There are some Singlish terms
that are better than English. It is very visceral,
it is very emotional. You're happy. "Wah lau"! You're angry. "Wah lau". You're sad. "Wah lau". Surprised. "Wah lau"! I mean, it's so efficient, right? "Abuden" is the perfect
response to... to anything, really. Singlish. We have a love-hate relationship
with this home-grown hybrid tongue. My goodness, this song... Fried rice paradise. "Shiok" is how it's been described. They banned the album.
The reason was "improper use of English". But since its days in the crosshairs of the authorities and English purists, Singlish is finally enjoying
its day in the sun. I'm Shabir,
I speak English, Tamil, Malay, and of course, some Singlish. And as a travelling musician,
I often get asked, "What is Singlish?" So this National Day,
that's what I am set to find out. In this two-part documentary, I will trace Singlish's tumultuous journey
from pariah... to cultural phenomenon. And I will hunt down
how some of our strange and wonderful Singlish terms
came to be. I'm at one of the most Instagrammable
places in Singapore. But I'm not here for the ice cream,
or the selfies. I am here because I'm meeting
a group of TikTokers. Smile! Nice. They've racked up
millions of views... in part thanks to this. Remember to look left and right
when crossing the road, okay? Don't worry, I won't get "kenaed" by the car. Cannot lah, bro! Well, considering that two of them
aren't locals, I need to find out
how legit these folks are. Here're some words
I learnt today in Singlish. "Is it?" "Really?" "Want to die, is it?" "You are asking for trouble." There are more than 2,000 videos
on TikTok featuring Singlish, and collectively, they've hit
more than 60 million views. If that's anything to go by, it just shows how much interest
Singlish is generating. And it's even caught the attention
of scholars in academia. One word, in particular, has
invited scrutiny from linguists worldwide. "Lah." How will I explain "lah"... Okay, "lah" is a... Wow. I never actually thought about it. That's impossible! Because it's so... in my blood, right? These are just some of the papers
that include studies on "lah". And the person I'm about to meet
hasn't just read all of these, he has even written a hundred pages
about the word in his dissertation. Mystery solved. Now I know where "lah"
and "lor" come from, but what about the origins of thousands
of other Singlish phrases we use, such as these? "Last time, policemen wear shorts." "Huh? I catch no ball." "You... yaya papaya." I wonder what phrases
you want to know about, so I am conducting a poll. Wow, "shiok". So let me know in the comments
which Singlish words you're curious about and I will help you find out
their origins. I actually don't know the origins
of a lot of the terms. For me, the word "chope" came about
when I was a child playing catching. You have to say, "Chope!"
Then you have to squat, right? I still want to know the origins
of "chop chop kalipok". I know everybody knows how to use it
but why "chop chop kalipok"? What did the "kalipok" do
that is "chop chop"? Why "spider"? While I wait for your responses, I want to know
how Singlish came to be. When did we start speaking like this? A letter printed in a newspaper
might give us a clue. It's dated 1922. It seems like it's a complaint
addressed to the editor of The Singapore Free Press
and Mercantile Advertiser, one of two English newspapers
at the time. This is the article. Could this be how Singlish
sounded back in the day? I'm posing that question
to Tan Ying Ying, a one-time Princeton Fellow and author of over 30 papers
on Singapore English. We know about Singlish
as an oral language, so it would have been spoken. But if we could sort of imagine this
being spoken, to the best of our imagination, it might be the start of what Singlish sounded like before. We first had the original
Malay inhabitants on this island, and then, of course,
the British came. With that, we had the Chinese coming, and the Indians coming from India, and because of this mix of people, as things needed to happen, people needed to trade
and people needed to work together, this kind of communication
took place. Then Singlish came about
as a kind of mixture. So Singlish did not
come out of English. In fact, Singlish came out
of Bazaar Malay, which literally means
"the language of the market". This is how Bazaar Malay
sounded like. Bazaar Malay, as its name suggests,
was predominantly Malay, with smatterings
of Chinese vernacular. How did English come into the mix? English came about because of
post-independence language policies. Administratively, politically, it's the medium of education
in schools. So with that,
everyone is speaking English. Whether you like it or not,
you have to learn it in school. As a result of that,
Singlish today is very anglicised. That's also how people talk about
Singlish today, right? That it's bad English,
it's corrupted English, or that it's English spoken by people
who are not terribly well-educated. But if you look at the structure
of Singlish itself, there's actually very little
of English grammar in it. What you do see is Hokkien grammar,
you see Malay grammar, and that sort of makes up
the bulk of Singlish. Ironically, English began its rise as a dominant working language
for the masses only after Singapore started breaking away
from British rule in 1959. At the point of self-governance, less than 2% on the island
