15 British English Words That We STOPPED Saying Once We Moved to the Singapore! 🇬🇧🇸🇬
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2024
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F A Q 》
Where are you from? UK
Where do you live? Currently living in Singapore
How long have you lived in Singapore? 4 Years
How old are you? 27
What Camera do you use? Canon G7X Mark II
What do you use to edit your videos? Final Cut Pro X - บันเทิง
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I think majority of us use “lift” here instead of elevators. It’s easier to pronounce anyway hahaha
And also probably because of MRT announcements
True. 100% of all malay in singapore will say lift. I have never heard anyone says elevator casually.
HAHA lol cos 'lift'=1 syllable, while 'elevator'=4 syllables. 😛
Yes i agree most singaporeans would say “Lifts”
Haha so true 😂
It’s so strange because we Singaporeans definitely still use these words very commonly. These are also the same words that were taught to us in our formal education in school.
1. Lift instead of elevator
2. Rubbish instead of Garbage. With it comes Rubbish Chute, Rubbish Bin, Rubbish Truck, Rubbish Collector.
3. Most of my friends still use House. Come over to my house. I invite you to my house. However, these days, some of us evolved to just saying come over to my place instead.
4. Groceries - sometimes we will just say.. Go NTUC... hahah Or Go Market. I have not heard of Foodshop until I saw your video.
5. We never ever use Freeway. We use highway, or Express Way - referring to all the “E”s in CTE, KPE, PIE, MCE, etc.... ECP is the odd one... lol.
6. We use toilet. However, at some point in time, someone taught us that using toilet sounds a little crude in a formal setting and suggest to use washroom instead.
7. We definitely use Postman or Post Office instead of mail man or mail shop. However, we don’t use post box. Instead we call it letterbox.
You may have a bunch of very “westernised” local friends who have been very influenced by American TV shows such that they start using American words instead.
Another interesting thing is Singapore’s formal education uses British English. Our friends in the nearby Asian countries like Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan tend to learn the American version of English. So they could have an influence on Singaporeans too!
Outside of London, most people live in houses. As modern Brits are not too educated, they often confuse "Home" with "House". Come to my House is often used. Singaporeans do the same thing even for HDB. Flats is a modern term for pre-fab homes in London and Singapore. In London and UK cities they are for social housing called Council Housing. Private "Flats" in London are subdivided former aristocratic homes and very expensive so only the very posh will say, "Come to my FLAT for a party" meaning (my London prime property). In Singapore, Flat connoted Flatted Factory, HDB Flat, people living in HDB will say, "Come to my house", "Come to my home" and not "flat". If they are rich and bought a condo, they will say "Come to my house / my condo / my apartment" but not come to my flat. Americans and Canadians do not use Flat. They use House and Apartment and Home. Apartment is mostly for rich people living in urban cities. Most Americans use "Come home with me". Come visit ... let's go home. Fewer people say "Come to my house". No idea why. Maybe most Americans are more family centred and associate the physical building with a community "home" instead of just a physical building. Singaporeans and Brits will not say "Come home with me" it sounds wrong.
Singaporeans use to say LETTERBOX. The young ones don't anymore. They say I AM GOING TO THE POST OFFICE and POSTBOX...(immigrants follow taught style) but they don't anymore since email started. It's like quite an ancient things to do. Singaporeans like to use APPs. It is not called "Applications or software or APPs" but APP.
Who's WE? Your father mother your little brother and your brain? Singapore is small but it is also slightly BIGGER than that. But you are MOSTLY 99.999% right lah. You get A STAR for being TRUE BLUE SINGAPOREAN of the week. Congratulations. Your prize is the CPF MIN SUM.
In Singapore, we just say "Go NTUC", which is just short for groceries shopping haha
I say go marketing haha
*_*Sheng Siong, Giant and Cold Storage have left the chat*_* 😛🤣
how about cold storage :P
@Johnston Steiner shop and save too
Go ntuc but then never bring member card end up go Sheng siong. Lol
We use “lift” and “toilet” in Singapore though.
Like I don’t understand why it would cause confusion.
It’s never been an issue for me.
We also call our flats our houses sometimes.
We also say bin and rubbish as well as trash and garbage (maybe garbage not so much)
We call them expressways, sometimes highways. Never motorways or freeways
I also call them rocket. (Yes. It’s the devil)
I think our English is more closely similar to Australian English which have features from both British and American English
Lonesome Boss agreed. The recent influx of Americanism can’t be helped.
lol i think they're hanging out with americans, my family and friend circle also do use lift and toilet, our house, throw out the rubbish, highway etc.
yeah lift is still pretty common and frequently used in singapore, at least that's what i use
@@LonesomeBossDaily nah aussie english is bonkers..have you heard the names the aussies give to normal things?
i agree with everything except im a born singaporean and i use lift instead of elevator
Yup doubt singaporeans ever use elevator i only heard lifts
@@mingjinlim430 why say something with 4 syllables when you can use the word with just one? don't over complicate things right?
I feel so attacked bc I only use elevator 😅 weird that I never realised anything was wrong.
LIFT is for HDB ones - Hitachi, Fujitec - those are called RIL-TO in japanese, LIFT in British and LIFT in Singlish. Elevators are the super fast ones in CBD and Private condos. Those are ELEVATORS, not LIFTS. ELEVATORS are higher-tech and travel faster, the expressway of LIFTS. LIFT is a the very old and slow ones for PUBLIC TOILETS. PUBLIC USE.
