Appreciate that you didn’t take a white/western-centric approach towards our quirks. Thank you for being respectful and understanding while highlighting the differences in our society. (Annoys me so much when people label characteristics in other cultures weird or unacceptable just because it doesn’t fit in with their own)
0:52 Use of the word ‘one’ 1:46 Switching between languages 2:37 Everyones a boss 3:29 Slow walking 4:39 Ice cream sandwiches 5:43 The power of ‘can’ 6:31 Stomp/complaining 7:08 Supper culture 7:57 Living with parents
0:52 People sometimes end the word "ONE" is all about from Mandarin translation “这个”, “那个”. Example "我喜欢吃这个" or "我喜欢吃那个. Translation to english is "I like to eat this one" or "I like to eat that one".
another reason why people live with their parents is that HDB flats cannot be bought by singles under 35. not sure about UK though. i like the comparison btwn ice-cream sandwiches in Singapore and crisp sandwiches in UK.
Allow me to buy into this discussion. I am in my 60s and I can recall as a youngster a small block of ice cream the size of a small box of tissue, was sliced up like a load of bread. Each slice of the ice cream was placed between two slices of bread to make it an ice cream sandwich which was the norm. Why bread? It was easily available, whereas wafer was not quite and also bread was cheaper.
To answer why Singaporeans use the "Can". It's due to how the Chinese language and the Malay language are spoken. If we ask a question like "Can we go" in Malay or Chinese. We don't answer "Yes" or "No". It will be answered "Can" or "Cannot" in Chinese and Malay. I am not sure if it's the same in Tamil. But that's what I know.
In Malay, for instance like 'Can we go?', it is 'Boleh kita pergi?' So we usually answer 'Boleh' or 'Tidak boleh' which 'Can' or 'Cannot' respectively. So with that, it influence the Malay's in everyday street speaking on the word 'Can'. 'Yes' and 'No' is usually 'Iya' and 'Tidak'.
In addition, "can" seems like a less strong word to use. We tend to use "can/could", "shall/should", "will/would", "may/might" as it seems more polite. If Yes or No had been expressed slightly louder, it may seem like the person is upset.
When people addresses you as "boss" in Singapore, it is a sign of respect and elevating you to a higher position than he/she is. Often done in casual manner or rather friendly manner. Like it's breaking barriers between strangers. When a deliveryman come to you, they'll just politely greet you "Mornin Boss". It is sort of a friendly gesture too. Friends sometimes casually greet each other "hey boss" as a form of teasing just like you're a big shot etc.
Living with parents - I guess it is because Singapore is really small and everything is accessible. We don't have to move to another state/city for school, so there are even less reasons to move out. Even when studying in Jurong, it will take at most 1.5 hours to get to the other end of the island by public transport. Cheaper too!
Maybe you are a PR,its really true , though, i live in Tampines,eastern part of the island its quite ridiculous tt it will take me approximately 2hrs by feeder bus to reach tampines bus interchange ,then walk to the tampines mrt to take mrt,so abt 2 HRS to reach the west side joon koon mrt.Unless you take taxi less than an hr,abt 40 mins to reach 1end to the other n f there is a traffic jam it w take close to an 1 hr or more.
At 18, most young ppl are still not financially independent yet - young men will be in NS, and others will be still studying. And SG is a small place, so why stay away?
Dear Georgia tku for your bubbly observations 1) I am like that ""one"" if fully expressed would mean :- accept it or not i am manifesting this ""one of a kind"" attitude........ (there is a degree of anti social mannerism inherent in this ""one"" of a......) 2) staying with parents is more so in Singapore-style family nucleus, so much so as both young parents are income earners having to tide with ever rising cost of living. So their parents are willing & sacrificial nannies 3) Singapore HDB housing policy then had encouraged multigenerational living (upto 3-generation living together) in larger HDB units with given monetary grant. 4) this double or treble generations staying together policy, all in a single address is a subtle move for the Govt in not paying for granny / great granny upkeep and also for the Govt to stay away from keeping a Welfare State. blessings Jerry email : saw.jerrychua@gmail.com
Ice cream sandwiches was from a long time ago but in the early 70s, it was a luxury to even have ice cream for the average family. Looking at that era, there were no plastic cups, wafer biscuit or cone readily available and so bread was the convenient "holder" for ice cream.
@@AppleMacGeek It would still prevent leakage from the ice cream onto the hand - think of how absorbent bread is compared to a thin wafer, it's a lot more able to mop up the drips.
In addition, in the past bread helps fill us up faster if we can only afford that little amount for an ice cream. Some poorer folks may just have bread and icecream for a meal
Stomp has evolved from 'sharing of interesting news' to 'site for public shaming'. Interestingly it somehow also has a self-correcting mechanism. You see comments like "If a man likes to wear a skirt and hold hands with another man, that's none of your business. There's no need to stomp this." in response to inappropriate shaming. Complainers getting complained on on their complaints. The use of boss comes from Chinese, where in olden days, storeowners will greet anyone who visits their store as a "lao ban (boss)". Since technically you can run a business only if you have customers, in a way customers can be seen as the ones who allow you to do business (not unlike an actual boss who funds your business). Some modern storeowners still use this term in this context, but I guess the more recent generation has made a joke of it, more akin to 'bro' (which is why it's much harder to understand the context it is being used in today). 'Can' is almost (if not) the best example of what happens when a non-tonal language (English) is translated from a tonal language (Chinese). "We can go" means exactly that in English, while the same words in Chinese may represent a question, answer, surprise, confirmation, indifference, authority, and maybe a mixture of some of these all at once.
Key reason for why singaporean still live with their parents is money, and 2ndly the housing board only allows home owner ship for HDB after the age of 35. means if you are young annd under 35 theres no way to get afforable housing unless renting a room or apartment.
As a Singaporean, we like to call almost everyone who is older “Auntie” or “Uncle”. Taxi drivers are always greeted as “Uncle”, irrespective of whether he (or strangely “she”), is actually older than you. Even among friends of similar ages, sometimes call each other “Uncle” or “Auntie”. The one thing I can never get over is the 70+ year old Auntie (unrelated to me at all) who comes over to my home everyday greets the stallholders of her age “Auntie” and they greet her “Auntie” back. I’ve told her that this is really weird, as they are both about the same age, so who is actually the “Auntie”. She just gives me a weird look, and says I’m really stupid.
About ice cream in bread: there’s also a wafer option (in place of bread)-but preferences aside, I’ve theorised that the bread option may have came about for a few practical reasons; (1) bread can absorb melted ice cream (and ice cream melts really quickly here), thus minimising unintentional stains or spills on yourself/your clothes/the floor, etc. (2) an open packet of bread retains the texture and mouth-feel of bread longer than an open tin of wafers preserves its crunchy texture-partly because there are less slices of bread in a packet than there are pieces of wafer in a tin, so they tend to be used up quicker. And (3) because the bread tends to be folded over the block of ice cream like a taco shell, it kind of protects your hand from both the cold of the ice cream and it’s drippings.
Most of the ice cream were elderly as I can remember. I can’t wait to walk home from in 1970 so I can buy my ice cream with bread. It was 10 cents then so not much profit margin if they were to get waffle. Bread is way cheaper to use back then so it’s just profit margin.
@@kirralove4693 Most ice cream sellers I’ve seen recently (at least, those who peddle their wares from traditional ice cream carts-attached to a motorcycle or otherwise-and/or the back of vans) still fall into the elderly/post-retirement age group.
“Can” and “Can?” is a direct translation from “可以” and “可以吗?” its “singlish” as it basically uses the chinese sentence structure with directly the translated english word can.
There are many word use in Singapore that are cannibalised from the many different languages spoken here. Like the chinese will say going "basha" for going to the market. but that chinese term doesn't exist anywhere else in the mandarin speaking world. It comes from the Malay word "pasar". or the Singlish word "goes stan" for reversing, comes from "go astern"
yesss Singaporean fast walker here and I feel annoyed by slow walking people too hahahaha also ice cream in bread is the besttttt but you can get them in wafer and cup too!!!
Thank you Georgia, for your efforts to bring about peace in the world with your channel! Not sure if this was addressed earlier, point 7 is about using shaming as a punitive tool to encourage proper/polite social behaviour, shame is the preferred method to other alternatives.
"One" at the end of sentences corresponds to the Chinese 的 (pronounced as "de" in Chinese) at the end of sentence. But I have no idea how to explain the usage of 的 either, when used at the end of sentences. You can refer to the below link for some explanation on 的. chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/906/using-%E7%9A%84-at-the-end-of-a-sentence
Yes, I was about to reply this, but found that someone had already figured it out. "one" is used in place of "的". As to how "的", became "one", my guess is that it is due to how "的" is used in Chinese speech. One use of "的", is to generally used to modify words from "vanilla" (eg "我" means "I/me") to possessive, or denote possession ("我的" means "mine"). So, "this is John" is "这是John". Whereas "this one is John's" is "这是John的". In Singlish, this is often bastardised to "this is John's one". My guess is that because there is no equivalent word to express "的" in most contexts, "one" is the closest. It then got transplanted to all other places where you would use the word "的" if you were talking in Chinese. eg "为什么 你 总是 这样 的?" (why you always like this one?) In this usage, the addition of "的" is somewhat indicative that "总是这样", ie (always like this) is "possessed" by, or more accurately, applies to "你", or you. It's a concept with no direct parallel in English I guess, but that's the best way I can explain it. But yes, my guess is that because "one" is a close-ish substitute for "的" in some contexts, it just got used as a substitute word for "的" in all contexts, as there is no substitute word in many of these other contexts.
about slow walking.. did you observe this while in a group? because i feel i'm generally a fast walker as well and people walk sooo slow in groups!!! it's as if they are focusing on the conversation so much that they have to slow down... but they will walk faster if they are alone and are getting from point A to B.
