Seeing Stars...
I was on my way back home [after buying the chips my dad asked for...don't ask] from the market last evening when I happen to walk past this hardware store. Well that particular store stocks some cheap toys and stuff for little and it's displayed right next to the entrance.
So I'm walking alongside it and what happens next leaves me snickering the rest of the way home. This boy, about 7 or 8-years old, was looking at some action figurine and his Mum was beside him. The lady sees a pair of binoculars [the cheap plastic kind], points towards it and asks her son, "You know what that is or not?" And then she answers her own question by saying this:
Binoculars. Telescope?! Yea sure...you'll probably see Mars through the "Made-in-China" binoculars selling for under 5 bucks. And that's what sent me snickering away but soon enough I realized that it's not her fault. I can't blame her if a considerable part of the population is clueless about the differences between a pair of binoculars and a telescope.
On a similar but not-quite-the-same topic, I was reminded of a particular podcast by Mr Brown and Mr Miyagi recently, on the campaign by MOE to recruit native English speakers as English Language teachers. Here's a link to the online version of the podcast: >click me!< Do listen if you have the time yea...it's hilarious!
Warning: Contains coarse language spoken by a native speaker and may not be suitable for minors and the linguistically conservative.
- from mrbrownshow.com
And related to the subject at hand, I found this interesting post on mrbrown.com that talks about Singlish's stand against English. Obviously, I [as many of you reading this] am guilty of using Singlish often. Therefore, this comment by John is an interesting read.
*PS: What's this I hear about smiling for the Ang Mohs?
So I'm walking alongside it and what happens next leaves me snickering the rest of the way home. This boy, about 7 or 8-years old, was looking at some action figurine and his Mum was beside him. The lady sees a pair of binoculars [the cheap plastic kind], points towards it and asks her son, "You know what that is or not?" And then she answers her own question by saying this:
This one is called a Telescope.
Binoculars. Telescope?! Yea sure...you'll probably see Mars through the "Made-in-China" binoculars selling for under 5 bucks. And that's what sent me snickering away but soon enough I realized that it's not her fault. I can't blame her if a considerable part of the population is clueless about the differences between a pair of binoculars and a telescope.
On a similar but not-quite-the-same topic, I was reminded of a particular podcast by Mr Brown and Mr Miyagi recently, on the campaign by MOE to recruit native English speakers as English Language teachers. Here's a link to the online version of the podcast: >click me!< Do listen if you have the time yea...it's hilarious!
Warning: Contains coarse language spoken by a native speaker and may not be suitable for minors and the linguistically conservative.
- from mrbrownshow.com
And related to the subject at hand, I found this interesting post on mrbrown.com that talks about Singlish's stand against English. Obviously, I [as many of you reading this] am guilty of using Singlish often. Therefore, this comment by John is an interesting read.
*PS: What's this I hear about smiling for the Ang Mohs?
posted by Varun at
15:44
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