Elevators of Housing and Development Board, Singapore ...elevation.fandom.com › wiki › Elevators_of_Housing_...
Elevators in HDB blocks built in the 1960s were mostly made by Hitachi ... It took some time for the production of new parts branded as "Fujitec" to begin and be ...
Were you born in KK? Which ward? Toilet ward? LIFTS and ELEVATORS are sama=sama but DIFFERENT siah. LEE KUAN YEW and LEE PENG YEW are SIMILAR but DIFFERENT. No one called LEE PENG YOU Founding Uncle.
We say lift in Singapore... its funny you guys use elevator here and lifts back home. LOL. Maybe you have too many American friends.
yea exactly HAHHA
How big is your Singapore? How many Gillians?
Some of the stuff you say, I find not quite correct. We do say lift, toilet and rubbish. In Canada, I always have to switch over to elevator, washroom/restroom and garbage/trash in order to make myself understood, but sometimes I forget to do so haha.
TRASH and BIN are different. Singapores has both but people confuse them. TRASH is when you put discarded into a mostly black, sometimes orange or green bag, and it goes into a huge rectangular receptacle in the bottom of building. That's TRASH. RUBBISH is those that go in a public BIN on a ROAD. They are called RUBBISH BINS. American confusion: US people call the RUBBISH BIN a TRASH CAN / TRASH. This is right in USA and wrong in Singapore. Brits call that a BIN and "BIN IT". Singaporeans called it a RUBBISH BIN not a BIN and do not use the verb "BIN IT". The verb is "THROW IT AWAY", "THROW IT INTO A RUBBISH BIN" in Singapore. Brits rely on the same word "BIN" and get confuse. BINS in Singapore do not necessarily mean "for the rubbish". We also call it BISCUIT BIN, PAPER BIN, they are just BINS. In UK, they have followed US style to call it CONTAINER (Some Singaporeans as well), they call it biscuit container, bin is still used for the very old authentic British ones with decor. Singaporeans do not make this distinction. Bin can be a place to store food or paper.
Singaporeans actually says "House", "Lifts" and "Toilet" alot. in fact its how most of us says it, instead of apartments, elevators and Washrooms.
Think they have been hanging out with too many American expats than locals. :D
Authentic Singaporeans says "Jiamban", "Take Lif", "Go to my howse". Brits don't say "toilet" unless they are polite. They normally say "loo". If visiting a friend's home, "Where' the toilet". In a public place, "Where's the loo?" Singaporeans use "Toilet" for both public and privately owned toilets.
Singaporeans say O PIANG EH. DIANTUI. NOT LIFT.
Anything more than 2, 3 or more syllables are too much of work to move the mouth of Singlish speakers.
@@tenga3tango Yar LOH. Is that too long?
HDB = flat; condo = apartment ... different SES lor ...
Oi don't forget.... BTO? Is that FLAT, APARTMENT, HOUSE, CONDO or WHAT? Pigeonhole? How about SHUBOX?
Condo sounds a bit YAYA
postbox is what we use to send out mail (where we post mail) and mailbox is what we use to receive mail (the ones at the void decks of hdbs). and i think we still use postman more often. i also hear toilets, lifts, and flats more commonly than the alternatives though. and expressway rather than freeway or highway.
"elevator"? nahhh singaporeans will always choose to communicate with as few syllables as possible so that's impossible "lifts" all the way ✊🏼
Yup, singapore way = lazy way
They are LIVING in NEWTON, in that part of Singapore it is called ELEVATOR as they are either OTIS or SCHINDLER. The Japanese branded ones Made in ASIA ones in HDBs are called LIFTS. They are NOT called Elevators. They are not the same thing. Lifts may contain unwanted tissue paper, newspaper, pee or even poo. Elevators do not. They are carpeted and have mirrors all around and travel at high speed up to above 38 stories up to 100 stories. That's an ELEVATOR. They look the same but are NOT the same. LIFTS are the ones at MRT, HDB, CAPITAMALLS.
Dan why you even bother with the consonants of L and FT. Just call it YEE.
This is so cute! I'm the opposite, picked up the saying "food shopping" from my English friends and now use it more!
Haha. It's confusing here sometimes. We were educated with English (UK) but exposed to more American media.
1) Chips-> Fries(SG)
2) Crisps-> Chips(SG)
3) Food shop-> Groceries(SG)
4) Takeaways/ takeouts-> We are some what similar actually. We ask friends/family what you want to eat? Chinese? Malay? Indian? Western? Same same.
5) Elevator-> Lift(SG)
We use both actually. "Elevator" for more professional setting, Lift for more casual.
"Excuse me. May I know where's the lift lobby?"
6)Cash Point-> ATM(SG)
But sometimes, we will ask for a specific ATM. As you know... POSB/DBS. OCBC,UOB,HSBC,etc. So many...ugh.
7) House/Flat.
This one's tricky. Correct me if I'm wrong.
House= Landed property such as Terrace Housing, Bungalow, Mansion.
Apartments= Condominiums or homes with security and walled up.
Flats= HDB.