"one" comes from direct (improper) translation of Chinese, from the word "的“. The word "的“ implies possession, "hers" = "她的”, "his" = “他的". but "的” can also act as a descriptive term: "broken" = "坏掉的“, "nice" = ”好样的“. I have no clue how it started, but if the Chinese sentence has the word "的“, the spoken English will include "one". "她的” = "hers", spoken as "her one". "我的" = "mine, spoken as "my one". "坏掉的“ = "broken", spoken as "spoilt one" or "broken one"
I enjoyed your sharing videos on your perspective of Singapore. My cousins from Malaysia were wondering why Singaporeans seemed to be always in a rush, we walk and talk fast. And when I travel to Indonesia, everything goes at a snail’s pace, everyone is so relaxed. So, I don’t think we are that slow, it’s just your pace is much faster back in the UK.
Hi Georgia! Thanks for sharing your unique perspective. I'm sure that there are a lot of other foreigners who probably struggle to understand many aspects of Singapore's culture. To answer one of your questions, the power of the word "can" was derived from the English translation based on the Mandarin sentence structure. In English, we would normally say, "Can we meet tomorrow?" But a direct Chinese translation of this would be, "We meet tomorrow, can?" And if the answer is yes, the respondent would say, "Can!" And that is how the power of the word "can" came about! Hope this makes sense! :)
If you learn Mandarin, the one and can will make a lot more sense. If you know French or Italian, the singlish one is similar to how you use que and che. In Mandarin, people ask if someone *can* do something for them, which is a casual polite expression, and it becomes more pertinent, when the answer is "cannot", though Singaporeans tend to have problems with rejection in general. Ask your Chinese friends about 那个 (that one) and 可以的 (can one). Note that this is informal/broken even in Mandarin. Only Singaporeans/Malaysians speak this way in Mandarin and Singlish. Taiwanese and PRC Mandarin are different in how their emphases and nuances are expressed. Singlish is a creole that has taken all the working parts of English and Mandarin, a smidge of Malay and Tamil, and discarded the rhythms of all 4, mashing them together into an efficient, but unrefined tongue. Try having a conversation about abstract ideas and you'll find Singlish lacks enough vocabulary as a medium. You will find that the proper phonetics of each root language is seldom taught in mainstream schools in Singapore.
I'd say Singlish is rather a creole that has taken all the working parts of English, Hokkien and Malay, with a smidge of Mandarin. I think we can all agree that we only include Tamil out of respect. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything Tamil in Singlish (other than vulgarities which our other languages also have a fair share of). If you have one in mind, please enlighten me haha
@@pass2pee i recall the use of "dei" as an example of tamil in singlish, as in "eh, dei, why you like that?" or calling out to get someone's attention, "dei, over here!" it's supposed to be the equivalent of "brother" or "dude", or "abang" in malay, i think. but then, i don't speak tamil myself, so not sure of its actual meaning.
The problem with this is that Singaporeans switch so effortlessly that they don't realize they're code-mixing. A lot of Singaporeans struggle with speaking English, Mandarin or Malay intelligibly to native speakers of those languages because they can't not code-mix. Singlish is a double edge sword. While it is our national identify, it's also our worst enemy when communicating with the rest of the world.
@@fongjosephine The purpose of language IS communication. Code-switching, mixing, and accents are all features of speech and language, and are social identifiers secondarily, not the other way around.
The English we used is known as Singlish & it came about from direct translation from dialect. Food is one the best things in Singapore, the wide variety of choices & available anytime. As for staying with parents, housing here is expensive due to our limited land space but there are some stay with parents by choices.
I suspect the use of "can" might be from Malay. We often say "Boleh ke tak?" which means "Can or not?". For questions to ask if someone's able to do something, we'd say "Tolong aku, boleh?" which means "Help me, can?". And over time, this diffused with Singlish.
Singaporean here, who moved to New York, then moved back. Walked fast in New York, then slowed right back down in Singapore precisely because it's so hot. So to avoid breaking out in a sweat, walk slowly and in the shade. Makes cooling down once you hit an air conditioned building much faster. Think slow jog vs. HIIT, cool down much faster after a slow jog while you still have the after burn from HIIT.
I’m a fast walker. I can’t stand it when people sway as they are walking jus annoys me. Especially during my working days as it’s always so packed with people and walking slow is not an option for me.
Yes, translation from mandarin. Its a direct translation....example: 我的= wo de= (wo= me) and (de= mine) so, wo de= instead of saying "mine", we say (wo de= literally, my one)...thats why we say, this is my one!!!! Cheers *The word 的= de....is an emphasis!
Great video, very accurate observations!!! I completely agree with the walking part, when I was in London I was shocked at how fast people were walking so fast and anxiously, and so focused, until I realised many people also don't stay in the central part where workplaces are, so it will take some time to commute. But it was pretty scary there was one time I was walking 'against' the rush hour and was afraid of being trampled by the people coming towards me !!
Sharing my understanding.... 1. Use of the word ‘one’ - it's a direct Mandarin/Chinese translation to end a sentence 2. Switching between languages - since young Singaporeans are exposed to many dialects, Mandarin and English, it becomes a habit for us to speak with a mixture of lanaguages 3. Everyones a boss - like what you have shared, it's a form of respect, like using the word "mate" 4. Slow walking - it depends if we are rushing for time, if not we tend to walk in a normal pace 5. Ice cream sandwiches - the bread soaks in the melted ice cream pretty well and in the olden days, it's a cheap dessert for kids 6. The power of ‘can' - another direct translation from Mandarin/Chinese 7. Stomp/complaining - it's a way to de-stress, usually no hard feeelings 8. Supper culture - it's a good time to catch up with friends after a busy day at work 9. Living with parents - it comes from the Chinese teachings where one has to be filial to our parents and take care of them when they get old
Yes, I call some of my colleagues Boss too, yeap it's like how you would call someone a "mate" too in the UK. Many Singaporeans would also use "Bro" or "Sis".
bread absorbs the dripping icecream. So bread is a vessel and also food container. It also helps to make it easier to eat on the go if its a finger food. And the bread takes on the flavor of the icecream so that helps to make it an interesting combination.
"I don't understand how they walk so slowly." Me, as a local: well same here, I don't understand why all my friends walk at 1cm/min while I walk at 100m/min
Living with parents (apart from the high cost of rent, buying a flat etc) is also normalised here due to traditional asian values of filial piety! We're expected to care for our parents once they age and this means also being in quite close proximity to them
I'm from the states and I thought the ice cream in bread was soooo weird at first, but when I tried it I loved it! The bread itself is sweet so they compliment each other really well. The texture of the bread is also a bit different from your standard sandwich bread.. anyway I was surprised it is actually tasty
I LOLed at the "calling everyone a boss" Singaporean likes to be called "boss" because it makes the person feel capable and influential, definitely a form of respect. Soon after, everyone started calling everyone boss. Literally "like a BOSS".
I love your thoughts & all the things that you’ve pointed out. Made me laugh quite a bit. Thanks for entertaining this Singaporean living abroad! Been watching your videos for quite a bit now :) Hope you’ve been well & take care of yourself! Thank you for all your videos.
Hi Georgia, love your videos. On living with parents, cost aside and my guess would be most asian culture has a patriarchal/matriarchal system dating back to our early ancestors. During their time period everyone lives together so that responsibilities can be shared, and looking out for each other. I guess this mindset has been passed down from generations to generations.
Hi Georgia, in response to your question about “can”, I believe it’s a translation thing from Malay. Both Malaysia and Singapore are big on “boleh” which translates into “can”. And as you mentioned, about “can”, “boleh” is both a question and a response. The word doubled is even better and shows more enthusiasm😅, so “can can” or “boleh boleh” are even better. And about living with parents in your twenties and thirties, yes, it’s a cultural thing not only in Singapore but in the majority of the East. The entire Middle East is like that too.
yes Singapore is a fast-paced society economically. in singapore we all have a relaxed pace too. this applies to when we are exercising, doing sports. usually when i walk i take my own sweet time in a relaxed manner. singapore will become more user-friendly in time to come. we have a lot of sheltered walkways being built concurrently. you can be safe when it's very hot or when it rains and you forgot your umbrella. singapore is very accessible in terms of public transports. you have mrts within walking distance virtually everywhere. it's all networked. if you lost your way, you can simply flag down a taxi by the roadside. or if you want, you can take buses. the bus drivers are well informed too.
