Pesky conjunctions
The same taxi had two signs prohibiting eating and drinking. One said “no food and drinks” and the other said “no food or drink”. “No food and drinks” is wrong. It assumes that the...
Tagged: Singapore
“Have you left your valuables behind?”
This warning from the Singapore Police, spotted in a toilet stall in Cineleisure at Orchard is semantically equivalent to “Have you left all of your valuables behind?” Although it is a somewhat plausible question,...
“Please Watch Out For Your Belongings!”
This warning, spotted in The Clementi Mall, makes it sound like the belongings themselves are dangerous, like a sign that says “Beware of Dog” or “Watch Out for Falling Rocks”, though admittedly neither of...
Pesky ‘with’
When I read this: Dumex, proudly nurturing Singapore babies with global expertise and experience. I thought, Wow, Singapore babies have global expertise and experience? The preposition ‘with’ is ambiguous. It could mean ‘having’ (which...
Did you know?
Five times more people are learning English in China than there are people in England. Wow.
Wear your shoe
Singlish: “You need to go toilet? Okay, wear your shoe first.” English: “You need to go to the toilet? Okay, put on your shoes first.” ‘Wear’ is really not the same as ‘put on’,...
Object dropping
Singlish: “Do you like horror movies?” “I don’t like.” The object is obvious, therefore there’s no need to express it. Sometimes you even get subject dropping, too: “Do you like horror movies?” “Don’t like.”...
Business hours
Common messages relating to business hours are often distorted here in Singapore. Sometimes the sign says ‘business hours’, sometimes it says ‘operating hours’, sometimes it says ‘operation hours’, sometimes it says ‘opening hours’. I...
Redundanancy
Today at Parkway Parade I saw a sign on a cosmetics store that said “powerful-strength line-reducing concentrate”. I read it as an advertisement for a reducer of ‘strength lines’ and momentarily wondered what a...