Most of the time, we say "I go home already", "hey...go your house leh", "What nice home you have!" or "wah! Your house damn nice/cantik leh"
8) Bathroom-> Washroom, Toilet. Restroom. Loo (Rare) Bathroom.
We use any of those here. So toilet should be understood? Washroom just sounds more "fancy". Idk why that came about.
My family uses "Restroom". Although some would go 'huh?"... Then I would correct myself and ask "Where's the toilet?"
9) Pounds,Pence-> Dollars, Cents, Bucks.
10) Garbage-> Bin/ Trash/Chute/ Rubbish.
Funny enough, even though us Singaporeans love to cut short/ chop up every English word/phrase and shorten it as much as possible. Some of us use... Rubbish bin.
"Where's your rubbish bin ah?"
"I'm taking out the trash" or cutshort "I go throw rubbish"
"Anymore rubbish?"
11) Dual Carriageway-> ???
Do we have a term for this? Haha. Road? The opposite lane? Most often, we describe it more than we use the actual term I think.
12) Postman & Postbox-> We still use postman, postbox and letterbox.
Mailbox= Email/ mail.
13) m/cm/mm. METRIC system best system. haha.
Referring to cad drawings from US and UK is so confusing sometimes. Have to keep reminding and doing math in my head.
1inch= 2.54cm.
Opens Acad / Photoshop, failed to check if it's set to metric. Starts drawing and wonder... something's weird...
you are too free lol
@@SprinkleofWilly Well....I'm stucked at home?
yeeahh, I don't think majority of us call it "freeway", rather "expressway" :]
considering PIE is pan island expressway, MCE marina coastal expressway, KJE kranji expressway, AYE is ayer rajah expressway, yadayadayada
not highway?
@@foodngems no way...
Cos it's not "free" if you need to pay ERP 🤣🤣🤣
Yea highway
Finally! Another vid OMG. Thank you SOO MUCH
Entertaining as usual! Keep up the good work and stay safe !
love all your language vlogs, funny and informative, been showing your vlogs to my friends, they like them too..
omg most people say "go back to my house", "lift", "toilet", "postbox" though. kinda strange that you guys had to change your language
Mailbox will be more for email I guess.
i'd say letterbox instead of mailbox or postbox...
@@lyhthegreat oh yes you're right i forgot that i use letterbox more hahah
They are living in the LOCAL SINGAPORE part called NEWTON, Not JURONG or SENGKANG siah!
Singaporeans don't say POSTBOX that is so USA. Singaporeans say LETTERBOCKS. Put in LETTERBOCKS or else your MUDDA BOCKS your SOCKS.
the only time we use chips to refer to fries is when we order "fish and chips"
Had a great laugh watching this video of yours! Love this! Looking forward to more of your videos! You guys are blending well into the singapore culture! 🤗👍🏻
i say both lift and toilet! haven't had any issues :)
Omg I love you Georgia!!! Keep making these videos
It's interesting because actually some of your English words are the ones that Singaporeans are more familiar with, because it is what is taught in schools (we follow an England English tradition from colonial days). But when you factor in that people tend to think of what is familiar as 'low-class' and certain other words as fancier/atas, what happens is you get a skewed idea of what is common here. For example, I'm pretty sure people are more familiar with the word, 'toilet', but because we're so familiar with it, we think of it as the low-class/commoner way of saying it, while 'washroom' is the more polite/atas way of saying it. Same with 'lift'.
Words like 'chips', 'food shop', 'cash point' are legit differences though - we don't use them here. 'Chips' only in the context of fish and chips. Otherwise, because of how prevalent McDonald's is, we call them fries.
We do use 'rubbish' and 'rubbish bin'. Postman, postbox too. And we use 'express way', not 'freeway' etc. Just look at the acronyms. CTE, PIE, BKE - E stands for expressway.
I agree with u! even "flat" and "apartment" as well. it's because everyone understands "HDB flats" as it is, the common term used for private properties is "apartment". I guess its a subconscious (or not) thing to use different terms when referring to objects of "higher status" or to let others perceive yourself as "high-class".
@@ssummerdew Yup, that's why we use flats when we talk about HDB, but apartments when we talk about condo. Same the idea of commoner/atas words.
Much enjoyed viewing the casual chat between you and Justin. Nice to know more about usage of English words in UK. I like the video
In Australia, the postbox is where you post/send your letter to a recipient, and is generally red in colour. The postman delivers our letters by dropping them into our letterbox, which generally is located next to the driveway of our house/home.
we use lift more than elevator... haha
CORRECT! Singaporean use BOTH. You must be a PSLE 4 A STAR student m I rite? BTW, elevator are the fast speed ones in MBS and Lifts are the slow PAP ones in MRT and HDB and HUDCs mostly made in Japan. Just a SInglish technicality. Study more English, you will get your PhD soon! Persevere! Failure is the grandmother of success!!
We say "apartment" when we wanna poshify it.
Everyone says HDB flat but nobody would say condo flat.
"poshify" - Singaporeans don't say that. That sounds kinda like hiao hiao. Are you part Thai or Pinoy? You are SPOT ON true Thai or Pinoy Singaporean man.
At 4.50: In Singapore, we use the term "Flat" or "HDB FLAT" because it is a very common and cheap place where people leaves. An "Apartment" or a "Private Apartment" is usually referred to a higher standard of leaving, cost much more than a "Flat".