Fast-paced countries like these increases my life expectancy by a significant amount, by not having to overtake slow young walkers and following the Singaporean Chinese teachings (as we were taught when we were younger): When u are walking down the street, don't walk in the middle of the pathway and obstruct others, who wants to walk faster than you.
I am a fast walker. Completely at home in London where I can match the pace of walkers there with no problem. Over in Singapore, I feel like I am Sonic the Hedgehog or a Road Runner, weaving through the crowd like some kinda computer game. And if that is bad, what amuses me even more is the way people walk down staircases, especially stalled escalators. Not factoring those in inconvenient attire like high heels, being physically challenged, or whatever, it is almost as if many people have lost the physical ability to walk down a flight of stairs because of escalators. They walk down so gingerly like they gonna fall down any moment, while I breeze past them taking 3 steps in one second.
Chinese language grammar is more flexible as it commonly can put some words in front or behind. We also have word 嗎 (ma), a tone represent question mark. Chinese way of speaking ‘I pass it to you tomorrow, can ma?’ So it become ‘I pass it to you tomorrow, can?’ in English term.
Walking fast/slow depends on the individual, some walk slow maybe they are window shopping. If you go to Raffles Place pre-covid. Lunch time crowd tend to walk faster due to rush hour.
I love to walk fast, but not in that much heat! When it gets really hot, almost nothing above my knees moves when I walk. Learnt this trick in Thailand 👍🙂 much cooler !
The question is why this term is used, even in Chinese... I'm not sure if there is any research out there on the use of this term the way it is being used "loosely". Maybe it's just a sign of respect (addressing a senior ranked person), or when you are "giving power" to the person you are speaking to (e.g., in the store where the customer is called "boss"), or implicitly telling someone that they're in charge of something, like a project (hence why the actual boss would call an employee who is heading a project, boss).
@@singlah not sure either. I reckon in the early days where most shops are small family businesses, the customers are addressed as boss out of respect and also they are paying for the services or products..so in a way they are the "boss".
Thanks for the interesting video. We have this "boss" habit in Slovenian, too, in the sense that it means exactly the same as "mate". We just don't use it all the time and not at all in the professional environment. But we will sometimes say; hey boss, how's your week been? - and here "boss" will be referred to a mate, whom you admire at least in some sense and who you want to politely and playfully flatter. It's not exactly the same, but it exists. :)
1) I WALK FAST!! guess depends on where you are in SG. 2) bread with ice-cream - if I am not wrong the bread is made differently, its not the usual white, but sweeter. 3) Can - also from Mandarin translation 可以, vs. 'yes' which is translated as 是
Living with parents until an older age is also pretty normal in Brazil. I'm 26 and all my friends work and most of us still live with our parents (I was actually planning to move out last year and my dad was like lol why waste money on rent just keep living here and save money to buy your own house). I don't really know why that happens but I think it might have something to do with the perception that paying rent is a huge waste of money and that you should save as much as you can so you can own a house, and so parents are completely fine with their kids living at home for a longer period of time so they can save that money. This also happens because sometimes the kid starts making more money than the parents and wants to help them lead a better life, so they might stay home and take care of the bills and other things so that their parents can have a more comfortable life.
"Boss" can be used in different context. Most commonly used are the Stall Owner to Customer relationship. Sometimes they would just address each other using "Boss". For customer to refer the stall owners as boss, the owner subconciously felt the respect/pride. Likewise the same to customer. It just being used to make each other feel good. It makes the mood generally better and deals can get done. It can also be used in a friendship context. Sometimes I would jokingly call my friend "boss" because I appreciate the helps he gave whenever we hang out. E.g. sending me home, foot the bill first etc etc.
As a Singaporean myself, I must say, I walk normally (slower) is because I worked 12hours shift daily, so if I can spend some of that time walking slowly, is to appreciate life and live a little. Some of us worked in an aircon condition way too long, to be able to absorb some warmed and to see the sun is always good.
i'm a fast walker and yet find that people in HK walk even faster! yes, most locals walk slowly bcos that's the only way to mitigate the heat and stress haha. love your observations here. all on point
Appreciate you sharing this and hopefully this will lead to a learning moment for many viewers. Cultural diversity can be a beautiful thing if we learn from one another and respect those differences 🙌💯
Hi Georgia, the word "can" comes from the Chinese and Malay language. In Chinese we often use "可以 /不可以" (ke yi/bu ke yi) which literally means can/cannot when answering yes or no questions. Likewise when we are asking whether the person is able to do it with "可以吗？"(ke yi ma). I guess it applies to Malay language as well with "boleh/tak boleh" and "boleh?" which have the same meaning as well.
The boss part i think its rooted from the saving face value, you call em with a valued label to show yr appreciation insteas of calling em hey you my subordinate like that wan la xD
6:20 most like a translation thing cause in mandarine If you say 可以（keyi) it translates to "can" and it makes sense In mandarine when u reply to someone but if you were to say 是的（shide）which means yes it's doesn't really answer the question? Honestly I've zero clue how to explain imao it just makes sense in my brain
The closest word I can think of is “行”。(xing) “你可以做这个吗？“ or “你行吗？" which is almost the same in context.. ”行!" - which literally says ok or can in response.
When you ask "ke yi ma?" (can you do it?), usually the response is "ke yi" (yes/can) or bu ke yi (no/cannot). So that's why can is being used so interchangeably with yes. So in singlish, the convo qns would be "this one can do or not?" (can whatever that needs to be done, be done in the manner I'm asking for), and the reply if yes, would be "of cos can la! Why cannot?", which just means of course I can do it! Why can't I!" If the reply is no, it'll be "cannot la, how can?", which just means it cannot be done; how can it be done in the way you specified?! So instead of saying so many words.. Singlish kinda just speeds things up and gets the point across with the least effort. Talk about being lazy even in talking.. Hahaha
Hey Georgia I love listening to your perspective. It’s hilarious!! How do you manage to almost always crack me up?! Anyways, you here at a very opportune time and I really hope you don’t miss it. Stay Up and keep abreast of the GE going on especially Polling Day. Just to quote an example; In 2011 when WP got their GRC win it was euphoric!! Not saying anything about taking sides here. Just saying that the real essence of local atmosphere can be seen at this time whichever way one tends to swing. Hope you don’t miss them.
well boss is a colloquial term that came from the chinese way of calling each other "老板“ (lao ban) as an alternate to the term Bro/Mate in a work/business environment. You can treat the reason why boss is use, is because you are the owner of what you do. You own the work you do, responsible for it, hence you are the boss of your work. Some other example of how we say it. “Boss. I need you to complete this today." or “Boss! long time no see! You must have been busy!" or the traditional "Yes Boss, will do what you say"
6:30 sg Karens are scary I’m Glad I never have experienced them otw to school 😫😫 also one thing I don’t rlly like is that some of us Singaporeans only know how to complain and not make a difference abt it :((
I lived in the UK for a couple of years... including doing my internship in London. I did walk pretty fast because especially during winter, It was COLD!! I dashed from building to building to get into a nicely heated and warm place. Conversely, I walk slowly in Singapore because I do not want to perspire too quickly.
I'm definitely a fast walker, I get frustrated sometimes walking around especially in the malls or to the MRT. I actually liked ice cream in wafers better than bread. Bread's just... too filling. Not sure about the other languages, but as far as Mandarin is concerned, the word "boss" in mandarin has been used to refer to business owners, and informally customers, since ancient times. think the usage evolved and we now use it to refer it to even colleagues. As for the word "can", you will find that many Asian countries would've used it the same way in their own language. For most Asian languages, both the formal and informal way of answering a question for "Can x be y?" would be to "Can". And for some languages, it would actually be rather strange to say "Yes, x can be y." While the words "can" and "yes" can be translated to various Asian languages, they do have an inherent meaning in the Asian language counterparts, which would've been lost in translation. I guess that's why Singaporeans/Malaysians are heavily influenced by their mother tongue when using English.
On further reading, there are the universal "yes/no" answers for affirmative/negative responses to questions about ability to, permission to, etc, used in the English Language. In most other Asian languages however, they do not answer those questions with a universal yes/no. Yes/No would only be used in questions that seeks affirmation like "Is this xxx?" or "Are you xxx?" Otherwise, they would answer it using the verb in the question. For example: Do you know how to do this? ( i ) know/ ( i ) don't know. Can you do this? ( i ) can/ ( i ) cannot. Can I go to the toilet? (in Mandarin, this doesn't sound strange at all) ( you ) can/ ( you) cannot. The use of pronouns or lack there of does not change how formal or informal the answer sounds in most Asian languages, also probably why Singaporeans would've removed it and instead, reply with just the verb.
There are many Chinese phrases that we directly translate to English as a phrase. Example : English : When somebody stood you up, you just say : He stood me up. There is a Chinese phrase that we have which describes the same thing : 放我飞机 (Translated to English directly : Put my aeroplane). When somebody stood us up, we may say : He "put my aeroplane". Other than this one, there are still many, many interesting direct translation that we have.
In Malay, for instance like 'Can we go?', it is 'Boleh kita pergi?' So we usually answer 'Boleh' or 'Tidak boleh' which 'Can' or 'Cannot' respectively. So with that, it influence the Malay's in everyday street speaking on the word 'Can'. 'Yes' and 'No' is usually 'Iya' and 'Tidak'.
