dare i mock?

before i start, let me acknowledge that singapore isn't without its lack of language problems. "lah", "leh", "lor" and "meh" are only a handful of punctuations that we use in this colorful homegrown language called singlish. it comes so natually to locals, that i sometimes forget that it really isn't the english my foreign friends are used to. at least we have the coxford singlish dictionary to shed light on the meaning of those everyday words.

maybe i'd like to think that my command of the english language is above average for this part of the world (and in saying that, i am sure i will make a bunch of grammatical and spelling mistakes in this entry), maybe noticing the mistakes that others make makes me feel better about myself (inferiority complex remember?), or maybe i am just mean.

regardless, i have a penchant for making fun of people (as if you didn't already know), and being the condescending bastard that i am, stuff like engrish.com just cracks me up.

engrish is defined as "the humorous english mistakes that appear in japanese advertising and product design" according to the website, which goes on to explain how japanese use english more as a design element instead of an attempt to communicate.

i am sure that i had a good reason for starting this entry. i believe it was something along the lines of how we should embrace the different versions of english that we hear around the world and how that lends itself to establishing a national identity etc. but i've lost my train of thought, and will just have to say that if seeing t-shirts with slogans like separately: since ever quest number prime leave around thing mathematics, signs that point you to where flesh meat is sold, and snacks called homo sausage make you laugh, then you too have embraced the wonderful world of engrish!