At 6.56: In Singapore, we usually use the term as a "dustbin".
I say "go to my house" which really is a unit in an HDB flat... haha. I say lift instead of the elevator as well.
OMG. That's very auntyspeak. All the kind aunties I have live responsible frugal lives have fully paid for HDB leases live in public housing but keep it very tidy and clean and call it "MY HOUSE". It's not just a linguistic error, it's a grave financial illusion. Just call it come home to my HDB public housing less than 99 years left flat. Merry Christmas.
Oh! Singaporean here! In terms of thinking about what food to eat, my friends and I do say "Do you feel like getting Japanese or Chinese or etc.?" Thought that is rather in line with Singaporean efficiency in speaking in context though lol.
I m a Singaporeen & among us locals we still use the words
- chips & fries r both commonly use🍟
- lift usually & sometimes elevator
- dustbin & rubbish bin, occasionally bin for short
- expressway or highway, the word freeway is rarely used
- dollars & cents & the word shillings only to the older folks
- toilet when we mean to relieve ourself 🚽 & bathroom when we mean to washup or shower 🚿
- postbox usually for 📮 & mailbox or letter box for where we retrieve our mail.
the running joke I have with friends when they say "draw cash" is by responding with "here's a paper and a pen, go draw" 😄
In Singapore "toilet", "lift", "rubbish" and expressway are commonly used.
When you said it’s been 5 years since you moved to Singapore it hit me how long I’ve been your subscriber ❤️😂
i saw you a long time back, followed for a while, lost interest, saw you again recently, and im following you and back-watching your videos again. getting better and better!
1:58, that’s 10/10
Americans: I didn’t realise coming to Singapore will make me speak British English
British: I didn’t realise coming to Singapore will make me speak American English
I use a mixture of both British and American English words till the point I cannot differentiate which is which.
It's NOT British English, it's SINGLISH. We are not the QUEEN'S ENGLISH, we are the LIN LAU PEH SINGLISH.
@@hokkiengospel5737 HUAT AH!
@@kimchikoalaa714 Yah lor. Mercy Bookoo. Oi...see Porean uploaded dis oso. Day oso type ELEVATOR. th-cam.com/video/ebpS0JuPd9Q/w-d-xo.html
For some reason I find this quite cool hahah my cousins live in the UK and when they visit Singapore, they'd use words some of the words you mentioned and I remembered being quite confused 😂
YAY SORTA THE FIRST! Love your channel!! 💕🙌
Justin's face at the end when he said see ya... HAHAHA
We still use "lifts" more common than elevator, cash withdrawal machine we call "ATM", difference between apartment and flat, when we use the word flat, it usually means government housing, as in HDB flats. When it s private apartment, sometimes "condo" for apartments with facilities like gym and pool, for example, come over to my condo (short for condominium), word toilet is still use very often instead of washroom, we use "rubbish" instead of trash, and where's the Q instead of line. And we address an older person, for example, someone of much more senior or big difference in age to us as uncle or auntie.
What changed when I move to Singapore are
1. "Going home" (after work) now I say "Go Back"
2. "Take out" (when ordering food) now I say "Take away"
3. "Truck" now I say "Lorry"
4. "Apartment" now I say "Flat'
5. Yes that's ok, yes that's possible, now all I say is "Can"
6. "Elevator" now i say "Lift"
Haha.. The Philippines follows US English / Singapore follows British (old type) Singlish. Same but also different! ELEVATORS in Singapore are those for 30 floors and above fast Made in USA ones with some air shooting past your ears. LIFTS are those for HDB MRT Malls etc. This is a subtle one as even many locals don't know the difference. Neither do foreign brits and americans. It's the difference b/w saying "flat" and "apartment" in Singapore. Means different things!!! Flat is HDB. Apartment is private condo or a private walk up anything private and pricey. Singaporeans say Takeaway for pizza and for food joints. For Hawkers, they will say TA PAU. or Doggy Pack. (Nothing sexual)-- It is easier to concort Filipino English with US English, with Singapore English it is CONFUSING!! And it is also different from UK English / Manglish!! So more confusion!!
Ok i have to say I was so confused at uni in the UK whenever my lecturer said nought instead of 0. Literally did not heard of that till that day! Haha
Hmm.. We use postman, but we check the mail. We use lift. Toilet, depending on who you're speaking. Toilet seems is more casual, but we try not to use it in more social situations.
You meant scald, not scold.
"check the mail". What? You Singapore scholar living in London is it? Singaporeans "check got mail or not".....not "check the mail".... Your mother is the Queen of Angmohland izzit?
Please, Singaporeans do not know how to pronounce "toilet" unless they passed A level. Others will say "TOY LUD" or "PAANG SAI" or "JAMBAN".
I think we don't say "freeway" here, everything is a highway, but actually...it's just PIE ECP AYE 😂
I thought we use expressway more?
yeah im pretty sure it's expressway?
