December 4, 2003 Errr…maybe it’s the weather.
I’m not quite sure what I’m letting myself in for if I go down to Singapore. I’m not really psychologically prepared to deal with Singapore as I was psyched up for going to Hong Kong. I’m not sure what it is. Before I went to Hong Kong, I was trying my best to sample some of the culture, and learn abit about it. Well, I’m doing the same now but this time it seems to fill me with fear and apprehension rather than excitement. I seem to be getting picky about the place and I haven’t even been there yet! I really should give it a chance but I guess in my own way, I’ve grown to love Hong Kong.
Today I surfed this site called SGForums. It’s a discussion board where Singaporeans seem to hang out and it’s even got some press from the government, so I hear from Eyal. Of course, I went straight to the Bar (Adult) section.
First off, most of the headings seem to be related to sex, always healthy to know that. Topic headings seem to be like “Ice cream, chocolate or sex” or “How to make a girl horny” or “Girls have you had your breasts fondled by doctor”. Strange that.
The language that they use also is a little strange to me. They seem to throw a mish-mash of different languages in their “written word”. Stuff like “fat ah liens”, “yandao”, “dien dien” and “liao” are all examples of words I’ve seen littered in their posts. It wouldn’t be so bad but for that fact that the problem (well, my problem at least), is that they compound it with atrocious English spelling that I can only presume to be derived from the vocal Singlish…e.g. gers = girls, wat = what (surprise), oso = also, and den = then. What’s freaky is that they seem to have quite a high degree of English literacy. So it wasn’t uncommon to see these words, phrases all hacking up a piece of complex English grammatical structures. The “oh, English isn’t their first language, so you should be understanding” argument isn’t going to wash with me in this case.
And then there’s a whole new set of terminology that I’m going to have to learn. The only example I can think of right now is “hp” which is an abbreviation of handphone. I seem to remember my ex from Malaysia using this phrase for her mobile too. Right, I know I’m splitting hairs, but handphone as opposed to what? A foot phone? A head phone? Oh, I know, you’re all thinking probably, it’s one you carry in your hand. But I’ve found the best way to hold most of my phones in my hand when I’m using them. Maybe a shoulder phone could be an accurate term too? Landphone? I know the term land line…but that makes sense. I’m just trying to remember where they call mobile phones “handies”. I have a horrible feeling it’s my own Holland that seems to use that term but it could be the Germans.
Anyway, I detract from the subject. This particular forums seems to reflect badly on the sexual psyche of Singapore. I mean, there were posts like “Perverted Taxi driver” and “Peeping at so and so station”. Singapore also seems to reflect the growing trend of privacy concerns with telephone equipped MOBILE phones. The term “zao geng” seems to refer to these dirty voyeur and upskirt pictures. It seems to be all the rage in Japan too.
There are more worrying postings like the one where this girl posts a concern that she might have been raped by her ex and here friends (click here for details, reference only). If this happened, it quite appalling but I guess it’s no different from any where else. But it seems to follow this kinky shite that most of the audience of this board seem to discuss. It’s generated 8000+ views, so it must have generated real concern. Someone just posted a picture up on that topic of what seems to be an underaged girl for reference too (in this context, I think the poster is highlighting the problem too).
It sort of makes me wonder if there is a sort of model out there for certain societies to induce this sexual interest – clean, low crime rate, high standard of living, ordered…reminds me of what I know about Japan.
Well, I’m hoping that if I do go down to Singapore, I get to see a different side to it. Most of my Hong Kong friends have told me that the girls down there are “more approachable”, “hotter”, “easier” and shit like that (and this is not all coming from the guys, quite a few of the girls too). I’m probably being too hyper critical and yes, I’m sure being there will change my perception. But reading stuff like that makes you wonder. I guess it must be the weather…
Tags: Surfer Rants
- 7 comments
- Posted under Blog
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Eyal
said
That’s one of the problems in Singapore, I am not exaclty sure why, but it is very very easy to get drawn into a mental mode of criticizing the place, it seems as if it’s just asking for it. it happened to me as well and I still find I can easily slip into that mode.
Something else for you to think about when comparing sg to hk. There are different socio-economic groups in every country and different levels of literacy, education etc. In Singapore, you get to see, read and meet most of them relatively easily since it’s a small place and most ppl can communicate in English (or Singlish). While on the other hand, in HK there are similar variations in socio-economic and education levels BUT many of them are not accessible to you (or me) because of language barrier. So there is a whole chunk of society in HK which you haven’t had much dealings with.. my point is that it is very likely that HK has the same type of board and ppl, just that you aren’t exposed to it. And this last sentence brings to mind Icered.. which in my opinion is not unlike this SGforums.
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Nadim
said
Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind that while writing that post. I’m not saying that HK society is so much better and pristine…it’s got it’s dirt too, which does it some good.
I’m not going to base my whole judgement of Singapore on SGForums…and if it came across that way it wasn’t my intention…after all, I might be surfing a sight for pubescents. Having said that, it looks exactly like the same area for Icered.com. Only Icered.com is supposed to be for young affluent professionals.
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Oooo
said
Hey, dun play play hur, singapore bery good one you know and dun judge singaporean thru the forum, those ppl there are sickos lah.
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Nadim
said
Play play?
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Victor
said
I would like to say Singaporeans do not have “atrocious English spelling”. It’s just that most of us (me included) prefer to type this way as it is easier and faster, not because we can’t spell.
Our so called ‘Singlish’ is derived from other languages such as Chinese dialects and Malay. Being a multi-racial society, we sometimes find it easier to express ourselves in other languages, thus the use of Singlish. It is also a language that older people in our society speak as they have no English education at all.
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Eshin
said
I’m reasonably sure that Singaporeans can spell properly in English.
I guess I’ve got a traditionalist streak in me that likes to see the preservation of the old conventions.
And with hindsight, I’d say it was unfair of me just to pick on Singaporeans. It happens everywhere.
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Van
said
haha well, i suppose it takes quite a lot of getting used to, this Singlish that you’ve just been exposed to. i know it appears to be excessive on online forums such as SGforums but i assure you that it is MUCH easier to understand us face-to-face, mainly because speech-wise, singlish doesn’t differ much from english itself. you will probably hear the occasional “lah” or “lor” after every sentence, but nothing that you wouldnt be able to figure out for sure:)