The debate on whether Science and Mathematics should be taught in English or not has been dragging on and on for so long now that it does not look as if it is ever going to end. Well, I am not going to dwell on that in this post as personally, I feel it is more a political thing rather than any genuine concern for what is good for the students. But one thing’s for sure, the standard of English in the country is really going to the dogs.
I do listen to the radio quite often and I must say that the errors the announcers make on air can be quite appalling at times. Our Malaysian newspapers, unfortunately, are not much better. To prove my point, I just picked up ONE copy of a national English language newspaper and I found this…
I do not know if the columnist is trying to be clever by twisting the title of Thomas Hardy’s novel or whether it is a sheer exhibition of her ignorance. For one thing, the article makes no mention of people getting on her nerves, just that the place can be very busy and advanced reservations would be in order. Still, I fail to see the relevance of the headline. Then, on another page, I saw this…
Now, isn’t “anymore” one single word anymore? Anyway, let us see if there are any more slips in the daily…
I will not say that I’m a fan of Nat King Cole or I will never hear the end of it from people like Kpenyu…but I do like his song “Unforgettable” especially the duet with his daughter, Natalie (after his demise).
I also wonder why the capital letter “P” is used for “prawns” here…
Has it got anything to do with the size? Maybe they are HUGE ones like those Kpenyu is bringing over for me when he comes here in April. ROTFLMAO!!!
Moving on from the subject of prawns, all of you will agree with me, I’m sure, when I say that little things mean a lot…even if it is something seemingly insignificant like a comma or an apostrophe. Just look at these two sentences, for example:
1 The principal says, “The teacher is very lazy.”
2 “The principal,” says the teacher, “is very lazy.”
Note how the meaning is changed once the punctuation marks are shifted.
Well, there is this report on David Beckham in the sports section…
Ok, ladies…*clapping hands…attention, ladies! Don’t get distracted now, and that goes for you too, TOC!!! Hahahahahaha!!! Now, what do you think of the following headline? I am not the possessive type but I am positive that there is a need for an apostrophe mark to show possession…
Other than the above, I also find the use of the hyphen or the dash somewhat erratic and mind-boggling. Should the words be hyphenated or should they be two separate words? Or perhaps they should be joined together to form just one word?
Let’s see how good you are at this. Can you look at the following and tell me which are correct and which are incorrect?
Have a great weekend, everybody!!! LOL!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Here goes:
1. Storyteller should be one and a hyphen in unnecessary. It’s like hyphenating ‘postman’.
2. Fair-weather should be hyphenated
3. This is correct.
4. Homegrown shouldn’t be hyphenated
5. This is also correct.
How did I fare?
Bravo! Bravo!…But hey! English lecturer, takes out all the fun! Hahahahahaha!!! Btw, it seems they do write “fairweather” as one word as well but I usually use the hyphen.
I’m not good in all these but from the many books that I’ve read, I think they look better:
1. Storyteller
2. Fair-weather fans
3. Eco-friendly homes
4. Homegrown favourite
5. Perfectly cooked
Ah!!! Clever girl! Hahahahahaha!!!
Hey I like this post. It does highlight the mistakes that the newspaper makes which might confuse students. I think our standard of English is really deteriorating and our education ministry doesn’t seem to bother. All they care now is politics! This is total crap! oh btw, I was really distracted by the Beckham pic. Very appealing….
Notty! Notty! Hahahahahaha!!! It’s all over – the signs, the posters…everywhere we can get to see some really gross errors – even Astro! I saw in a promo/advert the other day, they used the word “loose” instead of “lose”.
David Beckham doing Giorgio Armani ads with the wife. Why you didn’t put up the wife in lingerie picture? The guys here also need to wash eyes mah. 😛
Men are like fine wine – the older, the better…whereas old chicks – especially already laid eggs ones – only good for cooking curry! Hahahahahahaha!!! *ducks rotten eggs and runs to hide!
Wawa, teaching on blog pula. Seriously, i think all above are correct!!!! LOL…
Seriously msia education system make students suffer a lot and all languages are separuh tong. ==””
Gee! Looks like you’d better enrol in my tuition class. Don’t worry! I will be very nice and will not scold you this time…considering that you’ll be paying me money!!! Why blame the system? See Clare…fresh grad and her English so good leh? Think about that!!!