Expressway
Expressway
Ecp is east coast park bodo 😂
some possible explanations:
"chips" - while we do use the chips more for potato chips aka crisps, but we do use the terms chips to mean fries too as in fish n chips , all depends on who you are speaking too - we follow what's on the packaging
"food shop" - we actually usually say going to the supermarket or the market, not groceries
"fancy a Chinese" - in the way that you use it, we would just say "I feel like having Chinese" or "I feel like Chinese"
"lift" - this is actually used more than elevator, look at the signs, it usually says "lifts" or "lift lobby"
"cash point" - the machine is called an automated teller machine so ATM (certain banks do allow you to withdraw money from another bank's ATM)
"house/flat" - we call them our homes, but when you are trying to tell them what kind of home you have, it is a house, HDB flat or private apartment
"toilets" - it's acceptable but direct translation from Chinese it comes out as washroom
"pounds & pence" - our money is defined as dollars and cents, been that way since before
"rubbish/trash" - we do use the word rubbish but it also means something crappy
"dual carriageway" - we do use the term but it has a different meaning to us, we actually call it the expressway or highway (PIE = Pan Island Expressway)
"post box" - usually means where you put your letters to be sent out
measurements - the standard for Singapore is metric so we use cm or kg...we don't use feet, inches or pounds
- from a half English girl who was born and raised in Singapore
I never say elevator here in sg 😂
tu kan, i heard lifts more often, especially peak hour 'hold the lift' when the lift arrives and all come running... even fire safety signage usually states 'in case of fire do not use lift, use stairs... hmm...
Same, it’s faster to just say lift
Go to MBS and experience an ELEVATOR. You will feel UPGRADED and ELEVATED. They don't just give your face and buttocks a LIFT.
In SG, Flats means Public HDB Housing or flat, Apartment means private flat with no pool, Condo means private flat with pool. It is to indicate how expensive they are. 😁 We do say "the lift is coming" 😊
“It’s not a house Georgia”. HAHAHA I have no idea why that cracked me up so bad
Singapore used to use a lot of British words like flats, toilet and lifts. Been away so long that it comes as a shock to me the influence American TV have on Singapore English. Also noticed the Singapore newscasters now have a slight American accent rather than British. I have a British word that I believe is still used in Singapore ...Torchlight. Use that word in America and people will think you live in the stone-ages carrying a stick on fire.
Born and bred here. When I was a kid in primary school, my English teacher told me that 'toilet' was a crude/rude word and said 'bathroom/washroom' was preferred. That being said I think many of us still say 'toilet' when we grow up and couldn't be bothered about old-school English teachers, though.
Singaporeans always go for the most effective word: lifts instead of elevator HAHA
Unfortunately, I think you are Band 2? Singaporeans use both. LIFTS for 80% of the TIME. ELEVATORS for MBS, MFBC. LIFTS for MRT HDB BTO and some parts of Raffles City (confusion here due to age of building and Lift/Elevators) But MBS is mostly 100% Elevators.
th-cam.com/video/EIeOPwEL50s/w-d-xo.html LIFT or ELEVATOR?
That's strange that you get mixed responses from using "toilet" because it's very commonly used though. Though some people do use "washroom" in public settings for idk what reasons. haha
I think the term washroom is considered a good social etiquette, usually use in formal settings, in a social setting with people you are not familiar with, ,interacting with superiors, customers etc.
Went to a girls' school growing up, and "toilet" was considered rude. We would only be given permission to go if we asked "May I go to the washroom?"
@@leongsam1075 well yea i learnt that in school but as a grown up now, i dont see any difference tbh.
@@reeeyou. same same. Personally I am fine with people using either term :)
Hi Georgia and Justin. I am a pure Singaporean, educated locally. I use the following words mentioned commonly:
Lifts,
my house, flats, HDB flats
apartment is commonly used for private property, (sounds more atas than flats) 😁
toilet/ ladies/gents,
dollars and cents (because of our currency),
rubbish bin/ rubbish chute,
expressway,
rocket for salads,
post office, letterbox,
kilograms, grams, meters, centimeters, millimeters.
I speak frequently with European colleagues and I always get comments that I speak with a Bristish accent. Now I know the reason why. It is because of the English terms I use!
We do use lift, toilet, bins and post. Our culture always have a mix of a few different languages. So ya, bathroom, elevator, trash and mail can be often heard too.
Do you know that in the Singapore driving theory book, dual carriageway still exists and I still have no bloody idea what that means.
They probably copied that driving guide from British English. It needs to be updated. Dual carriageways are actually TWO DIRECTIONAL EXPRESSWAYS in Singlish, separated by a fender or grassy patch.
"fancy a Chinese" sounds like cannibalism HAHAHHAHA. but when I think about it, I sometimes also ask my friend "what do you wanna eat? Chinese? Indian?" so it's actually quite similar heh. And I feel like Singaporeans use both lift/elevator, and toilet/bathroom interchangeably depending on how atas they wanna sound LOL. I don't really find myself saying trash or garbage, maybe garbage bin? But usually I say rubbish bin or dustbin hahah.
But yeah now that you've mentioned all these differences, it's weird that we've adopted so many American English terms when we're actually taught British English in school hahah.
when i started dating my boyfriend, he's say "i feel like a Chinese" and i'm like ????? boy you are the most ginger Scottish ever what are you talking about 😂
Probably... because of Movies and Netflix? Lol.
Personally, I watched like 100 shows and only 1 is a British TV show.
