Singapore Expats

As I prepare to high-tail it our of here, I'm aware that I'm really gonna miss some local speak like the taxi driver's "all the way straight" and the occasional local respone to my "Thank you very much" which phonetically is maybe:
"Wukkum!"

or the receptionists, "may I helptch you"

Hey... what about Singtel voicemail... "Enter your PIN, then press HACKS."

will you miss the heitch dee bees? hope no more of your things will be spoilt such as your handphone.

And pay your money to the checkout CLARK!

You will also miss out assidentally sussesfully

vidya463 wrote:You will also miss out assidentally sussesfully

izZzZzZZZzit?

sundaymorningstaple wrote:And pay your money to the checkout CLARK!

I can't let that one slide, SMS. 'Clark' is the correct English pronunciation of the work 'Clerk', not some bastardised "American English" version.

To prononce 'er' as 'ar' is quite common in English - namely, Derby, Berkely, Berkshire.

Now this doesn't explain why the local dialect favours English pronunciation over American English pronunciation in some words but not others...too many influences I imagine.

Reminds me of the poem:

Listen my children and shortly you'll hear
How Jimmy C. Maxwell cost me some beer
It happened the day I decided to bet
On spelling his name, which I now do regret.
I'd heard the name spoken, and, clear as a bell
It sounded exactly like James Clark Maxwell.
"I know how to spell that," I thought, "I'm no jerk, The name is spelled Clark, and it cannot be Clerk."

But what I forgot was that Maxwell was British,
And spelling in Britain is, at its best, skittish. I don't take it lightly, but view it quite darkly, That something spelled Berkeley is verbalized "Barkley".

Driving to Louisville, you can quite sure be
That you will witness the Kentucky Derby.
Driving to Ascot, if you in your car be,
Brings you surprise! to a race called the "Darby".

In England the way that they spell is perverse;
In Scotland, if anything, it's even worse.
Jimmy C.'s middle name's spelling is queer,
And that's why I owe everybody a beer.

I remember I was shocked first time I took a taxi from Braddell to Ang Mo Kio and the cab driver suggested to go "by city"....

Asdracles wrote:I remember I was shocked first time I took a taxi from Braddell to Ang Mo Kio and the cab driver suggested to go "by city"....

or CTE scratching my head! In subway I over hear the word Lettuce pronouced has it is spelt I thought i was missing out on something good! Lett - uce Though I must say it brings colour to my life!