learn the rules very well so that you can break them nicely. The tragedy is that our youngsters have not even mastered the rules of the English language, and take so much "plide in yusing it".

Even if I had rotten eggs being flung at me right now, I would still say it. Fellow Singaporeans, please read more extensively and widen your horizons. For those of you who aspire to represent our country in beauty pageants, please read voraciously and join some public speaking groups like the Toast Masters Clubs which will give you exposure and practice, so that despite all your tertiary education, spectators will not mistake you for bimbos from the answers you give. Parents, please encourage your children to develop a love for reading from youth.

For bloggers, please emulate our great bloggers like Mr. Wang, Mr. Brown, Mr. Goh Meng Seng, Cobalt Paladin and Gayle Goh, just to name a few. Remember, words are powerful. Words can heal...words can also kill. Without a shadow of doubt, words reflect the person who utters them.

Gan Chau