In Singapore, when the Chinese dine Western style, they call it "Ang Moh Jiak" meaning "Red Haired (Person) Eat / Eating Meal" so it's similar. However, we do not use A Chinese, AN Indian presumably those are shortened forms of A Chinese Takeaway, An Indian Takeout as min wages were high for dining in in the past in UK. In Singapore, dining is is cheap, due to Hawker Centres, they are called "TA PAUs" for "TAKEAWAYS"....Locals say "ANG MOH JIAK" TA PAU. Let's have (a) RED-HAIRED CAUCASIAN (to) EAT in a TAKEOUT.. This means BRIT FOOD TAKEAWAY
@@hokkiengospel5737 maybe the older chinese educated generation still uses angmohjiak but tbh I've never heard that before hahah, I'm in my twenties! My parents and grandparents have never used that with me too, we usually use "let's eat western food" 😂
@@epiphadipity "western food"...interesting... I guess your parents cannot speak dialect only singlish?
My thoughts on this as a local:
1. We still say "Fish and Chips" rather than "Fish and Fries". But at fast foods, we would says fries.
2. We actually use "Lifts" more than "Elevators", seldom hear people using the word elevator. Maybe if you worked in the town where if you are surrounded with more international English speaking people, they would use elevators.
3. We use "House" and "Flat" quite distinctly because a house in our mind should be those that are landed property as seen in children picture cards. A flat would always be associated with HDB flats as that was coined that way. So a private flat would instead be called an apartment.
4. We definitely use the word "Toilet" more than "Bathroom". Bathroom refers to an area that you bath whereas toilet is a place where you need to relieve yourself.
5. Can understand why you don't like the word "dollars" coz it reminds of American dominance. But in Singapore, we just say dollars. Bucks is an American way of saying, probably more popular with the younger generation to sound cool.
6. Yes, we say "rubbish" more than "garbage" and "bin".
7. No, we say expressways, not the rest of the words.
8. Nope, we say "Capsicum", never a rocket.
9. We say "Postman" and "Letterbox".
wow i litterally googled arugula an hour ago to find out what that is and now im watching this.
that “HAR?” at 3:34 sounds so singaporean, love it
instead of food shop, usually we just say the brand of grocery store that you will be heading to.
E.g. I'm going to NTUC, you want anything?
You going to GIANT? Help me buy fruits.
Your house there got COLD STORAGE right?
See Bek Shiong you. Which blocks of HDBland are your Bengrritory?
Lol for the food shop I would say nutc , and we don’t say a normally we say we want to eat Chinese / India , me and my friends say lift and toilet hahah
Im born and bred in Singapore. Been following your channel for a while...
Here goes.. i say
Go ntuc, buy grocery, supermarket
I take the lift.
I use the atm
I use the toilet or washroom
I use rubbish bin/chute
I use expressway.. do u mean expressway?
I open the letter box
Poreans say I want to eat LOR MEE, I want CURRY RICE, I want BRYANI. Singaporeans are more SPECIFIC cos in PSLE exams, this wins us POINTS. General "Chinese" / "Indian" will fail and be transferred to MONO stream.
We do say "lifts" here too!
This is a LIFT. TH-cam "ELEVATOR
" it is a different thing.
Working with ID contractors, we use both imperial AND metric measurements at the same time. And at times we don't even say whether it's in inch or mm. Just talk to each others in numbers only. If it goes to thousands, we would assume it's mm. If it's lower than a hundred, we assume it's in inch.
Here we use the term lift more instead of elevator.
Here we use the term toilet more frequently here, especially for the older generation. Maybe because we were taught this last time. After I went to US, I learnt that to them, toilet means toilet bowl, where you sit on them to do your "business". So now I use washroom or the bathroom more. When I was living in US, they don't understand toilet, washroom or bathroom. I have to say lavatory.
In general, here we differentiate the type of "house" you live in. For example, if you say house here, we will generally associate it with a landed property like a terrace house, semi-detached house or a bungalow. If you say flat, we tend to associate it with a building housing many "houses". Most of the time flats are associated with HDB which are government subsidized housing for the locals. There are some who used apartments to denote they stay in private flats, like condominium. Maybe they like to give an impression that they are more well off?
Food is just very general. Food can mean uncooked food, cooked food, raw food. Anything that can be eaten. So if you want to be more specific, we say grocery shopping to mean grocery shopping. If you say food shop, in my mind, I would think you are asking about restaurants? A place that sell food?
We don't use freeway here. Freeway and highway is used more in US. Here we call it expressway or highway more. In US, the freeway is much wider and usually have more lanes. In US, they like to use numbers like I-5, 101 or 880. Here our expressway which is much smaller, we use the location to give an idea of where is that expressway. For example, Pan Island Expressway (PIE), Central Expressway (CTE), Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE), Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE), Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE), Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE), Kranji Expressway (KJE), Seletar Expressway (SLE), Tampines Expressway (TPE) and East Coast Parkway (ECP). If you say freeway here, I think only those who have been to US might understand you.
Postman and post office are what we were taught in school. We don't really use mailman but we do use mailbox or letterbox.
We were supposed to be taught "British English" in our schools since majority of Singaporeans are tested in GCE syllabus. But not all of us were taught by British teachers. Whatever we learnt, we really thought we are speaking "British English". After all, I did pass my GCE O and A levels that were marked by people in UK. Right? But here we generally watch more American dramas and movies. So we can't differentiate between American English or British English unless we have more overseas exposure. They are all English to me. I only learnt the differences when I was working in US. Speaking to the Americans and then I learnt English isn't exactly English. There are many variants of English. You just have to adjust accordingly to where you are. After all, language is just one of the means for communication.
