Singlish
Colloquial Singaporean English, also known as Singlish, is an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore.
Singlish is commonly regarded with low prestige in Singapore. The Singaporean government and many upper class Singaporeans alike heavily discourage the use of Singlish in favour of Standard English. The government has created an annual Speak Good English Movement to emphasise the point. Singlish is also heavily discouraged in the mass media and in schools.
The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil and to a lesser extent various other European, Indic and Sinitic languages. Also, elements of American and Australian slang have come through from imported television series and films.
Some examples
- Ah Mu or Ah Bu - in Hokkien is the name for Mother.
- AngMoh - in local Singlish or Hokkien (literally with red hair) means a westerner.
- Bear fight - when babies fight each other on the bed with pillows and bolster.
- Chapalang - literally in Hokkien means people who had eaten their fill. This is abusively used to label certain people who are likely busybodies or gossipers. The normal greeting for all Hokkien people in Singapore or those compatriots in Taiwan and Mainland China always greet one another with "have you eaten your fill? " Chapa buay"? as one would say "Good Morning" in English. The old locals are a polite people and they always say "chapa buay?"
- Garmen - Singaporean slang for "government".
- Good-for-nothing - a rude way of telling someone. It is used as a catch phrase to try and draw someone's attention as in Singlish.
- lah - a word filler as in Singlish.
- wow-lah - same as wow-lau.