So if ‘Lu Kong’,’Wa-Kong’,(say u,say me, sang by Linel Licky) then who is listening? This morning I heard someone says,chicken skin as in chicken sekin!1 tilo!Hehehehe!!! Ehkiew mi,I ate italian wine lart nite!
I don’t think the “say” in the song title = “kong”… So lat nite, you fart-fart dlink you got dlunk or not?
hi there, i havent commented for ages! i’m taking
an extended lunch break at work 🙂
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/4688453/Giant-rat-caught-in-China.html
only foochow rats can grow up to such a size
hahahaha
Wah…so nice, can have extended lunch break…and you do not even have to go for prayers! LOL!!! 1st response: Gee! That can be used to make some nice fur coats, and 2nd response: Eyew! I hope that did not get into the canned meat we buy from the shops!!! You’re Foochow… A rat, by any chance? LOL!!!
uh…i thought the title of the book is ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’? Maddening meh? Sounds a bit off.
Exactly what I was saying…
1) Storyteller
2) Fair-weathered
3) Think this one is right
4) Not sure, but looks right.
(2) no -ed, (4) not right…
sorry, my 4 was 5
4) Homegrown.
I should get Dan to do this…LOL!
That’s right, so (5), which is ok…and (2)…
Are you an English teacher or lecturer? LOL!
Both. A teacher…but I was at the same time involved in giving lectures/running courses and workshops for English teachers since the late 80’s till I retired.
wah u like beckham so much O! wakaakekekeke
Eyew…not into sports nor sports personalities!!! That explains my shape and size! LOL!!
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!! That’s a good metaphor!!! How about old chicks not yet lay eggs wan ler?? Good for cooking what? 😛
Meat already tough…have to stew or simmer long long time so will become tender! Hahahahaha!!!!
Put in pressure cooker, cook it overnight. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!! 😀
Yalor…will need much heat and pressure, baru can! Hahahahaha!!! Bad girl!!! Notty! Notty!
I refrain from commenting further…Hahahahahah!!!
Clever girl! Play it safe hor? Withdraw when the going gets hot… Oops!! Hahahahahaha!!!!
Story-teller,correct!Someone named Story working as a teller!
Fair weather fans correct too,that guy very fair n he is pointing to the sky saying he is one of the fans of the weather
ECO-Friendly also right, now economic recession
Home-grown favourite perhaps marijuana,see some plants in the photo…
Perfectly cooked maybe by David Cook
Well,just looking at the headlines,I assumed it all makes sense!LOL!Okay!It is the weekend bug getting into me!Thank God it’s Friday!Bye!
It must have been all that wine that you dlank fart-fart one!!! Hahahahaha!!!!
Geez… what now? Online (so is it online or on-line? hehe) English lessons? English teachers should make it compulsory for their students to read this blog.
I’m sure it is more interesting than many of their lessons in school. What do you think? LOL!!
em..
let’s see how am i at grammar ar..
1. storyteller
2. fair-weather
3. eco-friendly
4. homegrown
5. perfectly-cooked
i swear i didn’t cheat by scrolling down…
and beck’s hot bod is yum! 😀
Ooi…little girl! Stop oogling!!! Now let’s see. The last one does not need to be hyphenated, but then you’re not the only one who thinks it is.
Once a teacher, always a teacher! On your blog also want to point out mistakes. You have to understand who the reporters are. Most are fresh from the university and I don’t they major in creative writing or some form of writing.
Surely they will only employ really qualified people to be the chief editor or editors – and they only have that one newspaper a day to edit. Poor English teachers in the schools have hundreds of essays (with thousands of errors) to correct every day.
But come to think of it, the Malaysian Exam Syndicate has to come out with just that one miserable set of papers for English in a year…and there ARE errors too! Just about shows what kind of people they pull in there to work on the national-level exam papers! Such a disgrace!
P.S. Btw, I saw this in a local daily today:
“I don’t think people like their pictures to be shown around when they are in the bedroom.” They quoted Bernama as the source of the news item. I guess it is ok to show the pictures in the living room or kitchen then? ROTFLMAO!!
LOL at your PS. reply to sophia. HAHAHAHA!!! Exactly what I thought when I read the sentence.
I really wonder whether they read what theyhave written or not. The meaning that comes across is totally distorted and very different from what they want to say!