I prefer ice cream with wafers haha but once in a while, a slab of chocochip ice cream between two slices of white bread is amazing on a hot day. What's good about it there's no waste (plastic) that you have to throw after.
Hello! I really enjoy listening to your experience. Makes me realize how I don’t think about how “strange” some of the things we do or say are haha it’s really refreshing (:
Hi... Having to say "can" in some sentence, basically it's a way of we Asian like Chinese and Malay like to use instead of using "okay". Because literally, it's actually directly translated from our Chinese and Malay language... when we try to confirm with someone of something in our sentences.
"can" at the last part of sentences seems to be similar to the sentence structure of Mandarin. also, as a gen z, we don't really use a lot of words like "boss" and we don't codeswitch as much as older singaporeans because most of the younger gen can't communicate in other Chinese varieties. I'm that few who hates bread with ice cream and don't have supper
Calling people boss, is also a Chinese and possible Indian thing too. Because it is a respectful or even praising way to address someone, especially there is a money transactional thing. Like you called the food stall workers/owner boss, so that they will give you more ingredient or extra goodies. The store keepers call customers boss, because it makes the customer feels good and "rich", so they will spend more. When people negotiating a deal call each other boss, so that it will make the person feel more empowered to give a good deal/concession and make the deal go thru smoother. All in all, its a very cheap (both "slutty" and "resource efficient") way of making your own life easier and smoother.
Hello, love watching your videos, especially during this Covid-19 lock down. I have already picked up one of your habits, I bought metal straws...LOL Always interested in shopping pieces and clothing. Thanks
We usually say can....yes, can....etc and in Australia, they use, sure...sure we do....something like that! Can is also a direct translation from mandarin...可以= ke yi= can....(we always reply if spoken in mandarin as 可以。.so literally, we use the word, "can"
I think living with parents is, as you mentioned, because housing (buying or rental) is so expensive here, and we are used to it. But also because of the dominant Confucian culture of filial piety. It can look bad if you move out, though I think parents nowadays also understand.
Regarding the ice cream sandwich thing, one big advantage with ice cream between two slices of bread is when ithe ice cream melts (in our heat!), the bread would just absorb the melted ice cream!! Making the bread even more delicious!! Efficient ya?! 😜
When I was working in Raffles Place, my walking pace was Super fast. After my office moved to Redhill (a quiet neighbourhood), I realised that my pace slowed down a lot. When I went back to Raffles Place, I couldn’t catch up with the speed of the office workers! Esp during the morning rush.
When I need to rush for work, an appointment or hope to catch the bus before it pulls up at the bus bay, I will and can walk very fast, often overtaking a lof of other slow-mo pedestrians who probably are not in a hurry to get reborn in tehir next life (a chinese way of saying people forever in a hurry). However, when I'm not in a good mood, just feeling tired after a day's work on the way home or simply just don't feel like I need to rush, then I will walk slowly and smell the roses (figuratively speaking). Moreover, Singapore weather is hot and humid. the faster you walk, the more you sweat, especially when you have quite a distance to cover before reaching your destination!
I love bread with ice cream. I still remember when I was a kid, my late grand Father use to buy it for me whenever he pick me up from school. And it’s a treat every single time. 100% feels good comfort food. Now I try to treat my Son the same every now and then and he loves it.
About the living with parents thing - singles under 35 can't own buy public housing from the government. As in, legally not allowed. Even after 35, there's a cap on the size of the flat you can buy. You can get a resale or private housing, of course, but it's pretty much the single most expensive item in our lives (few years back flats in really popular locations were going for up to 700k - 1 million). Rental culture isn't really big here as well, since the flat is also our biggest capital we own and rental doesn't leave you with anything after. So unless you're doing really really well in your 20s, most people simply don't have the means to move out. As for the slow walking... YES. Drives me nuts.
UK - I walk fast (it’s cold!) SG - I walk slowly to avoid heating up! I tried the ice cream in ‘rainbow bread’ finally and it was heaven. Way less messy than wafer! 💖☺️
It is because Singaporean spoke Cantonese a long time ago. Those words are kind of just a word in Cantonese. They don’t mean anything most of the time and sometimes they brings out the tone of the speaker if that make sense. We add those words at the end of the sentence all the time.
omg ice cream in between bread is my favourite! there is also ice cream between biscuits(wafers)Love the uncles selling these ice creams on streets, it is a cheap and convenient to get an ice cream on a hot day in Singapore!
To understand the word ‘one’ at the end of a sentence in Singlish, you need to know Chinese grammar. The Chinese word is 的 (pronounced de). A typical Chinese sentence could be one with this structure: 是 (pronounced shi4, which is equivalent to is/are/was/were) + adjective + 的, and the function of 的 here is to indicate that the sentence is affirmative (fyi, 的 has other grammar functions). For example, we could say ‘这(=This) 是(=is) 不对(=wrong/incorrect) 的’. In Singlish, Chinese grammar is often adopted, and so instead of saying ‘This is wrong/incorrect’, we might say ‘This is wrong/incorrect one’, with ‘one’ substituting 的. However, how ‘one’ came to be the substitute for 的 remains unexplained.
The "can" part is probably due to chinese language where the sentence structures is different than english n singaporean just adopts it. For example, in english "Can we meet tomorrow?", in chinese that would be "我们明天见面，可以吗？“(simplest way to phrase it and also kinda broken as well but the most common way of saying it in singapore). and directly phrase by phrase translation is "We tomorrow meet, can?". Although you can still do "我们可以明天见面吗？" which would translate to "We can tomorrow meet?". And as times pass, we just continue using it and it becomes common even beyond Singaporean Chinese and to other race as well within Singapore. And also Singaporean just have the ability to find the short form of everything and make communication efficient with the least possible speaking/writing.
using the word boss usually happens only to hawkers calling male customers? or sellers calling customers handsome, pretty lady etc . I’ve never encountered people calling each other bosses at workplaces (except for real bosses)
For the "boss" thing I'm from south of France and a lot of people there have this habits too. They can call everybody "chef" even if it's not their boss, or even when they are not at work !
![ปฏิเสธไม่ไหว (Crush on you) - LIPTA feat. No One Else [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NBw1jF342vw/mqdefault.jpg)
Appreciate that you didn’t take a white/western-centric approach towards our quirks. Thank you for being respectful and understanding while highlighting the differences in our society. (Annoys me so much when people label characteristics in other cultures weird or unacceptable just because it doesn’t fit in with their own)
0:52 Use of the word ‘one’
1:46 Switching between languages
2:37 Everyones a boss
3:29 Slow walking
4:39 Ice cream sandwiches
5:43 The power of ‘can’
6:31 Stomp/complaining
7:08 Supper culture
7:57 Living with parents
0:52 People sometimes end the word "ONE" is all about from Mandarin translation “这个”, “那个”. Example "我喜欢吃这个" or "我喜欢吃那个. Translation to english is "I like to eat this one" or "I like to eat that one".
Oh! The ice cream sandwiches are great! I rarely eat them, unless Im fortunate enough to bump into the roadside vendor, but oh theyre delicious
There are fast walker in Singapore, they are so fast you can't see them. For Stomp, there is a website for it.
another reason why people live with their parents is that HDB flats cannot be bought by singles under 35. not sure about UK though. i like the comparison btwn ice-cream sandwiches in Singapore and crisp sandwiches in UK.
On supper culture, it might be someone's breakfast or dinner, or just a meal to hang out late at night (for night owls or graveyard shift workers).
Ice cream in bread is the best invention in the world !!!
Yup, I will never get wafer nor cone, when there is bread. Big winner here for me.
Ye and the bread gains more flavour as the ice cream melts good stuff 👌👌
Allow me to buy into this discussion. I am in my 60s and I can recall as a youngster a small block of ice cream the size of a small box of tissue, was sliced up like a load of bread. Each slice of the ice cream was placed between two slices of bread to make it an ice cream sandwich which was the norm. Why bread? It was easily available, whereas wafer was not quite and also bread was cheaper.
Only works in cooler climate. Ice Cream bread in Singapore is a sloppy mess after a minute. Not the greatest invention.
@@mochi-ko I never got to that stage. If you ever reach that stage, the same logic will go for wafer or cone.
To answer why Singaporeans use the "Can". It's due to how the Chinese language and the Malay language are spoken. If we ask a question like "Can we go" in Malay or Chinese. We don't answer "Yes" or "No". It will be answered "Can" or "Cannot" in Chinese and Malay. I am not sure if it's the same in Tamil. But that's what I know.
Same in Tamil. We won't answer with a yes or no for a "Can" question.
In Malay, for instance like 'Can we go?', it is 'Boleh kita pergi?' So we usually answer 'Boleh' or 'Tidak boleh' which 'Can' or 'Cannot' respectively.
So with that, it influence the Malay's in everyday street speaking on the word 'Can'.
'Yes' and 'No' is usually 'Iya' and 'Tidak'.
In addition, "can" seems like a less strong word to use. We tend to use "can/could", "shall/should", "will/would", "may/might" as it seems more polite. If Yes or No had been expressed slightly louder, it may seem like the person is upset.
