SMS

[timebomb]

Someone who's not living in Singapore saw my reply to Rashid and wanted to know what the term "sms" meant in Rashid's post.

Sms stands for short-message-servicing, the language used in mobile phone communications. It has, sad to say, become somewhat of a culture among the young people here. Almost everyone own handphones and everywhere you go, you see young people using their thumbs to key messages on the tiny keyboards in their handphones. With such a tiny keyboard, it's natural that people will try to abbreviate words. But this practice of shortening words has inevitably been extended to messages posted in forums and emails as well. Even office memorandums sometimes carry many such short forms. Sms has become the bane of the English language but many young people foolishly see it as being cool or hip to write in such short forms.

My 2 teenage daughters know how their father feels about sms so they don't write like that. I'll wring their necks if they do.

Here's a poem from my older daughter. Although it's got nothing to do with killies, I'm putting it here to show others what you are capable of if you at least make an attempt to write well. My daughter is almost 17 now and she wrote this poem when she was 15. I'm proud of her for being able to write like that and I'm very sure many young people are capable of writing something similar too, if only they give themselves the chance. PeiSi calls the poem, "In the Distance".


In the Distance

If I stand out there on that twinkling star
And call out your name from afar
Would you pause and strain to listen
The song I am whispering to you from heaven

If I stand out there on that lonely moon
And wave a solemn goodbye to you
Would you pause and squint to see
The kiss I have blown to you, now adrift in the wind

If I kneel broken up there on that violet cloud
And for you, softly cry my heart out
Would you pause and taste the fallen raindrop on your cheek
My tears that tastes so bittersweet

And finally when I lie 6 feet underground
Your name on my lips but mumbling only a sound
Would you stop and search above
For the few moments you have paused and felt my love.

PeiSi

[Debbbear]

Loh,
Thank you for sharing that poem with us! That was beautiful and touching.
May I have permission to copy it off and share it with others with all credit to your daughter? I would like to share that at a teacher's meeting.
I work with handicap children,and with children with learning disabilities. It is a shame to see people, with good healthy minds, throw away what handicapped children cry for.
So, Loh, keep up the good work, keep pushing for what is correct.

[kennedy_ng]

Mr Lok is all english teachers' best friend. My father too, put his foot down in making us speak the right english, everytime my siblings and I says Singlish, he would remind us not to. I feel that speaking the right english is definitely important as it would also affect your written english. Typing too much of abbreviated words, you somehow or another get use to it, and use in your important works, etc.

[Sky Devil]

Oh, my parents are alittle different. Dad speaks chinese and hokien to me while mum speaks chinese and english to me. There's a mix in the language i hear everyday and so naturally i'll speak Singlish. Sometimes its just that you cannot help it.
I have many friends from oversea countries like UK, Canada, US, Australia etc... I try my very best to use my very best english to communicate with them. But sometimes i just use my usual Singlish and they cannot understand. But speaking to the huge number of "Ah Bengs" in my school, knowing the correct "Accent" of Singlish can help me communicate with them better, getting my message across faster. And using Singlish with them can command me more respect then using proper English.
We are actually what our government, society and environment made us to be. For some people, its really impossible to speak proper English. Even my english teacher speaks bad english.
So at certain times, you cannot blame the speaker that has a bad command of English...
Anyway, nice poem, i wouldn't have the time to think of such a nice poem as most of my time i spend them on my fishes

[timebomb]

May I have permission to copy it off and share it with others with all credit to your daughter?

Feel free to share the poem with your colleagues and students, Deb. I'm glad you like it. PeiSi loves poetry and she has many poems on her own web site but I've always been particularly fond of that one.

There are times I wonder if I'm fighting a lost cause. Ronnie warned me, when we started this forum, that I "can't change the world." He said it's the culture of the young these days to write in sms short forms/Singlish and the culture is so prevailing, I would never be able to change it. You know, sometimes I think he's right. But I do believe there are many people out there who feel the same way as I do about others "butchering" the language. It's just that I'm one of the more outspoken ones. If only there were more like you Deb, my crusade against bad English would become so much easier.

My father too, put his foot down in making us speak the right english, everytime my siblings and I says Singlish, he would remind us not to.

Your father is a wise man, Kennedy. You would do well to heed his advice. By the way, you can start learning to write better by taking note that the word "English" should always be capitalised.

But speaking to the huge number of "Ah Bengs" in my school, knowing the correct "Accent" of Singlish can help me communicate with them better, getting my message across faster. And using Singlish with them can command me more respect then using proper English.

Lyon, have you ever heard of the saying "Stupid is as stupid does?"

My parents never understood a word of English but that didn't stop me from trying to write well. You are what you make yourself to be and although society, the government, friends and all can have a big impact on the way you live your life; ultimately, your destiny lies in your own hands.

I can understand that when we speak to our friends here in Singapore, it's natural that we speak in a language everyone is comfortable with so it's perfectly alright to use Singlish or even Hokkien. To be frank, I use Singlish too when I talk to my friends in Singapore. But I have to stress that this place is an international forum so it's rude to speak in a language that foreigners may have difficulties understanding. We want them to stay so we can learn from them. If I let you all write in Singlish, eventually they will leave this forum. I can't allow that to happen. If a foreigner leaves this forum, he or she leaves for other reasons and not because he/she couldn't understand the posts here.

