Peculiar usage of words in Singaporean vocabulary

[therat]

Gostan = Go a stern

I've never thought that I will ever hear that word in Singapore. Not until I took a cab recently. The driver went to a dead-end road and he said, "Oh, wrong place. Must gostan!"

this gostan is not English
It is hock kien. mean reverse, go back, U-turn.

[katbh]

Bummer...thought ga'stern was cool

[the lynx]

Gostan = Go a stern

I've never thought that I will ever hear that word in Singapore. Not until I took a cab recently. The driver went to a dead-end road and he said, "Oh, wrong place. Must gostan!"

this gostan is not English
It is hock kien. mean reverse, go back, U-turn.

Dude, "go a stern" is English. And "gostan" is one of those localised pronunciations, something like what katbh meant. And no, Hokkien uses different word altogether for reverse.

[Max Headroom]

One quaint local oddity I come across quite frequently is this verb tense reversal. For instance I hear things like "The exact time hasn't been confirm yet, but I will confirmed it soon".

How did that happen?

[the lynx]

One quaint local oddity I come across quite frequently is this verb tense reversal. For instance I hear things like "The exact time hasn't been confirm yet, but I will confirmed it soon".

How did that happen?

Just plain effed up grammar?

[nakatago]

Just be grateful they don't call a 10c piece a shilling and the one cent pieces pennies.

They call them tensen and wansen respectively.

[beppi]

"more better"
"very best"

[morenangpinay]

they use "Hello!" when they mean excuse me. "hello hello"

[kookaburrah]

The strange plurals, some of them already mentioned: Fats, furnitures, stuffs, luggages, staffs, etc.

The random use of 'borrow' and 'lend'.

[Wd40]

Some people tend to use the word "dear." Such as "hello dear."
Also, sometimes junk mail is addressed to "dear owner" or "dear resident."

Another colonial hang over.... even in PNG as a kid we were taught to address everything that way - even in jest or malice; 'Dear Mr BedokAmerican - you may be an asswipe, but I'm a douche'.

Just be grateful they don't call a 10c piece a shilling and the one cent pieces pennies.

So the PNG in your nick, is Papua New Guinea is it?

[Addadude]

Singlish is all about efficiency.

Instead of saying something lengthy and cumbersome like:

"I beg your pardon. I didn't quite understand what you just said. Would you mind repeating it?"


Just say:

"Hah???"

[BedokAmerican]

"Opening hours" instead of "hours" or "hours of operation." I see this on lots of Sg business web sites.

Opening hours makes it sound like they're just listing when they're open and not when they close.

[katbh]

It is so interesting that just about every thing that is mentioned by posters with USA as country of origin (PC), is referring to British rather than Singaporean differences.

'Opening hours' is very normal in most of the world

[Wd40]

What about floor levels, starting from 1 here instead of Ground Floor, in India?
So 1st Floor in India is actually Level 2 here.
I am not sure how it works in the UK or the US?

[abbym]

Strangely, that is american I think? In the UK you start at ground, then go up to 1,2,3...etc. In north america the ground floor is level 1 if I remember correctly? Someone tell me if I'm wrong please!