Singaporean Chinese here. Lived here all my life. I live in a HDB flat and I take a lift to my house every day. We don't say elevator. Most people wouldn't either. We empty our bins every day also and bring our rubbish or trash to the common chute which is outside our house. I drive on the expressway and usually call them by their acronyms like PIE or ECP. My family buys zucchini and capsicums but we don't like rocket (never heard of the other word you used for it). We go grocery shopping and mostly pay by card, but sometimes we have to draw money from the ATM. Oh. And I go downstairs to open the letterbox every day to check if there is mail. The postman sometimes doesn't bother bringing my parcels up to my house but chucks it.in my letterbox instead. I look for a mailbox to put the letters I want to send out. Or I go to the post office to send them out. Also we ask the kids if they need to go toilet when they are out... or we tell each other we go toilet so they won't wonder where we disappeared to. Even in hotels I would still ask where the toilets are.
It's odd that some of the words you say we don't use are actually the more common ones. 😆
We need longer vids!
Hmm.. I still use lifts, flats, toilet, rubbish chute, rocket and postman ( postman pat ). I guess it is because I am a boomer. 🤣🤣🤣
Same here but I ain't no boomer...
Except we don’t say “do you want to go to my flat?” We say “do you want to go to my house?”
@@wy9317 hmm.. true. However we use apartment for condominiums is to separate private property from hdb flats I think. Also condo addresses uses APT right?
Conclusion: they are in Singapore but mixing with non-Singaporeans.
@@HealingRedHeart I don't think so. Nowadays the younger generation are more exposed to American shows, books and culture. Singapore is always a rojak of American and British English. Like for cars we use boot not trunk and we use hood not bonnet.
My Scottish colleague was surprised I used the word shilings instead of coins . I'm not sure if that's considered archaic , but I'm taught the world shilings in Singapore when young .
I'm sure most Singaporean use the word "coins"
I was waiting for the word quid when you talked about the money.
How I tell my friends that I’m going to the toilet I just say “ I’m gonna go take a piss or shit , wait for me “ 😂
We use "lifts", "ATMs", "toilets" commonly here! It's interesting to hear that your experience of "elevator" (very rarely used) and "washroom" (sometimes used).
Yes we use "grocery shopping", or literally "going NTUC/Cold Storage", and actually also "marketing", though the latter is getting less common these days and tend to be used by our parents.
"Flats" usually refer to HDBs, while we would use "apartment" or "condo" to refer to high rise private residences. Yes, "house" is used for landed property. But in everyday use, we'd say "I'm going (back) home" or "would you like to come over to my place?" - we use "home" and "place" in typically than actual "flats", "apartment", "condo", or "house" unless we're discussing property.
Also, we tend to use "dustbin" or "bin" and "rubbish chute"! We don't use "freeway" either but we use "expressway" (e.g. CTE = central expressway) or "highway".
We use "rocket" and "arugula" interchangeably (I tend to use "rocket" more). But yes on "zucchini" (it's the first time I'm hearing "courgette" lol) and "capsicum" or "green peppers" or less so, "bell peppers".
Yes, we use "kg" for weight and interestingly, "metres" for height (e.g. "1-point-6-2 metres") in addition to "162cm" (yes you're right on the abbreviation).
Other than that you're on point! Love your new hair by the way 😊
we use the term lifts instead of elevators, we do call our homes, houses and the term "rubbish bin" or "dustbin" is very commonly used here
Garbage chute, rubbish bins, rubbish chutes, toilets, wash rooms, lifts, elevators. We use them all interchangeably. Maybe except for Freeways, Motorways, food shops, and cash points that we probably never use locally.
I visit Singapore quite often for a holiday & I haven’t had any issues using the terms Lift & Toilet, I remember way back in 2000, I visited a cafe at Citylink Mall, I ordered a Sandwich & Chips, thinking I was going to get a bowl or plate of Hot Chips, instead I was severed a small packet of Lay’s Original Potato Chips, to go a long side my Sandwich!
Another great cultural video guys, loved it. Anw just to confirm for you, toilet (used the most here actually, more than washroom or restroom), postman (very commonly used), lift (very commonly used, - as you clearly understand, we prefer saying shorter words, lol), rubbish/ trash/ garbage are all used in Singapore, but you gotta add the bin behind all those words.
A house is a landed property whereas a flat is in a high rise building.
Lifts, expressways and postman are very commonly used words by Singaporeans. Back in the day when I lived in the UK some of the interesting words I used and don't use anymore include - quids (for pounds), hole in the wall (for ATM), pad (for house or flat), chipie (for fish & chips shop) and one of my favourites "wotcher" (as a greeting).
Hi Georgia and Justin, I am a Singaporean and I use the word "lift" instead of "elevator", "toilet" instead of "washroom" or "bathroom", "expressway" instead of "motorway" or "freeway", "postman" instead of "mailman". I used to call the place to have meals in school a "tuck shop" but now I use the word "canteen". And I refuse to use the word "revert" to mean "reply" in emails. It annoys me when I receive an email that says "Please revert to me ".
