My take on language and so-called white-man-supremacy

Xander's latest blog has drawn so much attention from people he hardly knows.

These individuals all had violent reactions to some comments that he made. Perhaps Xander didn't put it across clearly or perhaps he over-reacted to the situation presented to him (I would have answered the guy in Mandarin just to get them to go away!). Or perhaps they took his comments out of context or didn’t understand it clearly.

Whatever the reason, heated words were exchanged in the comment box, and in the process some egos were no doubt bruised.

To echo Song (and the Black Eyed Peas – stupid name for a group anyways), where is the love?

Is there a need for so much anger against white men who obviously wanted to pick up Chinese girls? I bet wherever they go, they'll try and pick up the local Asian girls. Funny that Xander should get so worked up when his two female colleagues chose to ignore the men. So relax. When dealing with these people, just pretend that they have lower IQs and EQs and speak with them with a little bit of candor. Once they're shown up for their silliness, they'll slink away in embarrassment.

Is there a need to get so defensive and emerge as the winner of the debate? Why so much anger? Why so much hate? Why so much emotion? Does it help you to earn money in any way? All it does is to stroke your ego, which perhaps is already big from previous verbal or mental victories. Pride comes before a fall my dears.

Note to Xander: A good argument is when you can bring in examples, research, definitions etc to support your claim. Getting into a heated exchange without any proof or structured argument will earn you number one spot on 'most idiotic ego-maniac' list faster than splashing a million dollars around town then boasting about.

I also repeat my point about not saying anything unless you've something constructive to put in. Like bringing in another angle to argument or to clarify a point if it's going to make your argument stronger.

But at the end of the day, there's no right or wrong. It's a matter of which option is a better one for you and you alone.

I also maintain my stand that there's nothing unique about Singlish.

Firstly, its title is a combination of the words 'Singapore' and 'English' to describe the variation of the language, which in essence means it's a dialect of the English language, and not a language in itself. It's pretty much the same way that cockney is a dialect of English, and Cantonese is a dialect of Chinese. Both examples are not languages themselves. There's nothing unique because they are not new, unequalled or unparalleled. They developed from something else, making them dialects.

Secondly, there's no lexicon stating the use of it. It neither has structure, grammar nor vocabulary to speak of. It's not a language in that sense. It's mostly inflections tagged onto sentences (la – from Mandarin, meh – from mandarin, scali – short form from Malay, kena - Malay). Or removal of verbs, conjunctions, propositions etc from grammatical English sentences, leading to inferred meanings ('How can like that one?' 'Cannot meh' 'I go see') and a general bastardization of the English language.

Thirdly, if it's THAT unique, why didn't the powers-to-be include it in the Uniquely Singapore campaign? I'm sure that Singlish would have made us stand out, eh?

Fourthly, other countries also have their equivalent of Singlish, often called something else to a similar effect.

True, speaking Singlish may enable fellow Singaporeans to single us out when we're in foreign countries. But truthfully, I rather not be singled out when I'm abroad, considering the bad name that other Singaporeans have made for the country when they go on a holiday. Examples: 'Wa so cheap! Must grab some more.' 'Eee, the toilet's so wet and dirty. No tissue some more. How to go?' 'The food doesn't look clean. Are you sure we won't get food poisoning after eating it?' With fellow citizens like that, who needs enemies?!

I've nothing against those who speak it, for I break into the inflections ever so often. But I personally don't speak ungrammatical English because I just don't believe in it. It's a personal choice.

Ultimately, whoever reads blogs should understand that the blog owners have freedom to express their thoughts. You as the reader have the freedom of your own opinions. But in the end, neither party should jam their respective views on the other simply because neither would like it.


Some definitions

Lingua franca –
A common language used by speakers of different languages. In the world's case, it's English. But of course, in France the language will be French.

Dialect –
1a. A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists: Cockney is a dialect of English.
1b. A variety of language that with other varieties constitutes a single language of which no single variety is standard: the dialects of Ancient Greek.
2. A language considered as part of a larger family of languages or a linguistic branch. Not in scientific use: Spanish and French are Romance dialects.
3. The form of speech of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned.