Year Summary for 2017

THIS POST IS OUTDATED! VISIT THE NEWER POST ABOUT BUYING BOOKS IN SINGAPORE! Brick-and-mortar bookshops in Singapore (as elsewhere) face high rent and stiff competition from online sellers, so they’ve been dropping like flies. The major chains and a handful independents are still scraping by. See below for lists of: Book Shops at Bras Basah … Continue reading Buying books in Singapore

In the past, I’ve read British books and not known the relevant money-related vocabulary. This sign, spotted at the museum of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, should help!

In the past, I’ve read British books and not known the relevant money-related vocabulary. This sign, spotted at the museum of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, should help!

I saw this message displayed on a programmable sign over a highway, prefaced by the notation “Georgia Law”. Obviously, the message is Turn on [your] headlights when [it is] raining. The intent is clear, but the syntax is awful. Syntactically, the implied subject of both the verbs “turn” and “rain” is “you”, so technically the … Continue reading Turn on headlights when raining

When my husband took me to a squinchy Japanese restaurant that had high chairs at a bar-style counter, the server laconically instructed me to put my bag “downstairs”, which meant “on the shelf under the seat of the chair”. I have heard English teachers eager to hold students accountable for their spoken language deride this … Continue reading Downstairs vs under

Let’s have a look at a strange sentence. My class today was fun. Which word is “today” modifying? It’s an adverb, and the verb is “was”, so “today” must be modifying “was”. Easy, right? Not so fast! I think the sentence above is trying to say: The class I had today was fun. in which … Continue reading Today Special

I, an American, am now having trouble using the word “store” to designate the retail establishments in which you buy stuff; those are called “shops” in British English. Here, “store” means “storeroom” or “storage room”, though I doubt the short form “store” is used in the UK… “Stores” can also mean “supplies” or “inventory”, but … Continue reading Store vs. shop

The kids I used to teach had trouble producing the sound of short “i”. It comes out as long “ee”. (In linguistics, this ee and i are a tense/lax vowel pair.) Thus, as I tell new teachers during training, there are no fish in Singapore. They’re all feesh. That means that “ship” and “sheep” are … Continue reading Possessive adjectives in child Singlish

It is authentically Singlish to refer to “stationery items” as “stationeries”. That’s because in Singlish it’s common not to pluralize countable nouns but to pluralize uncountable nouns instead.

After watching the trailer plus one episode, I would say Westworld reminds me of two other sci-fi productions. Westworld reminds me of Bladerunner (1982) because the “hosts”, the synthetic people who inhabit the Westworld theme park, are, like the replicants, starting to want to protect themselves and choose their fates. The difference is in the … Continue reading Westworld (Season 1)

When my husband took me to a squinchy Japanese restaurant that had high chairs at a bar-style counter, the server laconically instructed me to put my bag “downstairs”, which meant “on the shelf under the seat of the chair”. I have heard English teachers eager to hold students accountable for their spoken language deride this … Continue reading Downstairs vs under

THIS POST IS OUTDATED! VISIT THE NEWER POST ABOUT BUYING BOOKS IN SINGAPORE! Brick-and-mortar bookshops in Singapore (as elsewhere) face high rent and stiff competition from online sellers, so they’ve been dropping like flies. The major chains and a handful independents are still scraping by. See below for lists of: Book Shops at Bras Basah … Continue reading Buying books in Singapore

Let’s have a look at a strange sentence. My class today was fun. Which word is “today” modifying? It’s an adverb, and the verb is “was”, so “today” must be modifying “was”. Easy, right? Not so fast! I think the sentence above is trying to say: The class I had today was fun. in which … Continue reading Today Special

I, an American, am now having trouble using the word “store” to designate the retail establishments in which you buy stuff; those are called “shops” in British English. Here, “store” means “storeroom” or “storage room”, though I doubt the short form “store” is used in the UK… “Stores” can also mean “supplies” or “inventory”, but … Continue reading Store vs. shop

The kids I used to teach had trouble producing the sound of short “i”. It comes out as long “ee”. (In linguistics, this ee and i are a tense/lax vowel pair.) Thus, as I tell new teachers during training, there are no fish in Singapore. They’re all feesh. That means that “ship” and “sheep” are … Continue reading Possessive adjectives in child Singlish

Nope, nothing to do with the Scott O’Dell book about the Navajo girl. Instead, I give you a photo of the moon, apparently about to land on the tip of the iconic Singtel Tower on Dover Road.

It is authentically Singlish to refer to “stationery items” as “stationeries”. That’s because in Singlish it’s common not to pluralize countable nouns but to pluralize uncountable nouns instead.

In the past, I’ve read British books and not known the relevant money-related vocabulary. This sign, spotted at the museum of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, should help!