Just lol…I didn’t even realise there were so many mistakes until you told me. BTW who’s TOC? Hahaha!!!!!!
Also, one irritating mistake I see is committed so many times is the “Peninsular Malaysia” vs “Malay Peninsular” thing. Sometimes local newswriters even put in “Korean Peninsular”. Blardy hell!
TOC = The Other Cousin who comments quite regularly! LOL!!! Umm…what’s wrong with that? They refer to those long structures of land jutting out from the mainland, while Peninsular Malaysia = West Malaysia, i.e. all the states there excluding Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
And please, be soft on me. I know my English is bad, lol. XD
Why do you say it’s bad? I do not see any errors at all? Soft on you?….Ummmm…never mind! Hahahahaha!!!! (Stop laughing, Clare!!! LOL!!!)
Haha, that’s why you still inspire me to write, although still needs polishing 🙂 The questions as to which language to use is more of a political agenda rather than forward thinking;p Well, someday the younger generation would not be aware of what the correct way to write is anymore. (How did I end up in engineering? I should do English literature instead ;p) Haha!
Ooit! Puji sendiri! Hehehehehe!!! You went to local u, right? Those overseas have to do Lit, even when going for medicine, dentistry and so on, I hear. Teaches humanity and develops critical thinking skill, they say…
Got distracted by the novel…reminded me of my literature teacher…the boys loved her so much that they all “stand” when she came..I mean came into the classroom.
Encouraging my boy to text full words in sms..if wrong spelling…tidak jadi. To be honest I needed the dictionary at times to avoid the ‘? ‘.
Good post..everyone’s English bely good today…see.. I said you can make this a pay site for students..or better still homework site…sure Kaaaaya one.
The duet was done after his demise???
So you believed the politicians when they always say the press misquoted them???
Oops…something’s gone missing? Hahahahaha!!! Now you’ve edged out Stella already – as the one with the longest comment. LOL!!! You’ve mentioned that teacher before. I met her some 10 years later but eyew…it sure was easy to arouse the deprived SHS boys at the time hor! Ah well…had to see Abai all the time, any chick would look appealling! Hahahahahahaha!!!
Yes, I also have to use the dic (…tionary, I mean), now can use hp to go online and check, so easy…and yes, after his demise! They engineered and recorded the duet after he had passed away. Like Celine Dion singing live with Elvis Presley – what show was that? Or KRU with P. Ramlee and they got slammed as against the teachings of Islam, singing with dead people and what not!
And yes, I believe that! They distorted my press releases, left out important details, misprinted information and so on…until I had to tell them – print as it is or don’t print at all!!!
Actually it should be “Malay/Korean Peninsula” because “Peninsula” is a noun and we’re actually referring to one in this context. “Peninsular” of “Peninsular Malaysia” is an adjective that describes which part of Malaysia we’re talking about. I guess English is confusing, but the distinction between both is very clear – one noun, the other adjective.
Yes, you’re right. See, I said your English is good! I also have to check often but easier now, I can access any online dictionary using my hp, no need to carry those huge ones anymore.
I know in S’pore and HK, there are the Peninsula Hotels. But as you said, that’s a noun and the adjective should be with an “r”. Heard somewhere the word always with an “r” and followed blindly, never bothered to check. Thanks.
Indeed, English is confusing. In American English, they have done away with a lot of the complications…but British English still hangs on to all the rules. The worst thing is language is alive and is always changing e.g. “handsomest” is acceptable now but my time, we had to stick to “most handsome”. Can be a real headache!
And I thought this post is about the Lionel Richie’s song that started with “Say you, say me…” LOL!
Hey…you know the song too? Thought you’re still VERY young. Always sing it at karaoke?
I am surprised that you haven’t complain about my spelling in my blog…
Hehehe… BTW, I would only detect 2 out of 10 of the errors if you had not explain 5 of them…
These days, the emphasis is on communication – not so much on spelling and grammar, but of course, if you have all that, your scores will be very much higher than just a mere pass or credit.
Tuition for english? Nola… u understand me, i understand you enough. haha…
Btw, i still very sad for msia rojak education.
I dunno if that’s good enough for you to get a job after you have graduated. So many years in the u. If you mix with English-speaking people, you should be very good by now… The system is ok. It’s the politics behind it that spoils it – like everything else.