spoke English. To promote good English, only the most proper form of
Queen's English was allowed on air. But in 1974, one budding songwriter
would break the mould. Fried rice paradise Waitress all got one-kind size Bring your money, very wise That is what I would do Suffice to say, it wasn't taken well
in some quarters. My goodness, this song... And it was so nice
to hear local words in a song. Varieties. Fried rice paradise... We might be singing it on air now, but when the song was first released, it was only heard on Rediffusion,
a subscription radio service. The powers at free-to-air
Radio Television Singapore (RTS), then a part of the Ministry of Culture,
didn't think it was fit for air. That rebel songwriter
who so offended them was just all of 17. In 1974, that is. How did you feel when you found out
that "Fried Rice Paradise" was banned? I was a little bit disappointed. But I was also quite scared because this seemed like I committed
a crime or something. The subject I chose was food because I thought, "Okay,
that's something that we all love." Chao fan, baby. Yes, chao fan, baby. You're my chao fan, baby. Nice hot chao fan, baby. Oh baby, you make me crazy. Basically, they banned the album. The reason that RTS gave me
for banning the song was "improper use of English". Those were the actual words
they gave me. What was the sentiment towards Singlish
during that point? At that time,
it wasn't called "Singlish". It was just the way we spoke, and... -There was no label to it yet.
-No, there was no label at all. The word "Singlish"
hadn't even been coined, right? Singapore was just freshly
out of being part of Malaya. We were at the stage,
I think, in our development where we wanted to perfect
certain things. The thinking was "Okay, we have
to speak Queen's English", and anything else
was grammatically incorrect and was frowned upon. So were there any other songs
that featured Singlish that were released
after "Fried Rice Paradise"? No, not at all. Nobody really cared. The Singapore public
did not care about our identity, because, I would say... all through the 70s
right into the 80s, the whole focus of Singapore
was development, it was about trying to get out
of third-world status. Dick Lee's song came at a time
when standard English was seen as Singapore's ticket
to do business with the world. And Singlish
became a cause for concern. The English that we are beginning to hear our people speak is a very strange Singapore pidgin, a Singapore dialect English
which is not ideal, which is the best for the time being
and which we can improve upon if we concentrate some effort and considerable resources. Native English speakers were called in
to teach Singaporeans a brand of English that could be understood
across the world. While these reforms were underway, Jonathan Webster,
an English literature professor at NUS, wrote a letter to the newspaper in support of a Singapore English
with local flavour. The letter sparked a backlash
from the Education Minister himself. But it wasn't just
a top-down reaction, even teachers wrote in
to express their displeasure. Dr Webster, we thank you
for your concern, but we do not need your advice
or interference with our educational objectives. Miss Ivy Soh, Lecturer. English Studies Department,
Institute of Education. I'm calling the man
who sparked the debate, Jonathan Webster. When he wrote the original letter
in support of Singapore English, the American had only been
in the Republic for five months. Hello! In the earlier years, if you didn't speak properly,
in proper English, you would be deemed
or looked down upon as... not having been educated properly. What is the Singapore identity
if we all speak like British people, you know what I mean? If a kid tried to speak Singlish to a very English-educated teacher
back then, I think they might have... thrown your book out the window, they would have definitely
scolded you. My English teacher from the UK, if he asked a question
and one of the boys responded with "Huh?", he'd say, "Excuse me, what's 'huh'? Do you have the verbal capacity
of a cabbage?" Ironically, it was the all-out attempts
to keep Singlish out of earshot that prompted the birth of a book that may well have raised the odds
of its survival. "Eh, Goondu!" is a compilation
of commonly heard Singlish phrases first published in 1982. The book made the author
the grandmother of Singlish. Which I don't speak, by the way. Really? What? That's very difficult to believe. I'm an eavesdropper, you see, much of it also came from
eavesdropping, just listening. So what kind of impact
did you think the book caused? I basically put a punctuation and a spelling to Singlish. Before this,
to the best of my knowledge, it was verbal all the time,
and now, it's written. Yes, and now, I can never visualise "shiok" without the exclamation mark. Yes. Why did you think that it was important to document the language? It is a social history, so someone had to put it down
in black and white, and I'm glad I archived the way we were,
the way we spoke. I figured as Singapore reinvents itself,
it will be lost in time. While Singlish's longevity
defied Paik Choo's expectations, some of the Singlish phrases in her book
did meet their demise. "Your words like Pepsi Cola." What? I've never heard of that one. Is it because you shake it
and then you open the Pepsi... -It explodes.