When people addresses you as "boss" in Singapore, it is a sign of respect and elevating you to a higher position than he/she is. Often done in casual manner or rather friendly manner. Like it's breaking barriers between strangers. When a deliveryman come to you, they'll just politely greet you "Mornin Boss". It is sort of a friendly gesture too. Friends sometimes casually greet each other "hey boss" as a form of teasing just like you're a big shot etc.
Living with parents - I guess it is because Singapore is really small and everything is accessible. We don't have to move to another state/city for school, so there are even less reasons to move out. Even when studying in Jurong, it will take at most 1.5 hours to get to the other end of the island by public transport. Cheaper too!
And wages? At 18yo, dun think we can earn enough to pay rent and keep ourselves alive if we were to stay by ourselves.
Maybe you are a PR,its really true , though, i live in Tampines,eastern part of the island its quite ridiculous tt it will take me approximately 2hrs by feeder bus to reach tampines bus interchange ,then walk to the tampines mrt to take mrt,so abt 2 HRS to reach the west side joon koon mrt.Unless you take taxi less than an hr,abt 40 mins to reach 1end to the other n f there is a traffic jam it w take close to an 1 hr or more.
At 18, most young ppl are still not financially independent yet - young men will be in NS, and others will be still studying. And SG is a small place, so why stay away?
You forgot to mention that we can't buy public housing as singles until age 35.
Asian filial piety. We invite parents to stay with us
Living with parents also means taking care of them as they are growing old
I know and I really love that!
Dear Georgia
tku for your bubbly observations
1) I am like that ""one""
if fully expressed would mean :-
accept it or not i am manifesting this ""one of a kind"" attitude........
(there is a degree of anti social mannerism inherent in this
""one"" of a......)
2) staying with parents is more so in Singapore-style family nucleus, so much so as both young parents are income earners having to tide with ever rising cost of living. So their parents are willing & sacrificial nannies
3) Singapore HDB housing policy then had encouraged multigenerational living (upto 3-generation living together)
in larger HDB units with given monetary grant.
4) this double or treble generations staying together policy, all in a single address is a subtle move for the Govt in not paying for granny / great granny upkeep and also for the Govt to stay away from keeping a
Welfare State.
blessings
Jerry
email : saw.jerrychua@gmail.com
Can leech on them also... in my case.... =p
and rule of getting a HDB... also, asians are a lot more family oriented. Georgia sld be here long enough to know that?
Ice cream sandwiches was from a long time ago but in the early 70s, it was a luxury to even have ice cream for the average family. Looking at that era, there were no plastic cups, wafer biscuit or cone readily available and so bread was the convenient "holder" for ice cream.
In addition, as Singapore is a very hot country, the bread helps to absorb the icecream and prevent it from leaking :)
Dripping, leh, not “leaking”... 😜
@@AppleMacGeek It would still prevent leakage from the ice cream onto the hand - think of how absorbent bread is compared to a thin wafer, it's a lot more able to mop up the drips.
In addition, in the past bread helps fill us up faster if we can only afford that little amount for an ice cream. Some poorer folks may just have bread and icecream for a meal
Not any bread, but egg bread.
Stomp has evolved from 'sharing of interesting news' to 'site for public shaming'. Interestingly it somehow also has a self-correcting mechanism. You see comments like "If a man likes to wear a skirt and hold hands with another man, that's none of your business. There's no need to stomp this." in response to inappropriate shaming. Complainers getting complained on on their complaints.
The use of boss comes from Chinese, where in olden days, storeowners will greet anyone who visits their store as a "lao ban (boss)". Since technically you can run a business only if you have customers, in a way customers can be seen as the ones who allow you to do business (not unlike an actual boss who funds your business).
Some modern storeowners still use this term in this context, but I guess the more recent generation has made a joke of it, more akin to 'bro' (which is why it's much harder to understand the context it is being used in today).
'Can' is almost (if not) the best example of what happens when a non-tonal language (English) is translated from a tonal language (Chinese).
"We can go" means exactly that in English, while the same words in Chinese may represent a question, answer, surprise, confirmation, indifference, authority, and maybe a mixture of some of these all at once.
Key reason for why singaporean still live with their parents is money, and 2ndly the housing board only allows home owner ship for HDB after the age of 35. means if you are young annd under 35 theres no way to get afforable housing unless renting a room or apartment.
Yep. Unless you're an orphan or a single parent.
As a Singaporean, we like to call almost everyone who is older “Auntie” or “Uncle”. Taxi drivers are always greeted as “Uncle”, irrespective of whether he (or strangely “she”), is actually older than you. Even among friends of similar ages, sometimes call each other “Uncle” or “Auntie”. The one thing I can never get over is the 70+ year old Auntie (unrelated to me at all) who comes over to my home everyday greets the stallholders of her age “Auntie” and they greet her “Auntie” back. I’ve told her that this is really weird, as they are both about the same age, so who is actually the “Auntie”. She just gives me a weird look, and says I’m really stupid.
About ice cream in bread: there’s also a wafer option (in place of bread)-but preferences aside, I’ve theorised that the bread option may have came about for a few practical reasons; (1) bread can absorb melted ice cream (and ice cream melts really quickly here), thus minimising unintentional stains or spills on yourself/your clothes/the floor, etc. (2) an open packet of bread retains the texture and mouth-feel of bread longer than an open tin of wafers preserves its crunchy texture-partly because there are less slices of bread in a packet than there are pieces of wafer in a tin, so they tend to be used up quicker. And (3) because the bread tends to be folded over the block of ice cream like a taco shell, it kind of protects your hand from both the cold of the ice cream and it’s drippings.
Most of the ice cream were elderly as I can remember. I can’t wait to walk home from in 1970 so I can buy my ice cream with bread. It was 10 cents then so not much profit margin if they were to get waffle. Bread is way cheaper to use back then so it’s just profit margin.
@@kirralove4693 Most ice cream sellers I’ve seen recently (at least, those who peddle their wares from traditional ice cream carts-attached to a motorcycle or otherwise-and/or the back of vans) still fall into the elderly/post-retirement age group.
And everybody r “handsome”/“shuai ge” or “beautiful”/“mei nv” to mixed vegetable rice stall uncles and aunties.
Honestly for me I hate it when those uncles call me mei nu. It’s sounds very perverted and it’s very uncomfortable for some women
It's still 小弟 for me 90% of the time... and I'm 27.
More like prc.
Sgrean n msia will use boss老板 or 小弟 小妹 or uncle auntie。
Yes, if you meet a young man in Singapore you can call him hamsap lou as a term of endearment while still being respectful
“Can” and “Can?” is a direct translation from “可以” and “可以吗?” its “singlish” as it basically uses the chinese sentence structure with directly the translated english word can.
There are many word use in Singapore that are cannibalised from the many different languages spoken here. Like the chinese will say going "basha" for going to the market. but that chinese term doesn't exist anywhere else in the mandarin speaking world. It comes from the Malay word "pasar". or the Singlish word "goes stan" for reversing, comes from "go astern"
"Boss", when used in Singapore, implies that your wish is my command.
Haha exactly that
When you have a favour to ask from someone, you call him/her boss.
@@GeorgiaCaney where you live in Singapore
they call u bro when they want something from you,
ey b0ss
yesss Singaporean fast walker here and I feel annoyed by slow walking people too hahahaha
also ice cream in bread is the besttttt but you can get them in wafer and cup too!!!
Especially pedestrians who hoard the pathways and get pissed off (rare but there are some unreasonable ones) when you say excuse me.
anngeeeee try eating with biscuits, 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I had a holiday there, and had to slow my walk right down which effected my gate and I came home with sore hips.
Samuel C and ppl who stand at the right side of escalator blocking people who are rushing to take the MRT in the morning. So annoying
Its the weather. One needs to conserve energy.
Thank you Georgia, for your efforts to bring about peace in the world with your channel! Not sure if this was addressed earlier, point 7 is about using shaming as a punitive tool to encourage proper/polite social behaviour, shame is the preferred method to other alternatives.
"One" at the end of sentences corresponds to the Chinese 的 (pronounced as "de" in Chinese) at the end of sentence. But I have no idea how to explain the usage of 的 either, when used at the end of sentences. You can refer to the below link for some explanation on 的.
chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/906/using-%E7%9A%84-at-the-end-of-a-sentence
Yes, I was about to reply this, but found that someone had already figured it out. "one" is used in place of "的".
As to how "的", became "one", my guess is that it is due to how "的" is used in Chinese speech.
One use of "的", is to generally used to modify words from "vanilla" (eg "我" means "I/me") to possessive, or denote possession ("我的" means "mine"). So, "this is John" is "这是John". Whereas "this one is John's" is "这是John的". In Singlish, this is often bastardised to "this is John's one".
My guess is that because there is no equivalent word to express "的" in most contexts, "one" is the closest. It then got transplanted to all other places where you would use the word "的" if you were talking in Chinese.
eg "为什么 你 总是 这样 的?" (why you always like this one?) In this usage, the addition of "的" is somewhat indicative that "总是这样", ie (always like this) is "possessed" by, or more accurately, applies to "你", or you. It's a concept with no direct parallel in English I guess, but that's the best way I can explain it.
