just had my "Singapore moment"

[sundaymorningstaple]

A lot of Malay Science Texts are made up of English words with Indo-Malay spellings, like Teknologi. Don't forget, Malay is the Bahasa equivalent of American English after Webster cleaned up the language somewhat. Malaysia did the same with Bahasa Indonesian.

In fact, it really gets interesting when you compare a lot of Malay dictionary words with my old Kamus Lengkap, printed in 1980 (Inggeris->Indonesia->Inggeris)

[the lynx]

I always thought it came from 'go astern' too.

Paging The Lynx...

Yes it is the Malay-nisation of the phrase "Go astern". Say it quickly and you will get "gostan".

is it in the Malay dictionary?

maybe, as explained by a Malaysian relative who was a school teacher Malay language lacked lot of words and they are constantly adding new words from other language

Nope. Gostan is just a colloquial term. Never made it into induction in Malay dictionaries. Same thing with "missy" = nurse and some dialectical terms.

And I agree with SMS about Indonesian/Malay language.

Heck I even learned the periodic table with original names of elements. Like potassium = kalium = K, silver = argentum = Ag, sodium = natrium = Na... It really helped to learn the elements quicker!

[rajagainstthemachine]

^

so did you say Kalcium or Calcium? or was it Kalkulus or Calculus?

[the lynx]

^

so did you say Kalcium or Calcium? or was it Kalkulus or Calculus?

I just realised there are exceptions to my experience. Calcium, despite of symbol Ca, is spelled as kalsium in Malay. Pronounced the same way. Mercury too. With Hg, we sometimes spell them as hydrargyrum or just merkuri.

And yes, kalkulus.


Now that we are on the topic of science and maths in Malaysia. It is pretty effed up, never stay the same long enough, whether good or bad.

Under the British administration and for few good years after independence, science and maths had always been taught in English. Then it was changed to Malay in the spirit of nationalisation.

During Prime Minister Mahathir's rule, he saw how badly Malaysians performed in S&T overseas despite being so brilliant in local arena. So he reverted to English in 2005 IIRC. Although the change was fraught with opposition and administrative challenges (knowing this is how Malaysia runs anyway), it definitely help young Malaysians in that era.

Then after his time, the other PM felt that the Malaysians are losing identity by learning less Malay and more English, so it got reverted, again, to Malay. And see where it is heading now?

[rajagainstthemachine]

^

multiply that by a factor of 100 and you have a mess called India, with 29 states and 7 union territories each trying to promote their own state language over English, while the locals don't want to learn in local languages and prefer English as the medium of education.

[ecureilx]

^

multiply that by a factor of 100 and you have a mess called India, with 29 states and 7 union territories each trying to promote their own state language over English, while the locals don't want to learn in local languages and prefer English as the medium of education.

ps. an off topic joke ..

A Tamil guy said ..

they say learn Hindi, and travel all over India.

All over India ? I don't think so, as the only Hindi speaker I see near my house is the fellow selling Pani Puri .. you want me to learn Hindi so I can sell Pani Puri ???

(only Indians will get this .. )

[JR8]

'Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.'

'Boswell tells us that Samuel Johnson made this famous pronouncement that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel on the evening of April 7, 1775. He doesn't provide any context for how the remark arose, so we don't really know for sure what was on Johnson's mind at the time.

However, Boswell assures us that Johnson was not indicting patriotism in general, only false patriotism.'

[rajagainstthemachine]

^

multiply that by a factor of 100 and you have a mess called India, with 29 states and 7 union territories each trying to promote their own state language over English, while the locals don't want to learn in local languages and prefer English as the medium of education.

ps. an off topic joke ..

A Tamil guy said ..

they say learn Hindi, and travel all over India.

All over India ? I don't think so, as the only Hindi speaker I see near my house is the fellow selling Pani Puri .. you want me to learn Hindi so I can sell Pani Puri ???

(only Indians will get this .. )

lololol

[JR8]

Maybe I've just had one of those Singapore moments?

Glancing lazily through the window to the road below, I realised I don't recall EVER seeing a car with it's roof down.


In the West, if this kind of weather were routine, then many people would desire a convertible. Here, cars get sold on features like their air-con system. Opposite desires.... lol.

[ecureilx]

Maybe I've just had one of those Singapore moments?

Glancing lazily through the window to the road below, I realised I don't recall EVER seeing a car with it's roof down.


In the West, if this kind of weather were routine, then many people would desire a convertible. Here, cars get sold on features like their air-con system. Opposite desires.... lol.

but you do see them convertibles with Roof down at night, along - where else but Orchard road ..

[zzm9980]

Maybe I've just had one of those Singapore moments?

Glancing lazily through the window to the road below, I realised I don't recall EVER seeing a car with it's roof down.


In the West, if this kind of weather were routine, then many people would desire a convertible. Here, cars get sold on features like their air-con system. Opposite desires.... lol.

When I first moved here it shocked me how few cars even had sunroofs. In the US nearly every new car except the bare bottom of the budget market (a segment which doesnt even exist in SG car market) came with a sunroof. Here it is the opposite, even the high end luxury cars often lack them.

I've seen people driving with the top down occasionally, usually in East Coast area.

[Barnsley]

Maybe I've just had one of those Singapore moments?
Glancing lazily through the window to the road below, I realised I don't recall EVER seeing a car with it's roof down.
In the West, if this kind of weather were routine, then many people would desire a convertible. Here, cars get sold on features like their air-con system. Opposite desires.... lol.

When I first moved here it shocked me how few cars even had sunroofs. In the US nearly every new car except the bare bottom of the budget market (a segment which doesnt even exist in SG car market) came with a sunroof. Here it is the opposite, even the high end luxury cars often lack them.
I've seen people driving with the top down occasionally, usually in East Coast area.

Folks like to stay out of the sun .... Why would they want a hole in the roof that let it in

[QRM]

Maybe I've just had one of those Singapore moments?

Glancing lazily through the window to the road below, I realised I don't recall EVER seeing a car with it's roof down.


In the West, if this kind of weather were routine, then many people would desire a convertible. Here, cars get sold on features like their air-con system. Opposite desires.... lol.

I have a chum who works with one of the large luxury UK boat builders, sales was slow for a long time then they figured out in Asia boat folks did not want open air cockpits, salt water in your face type boating experience. They then designed boats with air-conditioned hermetically sealed spaces or at least totally covered deck areas, and they are now selling like hotcakes. Different strokes for different folks....

[zzm9980]

Maybe I've just had one of those Singapore moments?

Glancing lazily through the window to the road below, I realised I don't recall EVER seeing a car with it's roof down.


In the West, if this kind of weather were routine, then many people would desire a convertible. Here, cars get sold on features like their air-con system. Opposite desires.... lol.

I have a chum who works with one of the large luxury UK boat builders, sales was slow for a long time then they figured out in Asia boat folks did not want open air cockpits, salt water in your face type boating experience. They then designed boats with air-conditioned hermetically sealed spaces or at least totally covered deck areas, and they are now selling like hotcakes. Different strokes for different folks....

I was reading an article on some of the most expensive properties in the world. One was a condo on the Peak in Hong Kong, with "That View" from its balcony. The owners sealed it in and carpeted it to give their living rooms a few more sq/m. Much like the few HDBs we see that had balconies at one point.