New Entrance

Spotted at Tradehub 21.. New way of "entering" a premise?

Fashion blooper

Hmm.... seems like a ghost town here.. Well, a new song from Jason Mraz to brighten up the place, and a new sighting at a fashion outlet in Singapore...

Rebecca's post

Got this from the newspapers (forgot which day...)

Interestingly, the journalist used "a people", which I assume to be a collective noun, and then used "were"...

Which should be the right one?
[1] ... what I saw were people who were not ...
[2] ... what I saw was people who were not....
[3] ... what I saw was a people who was not...
[4] none of the above

Who says English is easy?

Something fun to read. Amazing that I had been keeping this newspaper article for so long!

Hi!
Apparantly, the 'bell' in this instance is used as a verb instead of a noun.
(=

Yi Fang

Enough & Rather

hey ppl, i figured we should have examples of proper use of English too so i looked up 'enough' and 'rather', both of which are misused in Singlish sometimes... this are articles from http://www.usingenglish.com/

Enough
Enough comes after adjectives and adverbs:
It wasn't good enough. (Good is an adjective)
I didn't do well enough. (Well in an adverb)

Enough comes before nouns:
I didn't have enough money. (Money is a noun)

We use enough of before the and this that these those:
Are there enough of the copies I made for everybody?
I've had enough of this rubbish.

We also use enough of before object personal pronouns:
Were enough of them there last night?

NB Sometimes people put enough after a noun, but this is for effect as it sounds a bit archaic and formal.
Enough can be used before an infinitive:
They don't have enough to eat.

Rather
When do we use rather in English?

A) We use rather as an adverb of degree:

Modifying an adjective:
The film was rather good.

Modifying an adverb:
It happened rather quickly.

Notes:
1. It is stronger than fairly, but not as strong as very.
2. It can modify a noun, often coming before the article:
3. It's rather a problem.
4. It can modify some verbs: I rather like it.

B) To express preference

Rather than:
Rather than is normally used to compare parallel structures:
Let's take the train rather than the bus.
Rather you than me!
I decided to write rather than email.

Would rather:
Would rather + infinitive without 'to':
I'd rather leave now.
Would rather + pronoun + past tense:
I'd rather he came early.

seen y'all in class.....HEMA DEVI (",)~

Hi everybody!

This is what I found in Canteen 2.
:)

ENJOY!

Ans: Should be TEA LEAF EGG, no?

Have an awesome Monday tomorrow.

xoxo;
Agnes

more photos from forwarded email

Hi, everybody


Here are 3 more photos from the forwarded email. :)

Ouch! Lettuce in pain... Maybe it should be "Lettuce in Oyster Sauce"?

Oh dear.."horrifying of highness" and "liquor heads"! Maybe "height phobia" and "drunkards" are better words to use?

A better suggestion is to "Offer the seats to the Old, Weak, Sick, Disabled and Pregnant"

Hope that I'm on the right track. Do comment, if any.

Cheers, Julie

photos from forwarded email

Hi, everybody

I received a few photos from a forwarded email. We can "reflect" on how it can be improved!Maybe it should be Asian Pear?

Roasted Sucking Pigeon? Hmm... And what is Duck's Down-Head?

Very suspicious supermarket? Or should it be Very Auspicious Supermarket?

Poor Mr Robster! His name should be Mr Lobster!

:) Cheers, Julie

Article

Hi all,

I took this from englishfailblog.com.

Nuurul

Interesting Notice

=)

- Alice

Oxford Dictionary

Hi all,

This is taken from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (7th Edition). The definition for "someone" is "a person", but the sentence supporting this definition has a mistake: "someone's left their bag". It should be his/her instead of "their". Am I right? I have noticed that this grammatical error is widely cited in many instances throughout the Oxford dictionaries (the different editions).

Cheers,
Dhanya

Make a difference - Be an Environmentist!

Hi all, I saw this on the wall of a public toilet a few months ago. I guess the word here should have been 'environmentalist' as opposed to 'environmentist'. But this poster was found in all the washrooms in all the buildings in that area, that it started to make me think twice about it being the 'correct' word to use! So I went on to check a couple of dictionaries just for confirmation and there is apparently no such word listed. Or is there..... hmmm...

-Eliana-

Sign in South Africa

Hi all,

This caught my eye when I was surfing the internet. This notice is found in South Africa, where English is their second language. This explains why the message written is absurd. If the bar is "not open", it is obviously closed. It also reflects badly on the manager. Being a manager, understanding the correct usage of English is necessary. However, this is not portrayed in this sign.