But yes, my guess is that because "one" is a close-ish substitute for "的" in some contexts, it just got used as a substitute word for "的" in all contexts, as there is no substitute word in many of these other contexts.
about slow walking.. did you observe this while in a group? because i feel i'm generally a fast walker as well and people walk sooo slow in groups!!! it's as if they are focusing on the conversation so much that they have to slow down... but they will walk faster if they are alone and are getting from point A to B.
Yess both solo and groups!😝
@@GeorgiaCaney Boss, I walk Steady Steady Pom Pi Pi
th-cam.com/video/Hqusjf35vaM/w-d-xo.html
"one" comes from direct (improper) translation of Chinese, from the word "的“. The word "的“ implies possession, "hers" = "她的”, "his" = “他的". but "的” can also act as a descriptive term: "broken" = "坏掉的“, "nice" = ”好样的“.
I have no clue how it started, but if the Chinese sentence has the word "的“, the spoken English will include "one". "她的” = "hers", spoken as "her one". "我的" = "mine, spoken as "my one". "坏掉的“ = "broken", spoken as "spoilt one" or "broken one"
I enjoyed your sharing videos on your perspective of Singapore. My cousins from Malaysia were wondering why Singaporeans seemed to be always in a rush, we walk and talk fast. And when I travel to Indonesia, everything goes at a snail’s pace, everyone is so relaxed. So, I don’t think we are that slow, it’s just your pace is much faster back in the UK.
"Boss" seems to mean something like "sir", just a greeting of respect for shopowners / other people you meet
Hi Georgia! Thanks for sharing your unique perspective. I'm sure that there are a lot of other foreigners who probably struggle to understand many aspects of Singapore's culture. To answer one of your questions, the power of the word "can" was derived from the English translation based on the Mandarin sentence structure. In English, we would normally say, "Can we meet tomorrow?" But a direct Chinese translation of this would be, "We meet tomorrow, can?" And if the answer is yes, the respondent would say, "Can!" And that is how the power of the word "can" came about! Hope this makes sense! :)
If you learn Mandarin, the one and can will make a lot more sense. If you know French or Italian, the singlish one is similar to how you use que and che. In Mandarin, people ask if someone *can* do something for them, which is a casual polite expression, and it becomes more pertinent, when the answer is "cannot", though Singaporeans tend to have problems with rejection in general.
Ask your Chinese friends about 那个 (that one) and 可以的 (can one). Note that this is informal/broken even in Mandarin. Only Singaporeans/Malaysians speak this way in Mandarin and Singlish. Taiwanese and PRC Mandarin are different in how their emphases and nuances are expressed.
Singlish is a creole that has taken all the working parts of English and Mandarin, a smidge of Malay and Tamil, and discarded the rhythms of all 4, mashing them together into an efficient, but unrefined tongue. Try having a conversation about abstract ideas and you'll find Singlish lacks enough vocabulary as a medium.
You will find that the proper phonetics of each root language is seldom taught in mainstream schools in Singapore.
Hmm not sure if I'd consider the French "que" a good equivalent to "one". They aren't really used in the same way
I'd say Singlish is rather a creole that has taken all the working parts of English, Hokkien and Malay, with a smidge of Mandarin. I think we can all agree that we only include Tamil out of respect. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything Tamil in Singlish (other than vulgarities which our other languages also have a fair share of). If you have one in mind, please enlighten me haha
wah...
@@pass2pee i recall the use of "dei" as an example of tamil in singlish, as in "eh, dei, why you like that?" or calling out to get someone's attention, "dei, over here!" it's supposed to be the equivalent of "brother" or "dude", or "abang" in malay, i think. but then, i don't speak tamil myself, so not sure of its actual meaning.
@@ths1138 ahh yes that's a very good example! Thank you.
People always said Singaporean speak like a radio, switching channel (language) so quickly with ease
The problem with this is that Singaporeans switch so effortlessly that they don't realize they're code-mixing. A lot of Singaporeans struggle with speaking English, Mandarin or Malay intelligibly to native speakers of those languages because they can't not code-mix. Singlish is a double edge sword. While it is our national identify, it's also our worst enemy when communicating with the rest of the world.
Code switching is a feature of a multilingual society and usually plays a role of social identity rather than communication.
@@fongjosephine The purpose of language IS communication. Code-switching, mixing, and accents are all features of speech and language, and are social identifiers secondarily, not the other way around.
@@fongjosephine are u dumb
but that is just what multilingual people do for example I speak Cantonese with my friends and I speak English with my teachers the next minute
The English we used is known as Singlish & it came about from direct translation from dialect. Food is one the best things in Singapore, the wide variety of choices & available anytime. As for staying with parents, housing here is expensive due to our limited land space but there are some stay with parents by choices.
I suspect the use of "can" might be from Malay. We often say "Boleh ke tak?" which means "Can or not?". For questions to ask if someone's able to do something, we'd say "Tolong aku, boleh?" which means "Help me, can?". And over time, this diffused with Singlish.
Yesss that's what I thought as well.
Singaporean here, who moved to New York, then moved back. Walked fast in New York, then slowed right back down in Singapore precisely because it's so hot. So to avoid breaking out in a sweat, walk slowly and in the shade. Makes cooling down once you hit an air conditioned building much faster. Think slow jog vs. HIIT, cool down much faster after a slow jog while you still have the after burn from HIIT.
I’m a fast walker. I can’t stand it when people sway as they are walking jus annoys me. Especially during my working days as it’s always so packed with people and walking slow is not an option for me.
Yes, translation from mandarin. Its a direct translation....example: 我的= wo de= (wo= me) and (de= mine) so, wo de= instead of saying "mine", we say (wo de= literally, my one)...thats why we say, this is my one!!!! Cheers
*The word 的= de....is an emphasis!
Great video, very accurate observations!!! I completely agree with the walking part, when I was in London I was shocked at how fast people were walking so fast and anxiously, and so focused, until I realised many people also don't stay in the central part where workplaces are, so it will take some time to commute. But it was pretty scary there was one time I was walking 'against' the rush hour and was afraid of being trampled by the people coming towards me !!
Omg you truly didn’t ask enough questions and only scratching the surface when you made this video.
Addressing someone as Boss is being humble & giving respect to that person.
Sharing my understanding....
1. Use of the word ‘one’ - it's a direct Mandarin/Chinese translation to end a sentence
2. Switching between languages - since young Singaporeans are exposed to many dialects, Mandarin and English, it becomes a habit for us to speak with a mixture of lanaguages
3. Everyones a boss - like what you have shared, it's a form of respect, like using the word "mate"
4. Slow walking - it depends if we are rushing for time, if not we tend to walk in a normal pace
5. Ice cream sandwiches - the bread soaks in the melted ice cream pretty well and in the olden days, it's a cheap dessert for kids
6. The power of ‘can' - another direct translation from Mandarin/Chinese
7. Stomp/complaining - it's a way to de-stress, usually no hard feeelings
8. Supper culture - it's a good time to catch up with friends after a busy day at work
9. Living with parents - it comes from the Chinese teachings where one has to be filial to our parents and take care of them when they get old
Yes, I call some of my colleagues Boss too, yeap it's like how you would call someone a "mate" too in the UK. Many Singaporeans would also use "Bro" or "Sis".
bread absorbs the dripping icecream. So bread is a vessel and also food container. It also helps to make it easier to eat on the go if its a finger food. And the bread takes on the flavor of the icecream so that helps to make it an interesting combination.
"I don't understand how they walk so slowly."
Me, as a local: well same here, I don't understand why all my friends walk at 1cm/min while I walk at 100m/min
Living with parents (apart from the high cost of rent, buying a flat etc) is also normalised here due to traditional asian values of filial piety! We're expected to care for our parents once they age and this means also being in quite close proximity to them
I'm from the states and I thought the ice cream in bread was soooo weird at first, but when I tried it I loved it! The bread itself is sweet so they compliment each other really well. The texture of the bread is also a bit different from your standard sandwich bread.. anyway I was surprised it is actually tasty
I LOLed at the "calling everyone a boss" Singaporean likes to be called "boss" because it makes the person feel capable and influential, definitely a form of respect. Soon after, everyone started calling everyone boss. Literally "like a BOSS".
I love your thoughts & all the things that you’ve pointed out. Made me laugh quite a bit. Thanks for entertaining this Singaporean living abroad!
Been watching your videos for quite a bit now :) Hope you’ve been well & take care of yourself! Thank you for all your videos.
Hi Georgia, love your videos. On living with parents, cost aside and my guess would be most asian culture has a patriarchal/matriarchal system dating back to our early ancestors. During their time period everyone lives together so that responsibilities can be shared, and looking out for each other. I guess this mindset has been passed down from generations to generations.
Hi Georgia, in response to your question about “can”, I believe it’s a translation thing from Malay. Both Malaysia and Singapore are big on “boleh” which translates into “can”. And as you mentioned, about “can”, “boleh” is both a question and a response. The word doubled is even better and shows more enthusiasm😅, so “can can” or “boleh boleh” are even better. And about living with parents in your twenties and thirties, yes, it’s a cultural thing not only in Singapore but in the majority of the East. The entire Middle East is like that too.