-Wrong... Sweet! -Your words are very sweet!
-Good try. Fizz. Your promises just fizzle. Your words, whatever you say,
are just gone in a bubble. "I bingoong today." It sounds like "bengeat",
which means "pissed". No. No? Okay, let me try again. Tired. Exhausted. -Yes.
-Yes...? Not bad... Language is a living thing,
by nature, it must evolve. I'm not familiar with 21st century
Singlish words and phrases. To me, "bojio"
is a millennial Singlish word. It has its origins in... I would now say, formal Singlish. -"Why you never call me?"
-Yes. Then I guillotined it to
"never call me". And then it has since been
simplified into "bojio". So that kind of simplification
is part of the evolution. Funnily enough, despite the government's
objection to Singlish then, it was one of the most regimental
of state institutions that became an incubator
for its continued evolution and growth. An institution that
every Singaporean male gets conscripted into at 18. A ritual we call National Service... or NS. -SOC...
-SOC... -sibei jialat.
-sibei jialat. -IPPT...
-IPPT... -lagi worse.
-lagi worse. -Every day,
-Every day, -doing PT...
-doing PT... with my rifle and my buddy and me. I have no idea why I made
this transition from... speaking English
with a New Zealand accent to speaking Singlish now. Right, I was in the army! Yes, I think the army is the place
where a lot of people just... start to pick up Singlish
even if they've never spoken it before. Recruit! "Counting your...hair, is it?" The first time I heard that,
I was like... "Can you don't blur like sotong? Okay? Wake up your idea! Otherwise, you'd be running around
kancheong like a spider." "Army Daze" was the first local film
that included Singlish. The movie was based on
a 1985 book and a hugely successful 1987 play
by Michael Chiang. "Recruit! You call this camouflage? You're a disgrace to your nation." I came from a middle-class home, went to an English-speaking school. I spoke English at home. So we were always conscious, that you should speak properly. But when you join the army,
it's a different sort of little bubble. You're interacting with very different
people from different backgrounds. Singlish kind of gave everyone
that same vocabulary to speak. Right, and when you were in NS, what were the terms that you learnt? Quite a lot. The one I liked the most was "wake up your bloody idea". It's just such a colourful
and unique expression. How is it that we come up
with all these phrases in NS? It could be boredom, the fact that you're
sitting there, waiting to do things. It could be that you're struggling
to remember a phrase and you mash up your dialect-speak
with an English word and it pops up. Sometimes, it's also army terms, like "bobo", "topo". If you keep losing your way,
you become a "topo king". If you keep shooting badly,
you're a "bobo king". After your NS,
you go out into the workforce and you bring it along with you,
it just comes out very naturally. If you see someone struggling... "Don't gabra." It's just something you'd say. -Lulu!
-Towkay Neo! While Singlish still wasn't
heard on air, Michael's play set the stage
for a new era for Singlish in the arts. And by the early 90s, the ground was ripe
for one Singlish song to finally breach public airwaves, by now under a statutory board
called SBC or Singapore Broadcasting
Corporation. Why you so like that...? Why you so like that? Just days ago, I conducted a poll. So let me know in the comments
which Singlish words you're curious about and I will help you
find out the origins. And I've finally gotten the results. After consulting books
and professors, here's presenting the backstories of some of our most beloved
and baffling Singlish phrases. But I'm not going to do it alone. I'm going to call in one of Singapore's favourite comedy sketch actors. The top five words are... 1. "Pattern more than badminton". Well, it's such a popular phrase,
it's even been used in politics. It might have originated
because of the flashy moves in a heated game of badminton. And, well, since "pattern"
rhymes with "badminton"... You get the idea. 2. "Steady pom pipi". "Pom" came from "poon",
which means "blow" in Hokkien, while "pipi" is simply... These were sounds commonly heard
during the 80s and the early 90s when blowing whistles
showed support for a team. Go, Tanjong Pagar United! But it has evolved to mean
someone is calm or collected. I'm very tired. 3. "Kancheong spider". The term is likely to have
originated in the army... Recruit, weapon inspection! when soldiers would scramble
before an inspection to clean the dirt
in the barrel of their rifles, also known as "spiders". Spider...! 4. "Abuden". It's a phrase that surfaced
in the 1980s... So Aunty goes to the fish market.
To buy what? I buy fish. Ah, but then? Ah, but then? and a deliberate mispronunciation
of "Ah, but then?" What are you saying? "Abuden lah"! Say it properly. 5. "Wah lao". It's a polite variation of a vulgarity
used to describe a specific part of the male anatomy. You know, the blue bird. I'm surprised at the amount of Singlish
I've been able to use on this show. -You sure can or not?