Cheers,
Dhanya

EPIC FAIL

Hello all!
I've found quite a number of hilarious pictures with EPIC FAIL of the English Language. Part of the credit goes to this site: English Fail Blog: User Submitted FAIL Pictures of the English Language
Do check it out.

Here's the ones that I've found most puzzling and humorous (and at points a little "kinky". You have been warned :P )



My first thought --> Who knew that Singlish was spreading all over the world??!
FLIED mushrooms??!



I thought this would interest us as teachers and remind us to scan the reading material before actually letting our students read them.
This was taken from an ACTUAL children's book.

YES! I kid you not. ACTUAL children's book. Disturbing to think that editors sleep on the job!
I think what the author meant was "When Ellen went to sleep that night, she dreamed about little girls who grew up and found husbands who were like their fathers."


Signs that make you go... HMMMMMM.

If you have your mind in the gutter like I normally do, then the UN-intended meaning of this will make you laugh your pants off.

Credit goes to Ashley_West @ Livejournal who took this picture when she was studying in the UK.
To quote her: "If you're a reader in search of some uhum uhum, you know what to do. Go to Penrith station and stand close to the edge of the platform; you might try looking lustful. (Granted, there are much easier ways to get your needs taken care of, but this one at least has the imprimatur of British Rail.)"


Hope that cracked you up and generally made you go "WHAAAT??!"
Have a good day later on everyone! :D

Cheers,
Farah

Crowing???

Hi everyone, i was fretting for something to upload here ...then came this poster!!!
I think it meant the ''Crowning'', but apparently the 'n' was unintentionally left out (i hope) =)

By the way, the disgusting elmo was quite funny, thanks for the share.


Kenny

Disgusting Elmo??

Hi all! I came across this at the website, www.engrish.com.
We don't want our children to "crap" their hands just because Elmo said so! :)

Hana

Just need some editing...

This spelling/typo error is found in NIE on a plaque talking about the Olympic Spirit. It is likely to be "continuous" instead of "continuons". I guess it'll be costly to make a new plaque, so well, just leave it there and play let's spot the errors. haha...

By the way, who embedded a song in this blog? It's so cool and I like the song. Can teach me?

Jennifer

Lower or lowest ?? From laytin (TG01)

Hi all,
This was found on a pole along a road. It was an advertisement trying to sell some games gadgets.
Notice the word 'Lower' . It seems to suggest that the shop has the power to lower the price in Singapore. I would think it meant to say ' Lowest price in Singapore' so as to attract people to call them....

-Laytin

Sale a newspaper?

I saw this sign at a shop in Jurong East. In my opinion, the phrase "SALE A NEWSPAPER" is odd. I thought "SALE OF NEWSPAPERS" would have been better.

If my analysis is correct( do point out, if I am wrong), "sale" will be the Head Noun and "of newspaper" would be the postmodifier of sale. Furthermore, why would anyone sells only a newspaper?

Maybe another way of conveying the message across would be: "NEWSPAPERS FOR SALE" ?

Any comments?

Fazlee

Shampoo flavor?

'Head & Shoulders' is the brand name for a shampoo. I believe 'ASST' means 'Assorted'. Hence, 'ASST FLAVOR'='ASSORTED FLAVOR'.

Usually, 'flavor' refers to how food or drink tastes or a particular type of taste.

Any suggestions?


hazline

Zoo!

I just love the zoo.... This is a rather informative and easy-to-understand sign. However, perhaps the picture should show more than one monkey since the phrase below shows

"It will make us sick."

~Rebecca~

Persons vs People

This is a commonly seen sign in Singapore.. Just curious... When more than one person is involved, is "people" or "persons" more appropriate?

~Rebecca~

The difference a little punctuation makes

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy - will you let me be yours?

Gloria


Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,
Gloria


Taken from http://www.basicjokes.com/djoke.php?id=3236

How to frustrate your Doctor!

How to frustrate your Doctor!

A man comes running to the doctor shouting and
screaming in pain "Please doctor, you've got to help me. I've been stung
by a bee."

DOCTOR: "Don't worry; I'll put some cream on it."

MAN: "You will never find that bee. It must be miles away by now."

DOCTOR: "No, you don't understand! I'll put some
cream on the place you were stung."

MAN: "Oh! It happened in the garden where I was
sitting under a tree."'

DOCTOR (in anger): "No, no, you IDIOT! I mean on which part of your body
did that bee sting."

MAN (still screaming in pain): "On my finger! The bee stung me on my
finger and it really hurts."

DOCTOR : "Ok.Which one?"

MAN (innocently) : "How would I know? All bees look the same to me."

********************************************************************

Hi everybody! Hope that you will have a good laugh after reading this joke.