OH MY GOSH THE OLD SKOOL ICECREAM WRAPPED WITH THE RAINBOW BREAD IS AMAZING BRUUH
yes Singapore is a fast-paced society economically. in singapore we all have a relaxed pace too. this applies to when we are exercising, doing sports. usually when i walk i take my own sweet time in a relaxed manner. singapore will become more user-friendly in time to come. we have a lot of sheltered walkways being built concurrently. you can be safe when it's very hot or when it rains and you forgot your umbrella. singapore is very accessible in terms of public transports. you have mrts within walking distance virtually everywhere. it's all networked. if you lost your way, you can simply flag down a taxi by the roadside. or if you want, you can take buses. the bus drivers are well informed too.
Singapore is slow? Wow....Imagine other countries like MY, Indonesia...etc.
Fast-paced countries like these increases my life expectancy by a significant amount, by not having to overtake slow young walkers and following the Singaporean Chinese teachings (as we were taught when we were younger): When u are walking down the street, don't walk in the middle of the pathway and obstruct others, who wants to walk faster than you.
Exactly! We are like the 2nd Hong Kong.
Singapore is the world's fastest walking nation and Indonesia is the slowest waking nation..proven statistically already so cannot compare.
"Can?" "Can." - the fault in our stars if it was set in Singapore 🌟
HAHAHAHAHAHAHH
I am a fast walker. Completely at home in London where I can match the pace of walkers there with no problem. Over in Singapore, I feel like I am Sonic the Hedgehog or a Road Runner, weaving through the crowd like some kinda computer game.
And if that is bad, what amuses me even more is the way people walk down staircases, especially stalled escalators. Not factoring those in inconvenient attire like high heels, being physically challenged, or whatever, it is almost as if many people have lost the physical ability to walk down a flight of stairs because of escalators. They walk down so gingerly like they gonna fall down any moment, while I breeze past them taking 3 steps in one second.
Chinese language grammar is more flexible as it commonly can put some words in front or behind.
We also have word 嗎 (ma), a tone represent question mark.
Chinese way of speaking ‘I pass it to you tomorrow, can ma?’
So it become ‘I pass it to you tomorrow, can?’ in English term.
Walking fast/slow depends on the individual, some walk slow maybe they are window shopping. If you go to Raffles Place pre-covid. Lunch time crowd tend to walk faster due to rush hour.
I love to walk fast, but not in that much heat! When it gets really hot, almost nothing above my knees moves when I walk. Learnt this trick in Thailand 👍🙂 much cooler !
Boss is like Sir and probably derived from how we address others in mandarin and dialect like lao ban or towkay. 😂😂
right right! i didnt notice that at all!
The question is why this term is used, even in Chinese... I'm not sure if there is any research out there on the use of this term the way it is being used "loosely". Maybe it's just a sign of respect (addressing a senior ranked person), or when you are "giving power" to the person you are speaking to (e.g., in the store where the customer is called "boss"), or implicitly telling someone that they're in charge of something, like a project (hence why the actual boss would call an employee who is heading a project, boss).
@@singlah not sure either. I reckon in the early days where most shops are small family businesses, the customers are addressed as boss out of respect and also they are paying for the services or products..so in a way they are the "boss".
Thanks for the interesting video.
We have this "boss" habit in Slovenian, too, in the sense that it means exactly the same as "mate". We just don't use it all the time and not at all in the professional environment. But we will sometimes say; hey boss, how's your week been? - and here "boss" will be referred to a mate, whom you admire at least in some sense and who you want to politely and playfully flatter. It's not exactly the same, but it exists. :)
1) I WALK FAST!! guess depends on where you are in SG.
2) bread with ice-cream - if I am not wrong the bread is made differently, its not the usual white, but sweeter.
3) Can - also from Mandarin translation 可以, vs. 'yes' which is translated as 是
Living with parents until an older age is also pretty normal in Brazil. I'm 26 and all my friends work and most of us still live with our parents (I was actually planning to move out last year and my dad was like lol why waste money on rent just keep living here and save money to buy your own house). I don't really know why that happens but I think it might have something to do with the perception that paying rent is a huge waste of money and that you should save as much as you can so you can own a house, and so parents are completely fine with their kids living at home for a longer period of time so they can save that money. This also happens because sometimes the kid starts making more money than the parents and wants to help them lead a better life, so they might stay home and take care of the bills and other things so that their parents can have a more comfortable life.
"Boss" can be used in different context. Most commonly used are the Stall Owner to Customer relationship. Sometimes they would just address each other using "Boss". For customer to refer the stall owners as boss, the owner subconciously felt the respect/pride. Likewise the same to customer. It just being used to make each other feel good. It makes the mood generally better and deals can get done. It can also be used in a friendship context. Sometimes I would jokingly call my friend "boss" because I appreciate the helps he gave whenever we hang out. E.g. sending me home, foot the bill first etc etc.
As a Singaporean myself, I must say, I walk normally (slower) is because I worked 12hours shift daily, so if I can spend some of that time walking slowly, is to appreciate life and live a little. Some of us worked in an aircon condition way too long, to be able to absorb some warmed and to see the sun is always good.
I’m from Singapore living in UK now, Ice cream sandwiches are nice! They eat it for breakfast as well in Sicily, in Italy!
i'm a fast walker and yet find that people in HK walk even faster! yes, most locals walk slowly bcos that's the only way to mitigate the heat and stress haha. love your observations here. all on point
Appreciate you sharing this and hopefully this will lead to a learning moment for many viewers. Cultural diversity can be a beautiful thing if we learn from one another and respect those differences 🙌💯
Thanks boss, I hope so too! I find cultural differences so fascinating ☺️
Georgia Caney same here 😎👍
Hi Georgia, the word "can" comes from the Chinese and Malay language. In Chinese we often use "可以 /不可以" (ke yi/bu ke yi) which literally means can/cannot when answering yes or no questions. Likewise when we are asking whether the person is able to do it with "可以吗？"(ke yi ma). I guess it applies to Malay language as well with "boleh/tak boleh" and "boleh?" which have the same meaning as well.
The boss part i think its rooted from the saving face value, you call em with a valued label to show yr appreciation insteas of calling em hey you my subordinate like that wan la xD
6:20 most like a translation thing cause in mandarine If you say 可以（keyi) it translates to "can" and it makes sense In mandarine when u reply to someone but if you were to say 是的（shide）which means yes it's doesn't really answer the question? Honestly I've zero clue how to explain imao it just makes sense in my brain
Can you do this?
Yes, I can.
你可以做这个吗？
是，我可以。
It just sounds weird, I know what you mean hahahahaha.
Yes, You are totally right. About the "CAN" word
Yeah It's the same context in Malay too. We don't really say Yes or No.
The closest word I can think of is “行”。(xing)
“你可以做这个吗？“ or “你行吗？" which is almost the same in context..
”行!" - which literally says ok or can in response.
When you ask "ke yi ma?" (can you do it?), usually the response is "ke yi" (yes/can) or bu ke yi (no/cannot). So that's why can is being used so interchangeably with yes.
So in singlish, the convo qns would be "this one can do or not?" (can whatever that needs to be done, be done in the manner I'm asking for), and the reply if yes, would be "of cos can la! Why cannot?", which just means of course I can do it! Why can't I!"
If the reply is no, it'll be "cannot la, how can?", which just means it cannot be done; how can it be done in the way you specified?!
So instead of saying so many words.. Singlish kinda just speeds things up and gets the point across with the least effort. Talk about being lazy even in talking.. Hahaha
Hey Georgia I love listening to your perspective. It’s hilarious!! How do you manage to almost always crack me up?!
Anyways, you here at a very opportune time and I really hope you don’t miss it. Stay Up and keep abreast of the GE going on especially Polling Day.
Just to quote an example;
In 2011 when WP got their GRC win it was euphoric!! Not saying anything about taking sides here.
Just saying that the real essence of local atmosphere can be seen at this time whichever way one tends to swing. Hope you don’t miss them.
well boss is a colloquial term that came from the chinese way of calling each other "老板“ (lao ban) as an alternate to the term Bro/Mate in a work/business environment. You can treat the reason why boss is use, is because you are the owner of what you do. You own the work you do, responsible for it, hence you are the boss of your work. Some other example of how we say it. “Boss. I need you to complete this today." or “Boss! long time no see! You must have been busy!" or the traditional "Yes Boss, will do what you say"
6:30 sg Karens are scary I’m Glad I never have experienced them otw to school 😫😫 also one thing I don’t rlly like is that some of us Singaporeans
only know how to complain and not make a difference abt it :((
There’s so much I had to unlearn after I moved back to Australia from Singapore.
I lived in the UK for a couple of years... including doing my internship in London. I did walk pretty fast because especially during winter, It was COLD!! I dashed from building to building to get into a nicely heated and warm place. Conversely, I walk slowly in Singapore because I do not want to perspire too quickly.
I'm definitely a fast walker, I get frustrated sometimes walking around especially in the malls or to the MRT. I actually liked ice cream in wafers better than bread. Bread's just... too filling.