Hi there.
We use lifts & elevators and also postman and bin.
Do you say " Have you got the time?" for what is the time now in the UK?
we still use the word postman, and we also use either letter box or mail box
Totally. 😁 I use "lift" all the time. Elevator is much too long... Hope you guys enjoyed the uniqueness of our language here and I hope you like the foods too. 😉 😊😋❤️🤗
We shorten it to cm and mm because it’s the way it’s used in math and science classes. I’ve never seen a teacher spell out the entire word unless it is to introduce the term.
The majority say lifts here I think. Also, more restrooms than bathrooms, altho toilets is pretty common too. Houses vs apartments vs flats to differentiate the different kinds of properties. Dual carriageway is for roads where cars go bothways, we dont call it freeways or motorways, it is expressways :) Mailbox is actually more specific for high rise places, postboxes for landed imo.
The postman sends us our letters in the letterbox. 😂 I am not sure if I ever heard people around me say “mailbox”.
As a Singaporean who moved to Australia as a kid and been here 20 years, this was so interesting for me! We use zucchini too, not courgettes. I shorten everything in a completely different way to Singlish (instead of acronyms, everything ends with an obnoxiously open vowel, like servo for service station, arvo for afternoon, mozzie for mosquitoes.We say rubber not eraser. I hardly use the words “I think” or “i guess”, it’s always “I reckon”. Most things are phrased in rhetorical question like “how goods that?!” instead of “that’s great!”. We buy alcohol at the bottle-o. Speedos are budgie smugglers. Drug stores or pharmacies are chemists. Cigarettes are durries or darts. Ice coolers are eskies. Friends are mates, McDonald’s is maccas. Petrol stations are servos. Chugging a drink is skulling. Sausages are snags, potatoes are spuds. Somewhere you may call “ulu” or out of the way is called woop woop. Complaining is whinging and anyone from New Zealand is a kiwi.
In Glasgow we call food shopping going to get the messages
My Brit friend used to say "trainers" when referring to "sneakers".
He has converted since
I'm Singaporean, and we always use lifts, toilets, flats, rubbish bins. People don't usually use the words elevator or garbage. I call it letterbox and postman though.
maybe u get shock culture :-D Grocery (small shop) Supermarket(big store;Tesco in US, Woolworth n Coles in Aussie) Lift, ATM, Apartment(high rise resident) House(landed home) Garbage bin, some of this word is very common use even in Indonesia
I used "shillings" for"change" in the 70s... " Do you have any shillings ?"
On "House" or "Flat", I remember back when I lived in London a couple of years back, I've always heard locals use "Flat", never "House". Maybe because it's London, where a majority of the people live in flats or apartments. And like Georgia, I found the word "Pence" sounded really weird then, and I still do now!
On a side note, most Singaporeans still do use the word "Toilet".
Brilliant. Yes, same for a lot of them. I say Expressway. And I've been saying zu-CHI-ni not zu-Ki-ni by mistake all this time. Thanks!
You could enunciate “Chinese food”, or “Indian food”.
Also, “tea time” means actual tea with finger food somewhere around 3-4pm. Not dinner.
When I was young, we still said “rubber”, meaning eraser.
My grandparents’ generation used to say “shillings” for coins.
We don’t use “freeways”, just use the specific 3-letter acronym of the expessway you’d want to go by, and the specific exit along said highway.
E.g. “PIE chut Paya Lebar”, means to take the Pan Island Expresway and exit at Paya Lebar Road.
Also, “Ahn Zhua Buay Sai Ker” means “why are we still not moving”? Which is a good question when you’re stuck in a jam.
Lift... toilet... house... bin... expressway... rocket... postman... I’m singaporean and those are what I’ve been calling them since young... who have u guys been talking to?!?!
Exactly. They certainly are not mingling with true blue Singaporeans 🤣
You are obviously belonging to the bottom 90% who never spent time at MBS MFBC correct? Don't worry. You are a NORMAL Porean. There are many others like you.
Hokkien Gospel “bottom”? “Normal”? Pfft... being in mbfc or MBS does not make you an elite or superior. I’m sure your Mother is so proud she brought up a jerk who belongs to a 10% that nobody enjoys being around.
Just kidding "LAH". Bottom of 90% is still top 10% of Malaysia right? You are still high class my friend, don't worry....My Mother is the Founding Member of PAP. Don't pray pray ok? How about your Founding Father? Now change your handle to CPFPAYOR and go to MBFC and MBS more often to try out the elevators. Clue: It is FREE (and not just for the top 10%) Bottom 0.00001% is also welcome.
We usually address highway, we don't use the term freeway, by their names; PIE, AYE, CTE eg.
"How to go to town?"
"CTE lor."
Much like if you are in the Midlands and probably "Let's take the M4 to London"
I use the word "lift" because elevator is just too long.
We still use “lifts” here and also “toilet”. But in the expat or professional work environment , toilet sounds cruder and therefore people may consciously avoid saying it. Washroom sounds very posh and American.
We don’t say “freeway” in Singapore I believe. It’s the highway.
We use house, flat, condo n apartment to differentiate where we live.
In Singapore we call it high way/expressway instead of free way! thats something I’m trying to accustom to the British now since I’ve moved to london 😅
wow, Georgia's hair looks amazing. Nice new look.