When the doctor says, "I'll put some cream on it." (the finger), the man thought that the doctor was referring to the bee.

When the doctor says, I'll put some
cream on the place you were stung.", the man thought that the "place he was stung" was in the garden. But the doctor means "which part of his body was stung".

When the doctor asks, "Ok.Which one?" (meaning the finger that was stung) but the man replied, "How would I know? All bees look the same to me."

That's all for now, folks! Do comment if any. :)
Posted by Julie

Verbosity in Signs

I saw this sign along the walkway leading out of Orchard Mrt station. Even the wheelchairs are handicapped. :) It should have just read "Wheelchair Users".

Also, my brother pointed out another way of interpreting this sign: A group of handicapped wheelchair users can be found on the left (perhaps on sale?).

Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be "Wheelchair Users, Please Proceed This Way for the Stairclimber".

What do you guys reckon?

Ain

Comex Sighting

I only managed to spot 2 prominent errors at the Comex.. Did anyone spot anything else?

"Fast than laser printer"
[1] When comparing, the adjective should be a comparative, so in this case, "fast" should be "faster"
[2] "laser printer" refers to laser printers in general, so I thought it should be in the plural form.

The correct phrase should read "Faster than laser printers!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Enjoy this great offers ..."
[1] If there is only one promotion item, then the phrase should read "Enjoy this great offer..."
[2] If there is more than one promotion item, then the phrase should read "Enjoy these great offers..."

Enjoy spotting the errors when you "swim" in the crowd at the final day of the Comex!

~Rebecca~

PS: I've added a background song to this blog - Thank You by Dido. Enjoy!

Spoilt vs Broken

Is this the correct usage of "spoilt" in Standard English? A very Singaporean way of using English? Should this be corrected to "a broken trolley"?

Alvin mentioned in one of his AAE101 lecture that spoilt is used on things like food that are perishable. When something is repairable or fixable we should use "broken" to describe an object instead of "spoilt". People from other countries will find us strange if we said "my watch is spoilt" as if we were feeding it, talking to it like it was a living thing, that is like a child that is being spoilt.

His reasoning makes sense. So I'm thinking, does it mean that when I use broken to describe an object, that object must be fixable? I do have the impression that some of the things broken are not exactly fixable. For example, a vase may actually have been shattered into many pieces, I can simply say a vase is broken. Can the vase actually be fixed and pieced together perfectly...to be able to return it to its original funtionality? Or maybe the huge pieces can be sort of glued and Scotch taped together and be considered as fixed despite seeing crack lines and likely to have small missing pieces? ...I wonder am I making up funny scenarios and am I thinking too much? Am I alone in this thought or have you ever thought and wondered about something like this too?

But well, I see there's a need for me to learn to understand and use English language in the right way. Otherwise the prescriptive linguist would hang me for my cold-blooded murder of the English tongue. haha...

I was looking up the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary 3rd Edition.

I think the words sort of lead from one to another.

Break has many meanings. The ones that I'm looking at closes to 'spoilt' are "damage" and "break down".

break

Damage>[I or T] to (cause something to) seperate suddenly or violently into two or more pieces, or to (cause something to) stop working by being damaged.

break down MACHINE> If a machine or vehicle breaks down, it stops working.

So it leads me to look up damaged.

damaged> adj.> meaning harmed or spoilt.

Leads me to look for Spoilt. Wah...this word has many meanings too!

spoil

>verb (spoiled or spoilt, spoiled or spoilt)

1.DESTROY> [T] to destroy or reduce the pleasure, interest or beauty of something

2. [I or T] When food spoils or is spoilt, it is no longer good enough to eat.

4. TREAT WELL> [T] to treat someone very or too well, especially by being extremely generous.

5. CHILD > [T] DISAPPROVING to allow a child to behave exactly as it wants to, usually so that it becomes selfish and does not care for and show respect to other people.

Well, in simplistic thinking...I'm thinking it doesn't matter whether I used "spoilt trolley" or "broken trolley" since "broken" will lead to "damage" and will eventually lead to "spoil" anyway... But I think there is a subtle difference between these words.

What complexity in the English language! Can really get confusing at times. haha...

I apologise for the lengthy read.

I'm hoping you... "Yes, You!", the Reader, would want to shed some light if you have read through or even skimmed through this post. It'll be nice for me to know that there are people who agree with me so that I feel reassured that I'm on the right track. Even if you are going to disagree with me, it's fine. So that I can learn from constructive criticism.

So what are you waiting for? I look forward to your spontaneous feedbacks!

Cheers ;)

Jennifer

Welcome!

Welcome everyone! =)