-Yah lah, can lah. Because 25 years ago,
the use of Singlish on free-to-air would have still been considered
relatively taboo, which is why when this song
hit the airwaves in 1991, it came as a surprise to many. If you're old enough
to have owned a cassette tape, you might remember this one. "Why u so like dat?" Hey why u so like dat? I let you kopy all my sum
because you always blur But when I try to kopy back,
you always call the Sir! Oui, why u so like dat ah?
Hey why u so like dat? Why u so like dat ah?
Hey why u so like dat? I know this song. I always give you chocolate,
I give you... I think this is from the early 90s.
That's very long ago, right? I recall hearing it on the radio because I think it was
one of the first... This is really Singlish, right?
The syntax is completely Singlish. You tell me dat you don't like girl,
I also donno why... The song was not only heard
on the radio, it also had a music video
playing on TV! Why u so like dat ah?
Hey why u so like dat? The song's writer, Siva Choy,
passed away in 2018. But I've managed to arrange a call
with his wife, Ilsa. This is Choy! They're a tribute band
that performed at the Esplanade after Siva passed away in 2018. Now Siva's wife is expecting my call,
but she's not expecting this. -Gentlemen, you ready?
-Yes! All right, let's do this. -How are you?
-Can you hear me...? Yes, I can hear you. How are you? I hope you enjoy this. Hello! Hi, Ilsa! Why u so like dat ah? Why u so like dat? Why u so like dat ah? Why u so like dat? I let you kopy all my sum
because you always blur But when I try to kopy back,
you always call the Sir! Go! Why u so like dat ah? Why u so like dat? Why u so like dat ah? Why u so like dat? You tell me dat you don't like girl,
I also donno why But when you see a pretty girl,
your voice go up damn high! Damn... Choy! Ladies and gentlemen. Under the government of
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, such a recording might have
circulated only underground. But now the atmosphere
in the city-state is somewhat more liberal, they say. The rap song hit the airwaves shortly after Singapore sworn in
its second prime minister. I, Goh Chok Tong, having been appointed
to the office of Prime Minister... As he entered office, Prime Minister Goh promised
a more open-minded and consultative style of governance. In the 90s, people started to
express themselves a bit more. Songs were being written,
plays were being written, because issues
were being brought up. We decided to come up with
our own produced shows, drama and comedy. It started with "The Ra Ra Show"
and things were a lot more local. That's when you really hear a Singaporean
speaking on television in their natural state. Very stylo milo,
outside ah, got one sign say... "Park here and pig out." Alamak, those two siao zabor bibik, tie me until so tight... Singlish became more like pop culture,
more hip. When you see local faces
speaking the vernacular, the Singlishness of us,
and it was just so good, it was so crazy. For us in theatre, Singlish became part of
how plays were performed. People loved it because
they saw themselves on stage. You got, I got, why are you so... By the early 90s, Singlish became a unifying force
among Singaporeans. But does it still do the same now? I will be putting that to the test. I always want to speak Singlish to break the formality
of an experience. You instantly form these alliances
with fellow Singaporeans when you speak Singlish. When you're overseas
and you hear Singlish, there's some sort of kinship,
you know. What makes me feel that way? Can someone answer me, please? You have to ask Professor Gwee. Well, Dr Gwee... you just "kena arrowed". I've asked the author who published
the first book about Singlish to ever be entirely written
in Singlish to meet me here. He hasn't arrived, so I'm just going to "lepak" for a bit. Hello, Shabir. What is this?
Is that God from the heavens? You think this is about Singlish but it is really about you. About me? -I feel so exposed.
-We have a quiz for you. Okay. First question.
What does "agakration" mean? -A. The art of argument.
-Okay. B. The science of estimation. C... The skill of making jelly. D. Combat ration. The skill of making... The science of estimation. Yes! Correct! Second question. Which line has a different meaning
from the rest? Okay. "Can dun liddat?"
means "Don't do something". "Dun liddat, can?"
means "Don't do something". "Cannot Iiddat" means
"Don't do something in that way". So it has to be "Can liddat anot", B. Correct! All right! Third question. This one is for older-generation
Singlish speakers. Which isn't a Singlish synonym
for "horrigible"? "Terrihorble". Never heard
that word before in my life. It sounds like something
from "Harry Potter". Okay, since I've never seen B before,
I will go with B. B isn't a synonym for "horrigible". -Wrong.