Not sure about the other languages, but as far as Mandarin is concerned, the word "boss" in mandarin has been used to refer to business owners, and informally customers, since ancient times. think the usage evolved and we now use it to refer it to even colleagues.
As for the word "can", you will find that many Asian countries would've used it the same way in their own language. For most Asian languages, both the formal and informal way of answering a question for "Can x be y?" would be to "Can". And for some languages, it would actually be rather strange to say "Yes, x can be y."
While the words "can" and "yes" can be translated to various Asian languages, they do have an inherent meaning in the Asian language counterparts, which would've been lost in translation. I guess that's why Singaporeans/Malaysians are heavily influenced by their mother tongue when using English.
On further reading, there are the universal "yes/no" answers for affirmative/negative responses to questions about ability to, permission to, etc, used in the English Language.
In most other Asian languages however, they do not answer those questions with a universal yes/no. Yes/No would only be used in questions that seeks affirmation like "Is this xxx?" or "Are you xxx?"
Otherwise, they would answer it using the verb in the question.
For example:
Do you know how to do this?
( i ) know/ ( i ) don't know.
Can you do this?
( i ) can/ ( i ) cannot.
Can I go to the toilet? (in Mandarin, this doesn't sound strange at all)
( you ) can/ ( you) cannot.
The use of pronouns or lack there of does not change how formal or informal the answer sounds in most Asian languages, also probably why Singaporeans would've removed it and instead, reply with just the verb.
There are many Chinese phrases that we directly translate to English as a phrase.
Example :
English : When somebody stood you up, you just say : He stood me up.
There is a Chinese phrase that we have which describes the same thing : 放我飞机 (Translated to English directly : Put my aeroplane).
When somebody stood us up, we may say : He "put my aeroplane".
Other than this one, there are still many, many interesting direct translation that we have.
In Malay, for instance like 'Can we go?', it is 'Boleh kita pergi?' So we usually answer 'Boleh' or 'Tidak boleh' which 'Can' or 'Cannot' respectively.
So with that, it influence the Malay's in everyday street speaking on the word 'Can'.
'Yes' and 'No' is usually 'Iya' and 'Tidak'.
I prefer ice cream with wafers haha but once in a while, a slab of chocochip ice cream between two slices of white bread is amazing on a hot day. What's good about it there's no waste (plastic) that you have to throw after.
Hi Georgia,
for me I walk slowly is because this way I can relax and chat with my colleague while on our way for lunch.
Stomp used to have an even worse reputation a few years ago. Cases of NSFs (army boys) sitting on mrt seats and getting "stomped" were very common.
Hello! I really enjoy listening to your experience. Makes me realize how I don’t think about how “strange” some of the things we do or say are haha it’s really refreshing (:
Hi... Having to say "can" in some sentence, basically it's a way of we Asian like Chinese and Malay like to use instead of using "okay". Because literally, it's actually directly translated from our Chinese and Malay language... when we try to confirm with someone of something in our sentences.
"can" at the last part of sentences seems to be similar to the sentence structure of Mandarin.
also, as a gen z, we don't really use a lot of words like "boss" and we don't codeswitch as much as older singaporeans because most of the younger gen can't communicate in other Chinese varieties. I'm that few who hates bread with ice cream and don't have supper
Calling people boss, is also a Chinese and possible Indian thing too. Because it is a respectful or even praising way to address someone, especially there is a money transactional thing.
Like you called the food stall workers/owner boss, so that they will give you more ingredient or extra goodies.
The store keepers call customers boss, because it makes the customer feels good and "rich", so they will spend more.
When people negotiating a deal call each other boss, so that it will make the person feel more empowered to give a good deal/concession and make the deal go thru smoother.
All in all, its a very cheap (both "slutty" and "resource efficient") way of making your own life easier and smoother.
Hello, love watching your videos, especially during this Covid-19 lock down. I have already picked up one of your habits, I bought metal straws...LOL Always interested in shopping pieces and clothing. Thanks
We usually say can....yes, can....etc and in Australia, they use, sure...sure we do....something like that!
Can is also a direct translation from mandarin...可以= ke yi= can....(we always reply if spoken in mandarin as 可以。.so literally, we use the word, "can"
You walk fast because it’s cold in the UK. In SG, weather is hot and if you walk fast, tends to sweat more.
I visited London in 2015 for the first time and yes British people walk so fast in London... especially at underground stations
You should definitely try the ice cream on bread when you can. Try the scooped icecream instead of the slabbed one for a variety of flavours=)
Haha as a Singaporean it’s interesting to hear from a foreign perspective, because living like this my whole life, I don’t notice such small details.
I think living with parents is, as you mentioned, because housing (buying or rental) is so expensive here, and we are used to it. But also because of the dominant Confucian culture of filial piety. It can look bad if you move out, though I think parents nowadays also understand.
Yes ‘Can’ could’ve come from translation like Malays would say ‘Boleh’ at the end of a question. Boleh = Can.
Regarding the ice cream sandwich thing, one big advantage with ice cream between two slices of bread is when ithe ice cream melts (in our heat!), the bread would just absorb the melted ice cream!! Making the bread even more delicious!! Efficient ya?! 😜
When I was working in Raffles Place, my walking pace was Super fast. After my office moved to Redhill (a quiet neighbourhood), I realised that my pace slowed down a lot. When I went back to Raffles Place, I couldn’t catch up with the speed of the office workers! Esp during the morning rush.
The word "can" comes from the Mandarin phrase "ke yi ma" （可以吗) which is often placed at the end of sentences.
That's what I was thinking too.
When I need to rush for work, an appointment or hope to catch the bus before it pulls up at the bus bay, I will and can walk very fast, often overtaking a lof of other slow-mo pedestrians who probably are not in a hurry to get reborn in tehir next life (a chinese way of saying people forever in a hurry). However, when I'm not in a good mood, just feeling tired after a day's work on the way home or simply just don't feel like I need to rush, then I will walk slowly and smell the roses (figuratively speaking). Moreover, Singapore weather is hot and humid. the faster you walk, the more you sweat, especially when you have quite a distance to cover before reaching your destination!
I love bread with ice cream. I still remember when I was a kid, my late grand Father use to buy it for me whenever he pick me up from school. And it’s a treat every single time. 100% feels good comfort food. Now I try to treat my Son the same every now and then and he loves it.
About the living with parents thing - singles under 35 can't own buy public housing from the government. As in, legally not allowed. Even after 35, there's a cap on the size of the flat you can buy. You can get a resale or private housing, of course, but it's pretty much the single most expensive item in our lives (few years back flats in really popular locations were going for up to 700k - 1 million). Rental culture isn't really big here as well, since the flat is also our biggest capital we own and rental doesn't leave you with anything after. So unless you're doing really really well in your 20s, most people simply don't have the means to move out.
As for the slow walking... YES. Drives me nuts.
UK - I walk fast (it’s cold!)
SG - I walk slowly to avoid heating up!
I tried the ice cream in ‘rainbow bread’ finally and it was heaven. Way less messy than wafer! 💖☺️
Personally, I think the bread somewhat protects my sensitive teeth, while allowing me to enjoy eating the icecream :)
It is because Singaporean spoke Cantonese a long time ago. Those words are kind of just a word in Cantonese. They don’t mean anything most of the time and sometimes they brings out the tone of the speaker if that make sense. We add those words at the end of the sentence all the time.
omg ice cream in between bread is my favourite! there is also ice cream between biscuits(wafers)Love the uncles selling these ice creams on streets, it is a cheap and convenient to get an ice cream on a hot day in Singapore!
To understand the word ‘one’ at the end of a sentence in Singlish, you need to know Chinese grammar. The Chinese word is 的 (pronounced de). A typical Chinese sentence could be one with this structure: 是 (pronounced shi4, which is equivalent to is/are/was/were) + adjective + 的, and the function of 的 here is to indicate that the sentence is affirmative (fyi, 的 has other grammar functions). For example, we could say ‘这(=This) 是(=is) 不对(=wrong/incorrect) 的’. In Singlish, Chinese grammar is often adopted, and so instead of saying ‘This is wrong/incorrect’, we might say ‘This is wrong/incorrect one’, with ‘one’ substituting 的. However, how ‘one’ came to be the substitute for 的 remains unexplained.
The "can" part is probably due to chinese language where the sentence structures is different than english n singaporean just adopts it. For example, in english "Can we meet tomorrow?", in chinese that would be "我们明天见面，可以吗？“(simplest way to phrase it and also kinda broken as well but the most common way of saying it in singapore). and directly phrase by phrase translation is "We tomorrow meet, can?". Although you can still do "我们可以明天见面吗？" which would translate to "We can tomorrow meet?".
And as times pass, we just continue using it and it becomes common even beyond Singaporean Chinese and to other race as well within Singapore. And also Singaporean just have the ability to find the short form of everything and make communication efficient with the least possible speaking/writing.
using the word boss usually happens only to hawkers calling male customers? or sellers calling customers handsome, pretty lady etc . I’ve never encountered people calling each other bosses at workplaces (except for real bosses)
For the "boss" thing I'm from south of France and a lot of people there have this habits too. They can call everybody "chef" even if it's not their boss, or even when they are not at work !