Do you ever say, "I ever..."?

[sehsuan]

No, not wedding/marriage. But have you heard of people saying sentences that begin with, "I ever..."?

Factually, is it broken English, mangled from dialect beginnings, or is it just Singaporean?

Language teachers are more than welcome to share their findings on this habit too...

 

[Adam Goi]

Not again ...

 

[zha]

Not again ...

:bsmilie:


Yaay!! Another round of speak good english campaign on CS!

I'd like to know too.

 

[amirhamzah1980]

well i guess , this has been a habit for all of u . . .

to me t's not english , but it's singlish . . .

regards

 

[Darren]

I never say "I ever" but sometimes I ever say "I never" and I never ever say "ever never".

:bsmilie:

 

[therat]

I never say "I ever" but sometimes I ever say "I never" and I never ever say "ever never".

:bsmilie:

u doing rap arr...

btw, this is a good rap :thumbsup:

 

[sehsuan]

Not again ...

your P mentions this during CT?

 

[nickmak]

I never say "I ever" but sometimes I ever say "I never" and I never ever say "ever never".

:bsmilie:

:bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[zha]

My pet peeve goes something like this:

"Its lunch-time now. Call back later, can"?

Dangit... why do people use "can" at the end of a sentence??!!

My english ain't perfect, but the above sentence is like..... :nono:
Urgh!!

 

[roygoh]

I think a significant part of the problem comes from using Chinese or other language's sentence structures directly with English words...

For the example raised by zha, ending a question with "can?" seems to be a direct adaptation of saying "可以吗?" at the end of a question in Chinese.

And the problem is made worst when English words are used to replace Chinese words directly in a Chinese sentence that is incorrect in the first place...for example:

Correct Chinese: "你吃饭了吗?"
Incorrect Chinese: "你吃饭了没有?"
Singlish: "You eat already not?"

 

[di0nysus]

My pet peeve goes something like this:

"Its lunch-time now. Call back later, can"?

Dangit... why do people use "can" at the end of a sentence??!!

My english ain't perfect, but the above sentence is like..... :nono:
Urgh!!

I believe effective communication is getting the right idea across, good language or not. Using verbal communication, IMO, the least no. of syllables spoken effecting the message across is most effficient.
"can you kindly call back later?" is kinda more polite and 'correct'.

"call back later, can?" is utterly singlish, as 'can' in chinese is 可以吗？, in malay is 'boleh'?

IMO, as long as you can speak/write proper english when required, it is perfectly okay to use broken singlish for the most effective communication.

 

[sehsuan]

a bit hard to pick out exactly what's wrong, though it's easily distinguishable as such... thanks Roy!

 

[sillyme]

i never ever said i ever lah

 

[zaren]

I believe effective communication is getting the right idea across, good language or not. Using verbal communication, IMO, the least no. of syllables spoken effecting the message across is most effficient.
"can you kindly call back later?" is kinda more polite and 'correct'.

"call back later, can?" is utterly singlish, as 'can' in chinese is 可以吗？, in malay is 'boleh'?

IMO, as long as you can speak/write proper english when required, it is perfectly okay to use broken singlish for the most effective communication.

"Please call back later" has exactly the same number of words and syllables as "Call back later, can?" and is grammatically correct to boot. Good English can also be used to communicate efficiently.

 

[zha]

"Please call back later" has exactly the same number of words and syllables as "Call back later, can?" and is grammatically correct to boot. Good English can also be used to communicate efficiently.

Good point.

Like what di0nysus pointed, perhaps we are more concerned that the msg gets across, nevermind the structure or the grammar. Perhaps also, "Call back later, can?" has already found its place as being an acceptable reply in a tele-conversation. Got to do with habit.

 

[satan_18349]

Actually, IMHO Only...yes it's good or even better to speak proper english..but as long as the message is send across..
there shouldn't be any problem...

Why is it that the American Black language (esp Hip hop.. yo man, whattya, ma man etc) gets recognition from the rest of the world while Singlish IS our brand identity (sort of) and yet we get blastered for speaking poorly...??

As i have said, this is MY own point of view only...so if anyone thinking of rebuking this, go ahead...Thanks...

 

[sehsuan]

kyrie, what you said in your 2nd post, seem to be almost exactly the same stuff Mr Koo Tsai Kee said when he was the guest at a NIE event for graduating teachers, on regards to national issues. he made good sense there, so have you

 

[roygoh]

I think it's okay to use singlish and it's okay to have your own identity language, however, one should not let that take precedence over what is universally the language that people understand. Look around at the number of Singaporeans that cannot speak proper english, they are never going to go far. One can use it if they can switch interchangable between english and singlish and be a master at both.

Living and working in US forces me to use more proper spoken and written English. If I use Singlish here it will really hinder my work and life as people will have a hard time understanding what I say.

On the other hand I really enjoy the comfort of chatting casually with fellow Singaporeans in Singlish.

The main thing is to communicate effectively. And to do that you have to adjust your language accordingly base on the situation and audience you are addressing.

 

[glennyong]

erm... ya... i think sometimes la.. i dun realli use "I ever...." its kinda like.. durh... i dun use tat often leh... lol....

 

[roygoh]

Agreed. The only problem with me when I speak is that lah comes almost unconsciously. I don't realise I'm even saying it, but my Aussie mates crack up over it (laugh like mad). They think it's funny.....something i'm talking and in the midst of it, they just go LAH.... :bsmilie:

I do interswitch between singlish and english too. Yes, it depends on your audience and the comfort zone. Even my accent switches in between the two. I remember when I first arrived in Aus 4 years ago for my studies and stayed in college (otherwise known as dorm), they had huge difficulty understand my accent and so eventually I learned I had to switch. I figured that it's just coz they're Aussies and slow, probably too stuff up with weed for the last 10 years or their life or something and their brain can't function at its optimum level.. :bsmilie: :angel:

Good luck.

When I travel on business with my co-workers to HK, and have conversations with HK people in Cantonese, my HK friends will always start a sentence addressed to me with "Ah-Roy-Ah".

My American co-workers always laugh when they hear that and some of them would also call me "Ah-Roy-Ah" back in our office to tease me.