-It's C. B, "Terrihorble" actually exists
as a version of "horrigible". Which Singlish word
has no Tamil import? Okay. Cockanathan. Aiyoh. Hampalang. Goondu. If I get this wrong, it's a national embarrassment. Okay, it has to be "hampalang". Correct...Well done. Which Singlish phrase... came from a music video? Music video... Yes, I think it's D, I've seen that video before. It's "stunned like vegetable". Is that so? Time for a tutorial
with the champion of Singlish. He has given TED Talks on the subject,
recorded podcasts, and translated fairy tales
into Singlish, all in a bid
to preserve this language. Some people do say that Singlish
is basically bad English. Do you agree with that? No, I think that's a misunderstanding that has followed Singlish
for a long time, unfortunately. Singlish as a language
has its own rules. When I speak Singlish
in my neighbourhood, I'm understood by the hawkers, I'm understood by
the migrant workers. That's interesting, and migrant workers
are quite quick to catch it. -It's easy for them.
-Very fast... It really is a language
that cuts across class. -It's very powerful.
-It is very powerful. Try walking into an automobile shop
to fix your car, speaking very proper English. -Exactly.
-You're not going to get the job done. You have to learn how to communicate
in that language, and suddenly... -you feel empowered by Singlish.
-That's right. What do you think Singlish says
about us as a people? We think that Singaporeans
are very boring people, but with the language and the way
we enjoy punning, being witty, those kinds of things that we do
to shape Singlish as a language show that we are a funny people,
that we are creative. And it's interesting how Singlish
could be used as a diffuser in very tense situations. But at the same time,
when you're doing NS, -and your sergeant calls out, "Gentlemen!"
-"Wake up your idea." That's it! You feel something shrinking
at that point. That's the scariest Singlish
you'd hear, and you never knew that Singlish
could sound that scary until you do that. I think we should start to appreciate
and understand Singlish. We have to treasure it
because it is, firstly, unique, and secondly, it is a baby
compared to a language like English that had more than 800 years
to develop. Old English also looked like
a mix of many other languages, French, Latin, Germanic languages. It doesn't look like the English
that we know today. Singlish, imagine what it could be
in 800 years' time. Absolutely. Singlish is a language
that brought people together and it still continues
to do that today. But what I want to know is
how effective it is as a unifying force. -Bro, help me lah.
-Okay lah. Thanks ah. Victor, along with three pairs of strangers, are helping me
put Singlish to the test with a popular social psychology
experiment. We would like to do a recording
of Singaporeans talking. Please follow the script
word for word. You'll have to converse
with each other. The participants have been given
a scripted dialogue written in Singlish. But what they don't know
is that at the end of this, they'll each be given $10 and the power to decide
whether they want to share it with the stranger they just spoke to. He or she will then decide how much to allocate to the receiver. And the receiver has no choice but to say yes or no to that amount that's given. Earlier, the participants
were assigned different rooms and given $10 each. Now, they'll have to decide
how much of it they'd want to share with the stranger they've just heard
but never seen. 50-50, to be fair, and also, we're both Singaporeans
because we speak Singlish and all, so it feels like a friend. I kept $5 for myself
and I gave the other person $5. I gave half, which is $5,
to my recording partner. I have decided to give
my recording partner $6. I was given $10. I chose to give
my recording partner $5. I gave her everything. Out of $60 on the table,
a total of $36 was shared. That averages out to
$6 given per person. So based on the results, how much of a difference
does speaking Singlish actually make? If we look at
the international average, if it's an anonymous test where the giver and the receiver
don't know each other, we found that they'd give about 30%,
or $3, in this case. They actually gave $6. So do the results suggest
that when we speak Singlish, we tend to sort of trust each other more
and like each other more? Yes, speaking the same language,
is a marker of identity, it's a marker of citizenship, so that closes
that psychological distance. And if I'm close to you
psychologically, I'm more likely to be
more generous to you. Love it or hate it, Singlish draws us together
in more ways than we might realise. Perhaps that's why the numerous
attempts to stamp it out could not stop it from dominating
the airwaves by the late 90s. PCK Private Limited.
Best toilet in Singapore and JB. Through the 90s, Singlish became the lingua franca for comedies. TV sitcoms like "Phua Chu Kang"
became primetime hit shows. Need to borrow money, is it? But then Singlish became
a victim of its own success and a target of a sudden
nationwide clampdown. Students are picking up catchphrases like "don't pray pray". I was quite shocked
that we were singled out. I never thought that
Singlish was a problem. Why are we whitewashing
who we are, our identities as Singaporeans, how we speak? Captions: Gayle Mak, Mediacorp Pte Ltd
