Engrish: Singapore Edition

Soooo, some of you might remember that when I was in China I had an album comprised of "interesting" examples of the English language. In Singapore, English is the language that most people speak, and for many young people it is their native language. Singaporean schools and universities are taught in English, signs and menus are in English, government addresses are given (mostly) in English. However, a combination of British influence and English being the second tongue of many, plus all of the imports from surrounding countries who do not "speak good English", have resulted in  some interesting "engrish" in Singapore. Below, for your enjoyment, I present some of my interesting findings.

FIRST SET: Correct but slightly odd uses of English.



Oh, crockery. By crockery they mean plastic bowls and chopsticks.

It's just hard for me to believe that this company isn't a joke. "Intrafish: First in seafood news." It sounds like something Dave Barry would make up.

 

Possibly a common British spelling? Note: the tiny "By Order" in the lower right-hand corner totally makes this shot. Of course it's "by order" or somebody, there's a frickin' sign! I think it's a scare tactic :)

I think perhaps there's a tradition (British, maybe?) of pronouncing the "=" as "equal to" as opposed to "equal" or "equals". Still, a bit jarring for me to see at a university.

SECOND SET: So close, yet so far away.

This is a picture of my new notebook, imported from China. Kind of poetic, actually.

 

Just one word/phrase can make a big difference. That "box of" is pretty crucial.  As for "the Million", I pointed it out to my friend who I was with at the time, but she was from China so she didn't really get it...

This just sounds wrong. Is it just me?

I love European dinning.

LAST SET: Total fail.

I don't really have anything to say about this one. Even without the grammatical errors, the overall message is still inane.

You should have seen how excited I was when I found this. "During the grandma time". Best intro ever. And the rest is pretty humorous too.

Just so you know, all of these goofy notebooks are from a Korean import store. Hence "Life is compared to a voyage", which no one in Singapore would ever say. But, they might find it on a notebook and think that it's something that American people say, instead of just something goofy.

CLASSIC! For some reason I can't get it to stay rotated when I upload it, but you get the idea. (Note: This might have been a limited issue, because another stack of cards like this one had substituted the "r" for "l" in the correct place.)

Possibly my favorite of the whole set. So adorable, incorrect, pointless, and yet adorable all at the same time. WHY put it on the cover of a notebook? I don't know.