So exercise more care in your posts if you don't want me to jump on you. I never comment on poor English but bad English gets on my nerves. There's a difference between poor and bad. If you don't know the difference, you wouldn't understand even if I explain it to you.

Loh K L

[kennedy_ng]

Thanks Mr Lok for correcting me, I am very careless and miss small details commonly.

[timebomb]

Thanks Mr Lok for correcting me, I am very careless and miss small details commonly.

It should be frequently and not commonly. I think you're the only one who calls me Mr Lok

Loh K L

[Sky Devil]

I can pass my english with good marks in school. So it shouldn't be a problem typing good english here although there might be some gramatic or spelling errors here and there...

Anyway, Kennedy, in all your post you seem to be calling Mr Loh, Mr Lok......

[kennedy_ng]

See that's a proof of me being so careless, sorry

[A.Rashid]

So Mr Loh Sir,

May I know which English are we to use in writing? UK English or American English?

I work with a Professor in English and he uses UK English, he will really get mad if any of us in the office uses other kind of English beside UK English.


So before I get knick-picked again .... my I know which English, Sir?

[timebomb]

So before I get knick-picked again .... my I know which English, Sir?

Rashid,

Singapore was once a colony of Great Britain so the schools here teach the Queen's English. Naturally, that should be the language we use but I won't stop or criticise anyone who uses American English if he is more comfortable with that language. The difference is slight and mostly, it's just a matter of using "s" or "z". In UK English, it would be "criticise". In America, they write it as "criticize".

As for nitpicking, if that's what you feel I've been doing to you, you are free to voice your opinions here. I also have to tell you to stop addressing me as Sir because there's no reason to do that, unless of course, you are trying to be too clever.

You had a chance to voice your unhappiness when you were in my house last night with 3 other guys present. You should have done that instead of trying to pick a fight with me here. If you had brought it up last night, I'm quite sure I would have been able to persuade you to stop using sms-short forms in your posts. I gave many good reasons why I won't allow anyone here to butcher the English language but if they are not enough to convince you, let me tell you another 2.

One reason is quite old and the other is very young.

Tony Teiceira, who's probably in his sixties or maybe even seventies is a member of this forum. Tony belongs to the old school and although he has never said so to me personally, I'm sure he won't like reading posts that are full of Singlish or sms short-forms. We want Tony to feel welcomed here because there's a lot we can learn from him. If Tony leaves because he couldn't understand what we are saying, it would be a big loss to everyone.

Louise Chng, an 11 year old Singaporean girl who was the runner-up in the contest on TV, "Singapore's brainiest kid" is also a member here. Louise doesn't say much but I know she comes into this forum occasionally to read the posts. If you saw her on TV, you would know that she's smart, knowledgeable and most endearing of all, she speaks very good English. I see Louise as someone like my own daughter. She's young and her future is bright. We want children like Louise to learn the right things and not pick up bad habits like writing or speaking in pidgin English. In short, we don't want her to think that Singlish is cool and good English is not.

You are free to use Singlish and pidgin English in other forums but here in killies.com, exercise more care in your posts or I will be here to warn you to behave. If you persist, I would have no choice but to kick you out. I have never done that with anyone but I won't hesitate to do it if you go too far.

Loh K L

[A.Rashid]

Loh,

For friendship sake....I'm not try to pick up a fight... just want to be sure that's all...meant to be a joke actually.. I am really really sorry if what I said meant otherwise. I was never meant to hurt you nor anybody else in this forum.

I have nothing against anybody. I am just a peace lover. Will be very carefull of what I am going to say/type next time....

So to all whom I may have cause any hurt or trouble. I apologise.
Mr Loh, again I am very sorry.

[FC]

Breath taking! I LOVES the poem, deep-souled, dig down into my heart.

[timebomb]

So to all whom I may have cause any hurt or trouble. I apologise.
Mr Loh, again I am very sorry.

Rashid, your apology is accepted. I too apologise for 2 things. One for sounding harsh in my replies to you and secondly, for giving you the impression that I was nitpicking on you.

I know sometimes we tend to misintepret each other when talking over the internet. Let's just forget anything unhappy ever happened between us and go back to talking about our common love, killies.

Loh K L

[kennedy_ng]

I wonder why Louise Chng doesn't say anything?I mean I am only a year older and I am able to connect better with you guys. Anyway I am very glad that finally there are girls around(not mentioning adults) that are interested in this hobby. Just by looking at my primary school, not a single girl is interested.

[woodduck]

This is very nice poem, how I wish my command of English could be as good as your girl.

Eric Ng

[timebomb]

Anyway I am very glad that finally there are girls around

I'm just as glad as you are about having girls around, Kennedy :wink:

If you want to know why Louise doesn't say much, maybe you should ask her yourself through the private message function. But take note that Louise speaks very good English so if you want to be friends with her, you better spell properly

Loh K L

[kennedy_ng]

Point noted Mr Loh.