Dear Stomp,

I came across this stall in Chinatown today.

They used the correct pronunciation but the wrong spelling.

Regards

Sherman Poon

Hey Sherman Poon!

It took us a while to recognise those words, Sherman Poon. And when we did, we got hungry.

We guess the more common colloquial spellings of those words would be either ‘otak’ or ‘otah’ and ‘nasi lemak’!

This sign has a spelling error.

I saw this somewhere in City Hall, during the Chingay festival or National Day.

Thought you might find it interesting.

Cheers

Norhafiza AL

Hi Norhafizah AL!

Looks like that sign needs first aid, Norhafizah AL!

Of course you know that it’s a typo and that should be spelled ‘point’ instead.

At least ‘first aid’ is spelled correctly!

Dear English Language Panel,

I have noticed that the conventions of reported speech are inconsistently observed nowadays. Even journalists and sub-editors, who should know better, are unsure. A recent example (one short paragraph) from a front-page article in The Straits Times:

"He said that although his view is that the economy has turned the corner, growth next year will not be as fast as in previous years. The challenge before Singapore, he said, was to improve productivity and competitiveness."

A case of ‘English as you like it’?

Andrew Tan

Hi Andrew Tan!

Well, we can’t really comment on this, Andrew Tan, because publications such as newspapers have their own style guides that they are required to follow. And since we have no idea what their style guide says, we don’t know if they’re right or wrong!

But as we said, each publication has its own style guide. So it can seem, and is probably the case, that different conventions are being used in difference places.

If you’re talking about just grammar though, then we have to say that there’s nothing wrong with that paragraph, Andrew Tan!

Hi,

Take a look at this snap-shot I took off the Channel News Asia website this morning.

Two mistakes I see are:
1. ‘Young Lions WIN Balestier Khalsa…’- It should be ‘beat’ right?
2. ‘to AVIOD’ – This must be a typo error.

But I find it strange that a premier website like CNA does not have someone to edit the posts before they are published online.

Regards,
Mahen

Hi Mahen!

You’re right! That shouldn’t be ‘win’. It should be ‘beat’ or another word that carries the same meaning!

Used like this, it means that the Young Lions have won Balestier Khalsa through some way. It means they now have Balestier Khalsa in their possession! That would be quite a match.

And yes, ‘avoid’ is probably a typo!

Dear ELP,

I visited a coffeeshop at Block 2023, Bt Batok Industrial Park A and came across two food stalls with two different signboards. One read ‘vegetarian food’ and the other read ‘vegetable food’.

Does it mean that the same food is sold at these two stalls?

STOMPer Omnivore

Hey STOMPer Omnivore!

We sure hope both stalls are selling the same type of food – vegetarian!

Because ‘vegetable food’ sounds like fertiliser to us, STOMPer Omnivore. And we sure don’t want to be eating fertiliser!

‘But now Ms Nita Ing, the former president of THSRC, and Diana Chen, former chairman of Taipei 101, have to pay the price of hobnobbing with the Chen family. Just like Ms Chung Chin, Taiwan's Sogo Department head, before them. Ms Ing - who was a close friend of the Chen family-stepped down as head of THSRC last week under pressure from the KMT government.’

There should be a semi-colon at the end of the first sentence to continue the related phrase.

Hence, it should be:

‘But now Ms Nita Ing, the former president of THSRC, and Diana Chen, former chairman of Taipei 101, have to pay the price of hobnobbing with the Chen family; just like Ms Chung Chin, Taiwan's Sogo Department head, before them.’

For your advice, please.

Thanks,
K

Hi K!

We have to agree with you there! Without the semicolon, the sentence ‘just like Ms Chung Chin, Taiwan’s Sogo Department head, before them’, is pretty illogical! By itself, you can see that it doesn’t make much sense. It needs context, and the semicolon creates that context by linking the sentence to the previous one!

You could use a comma instead of a semicolon, but that would make the sentence seem to be very long, and contain too many commas!

Good going, K!

This is not an entry which will win. The reasons are obvious.

But nevertheless it is an entry which is serious. I hope the organisers of the campaign will look into this.

Incorrect: Speak good English
Correct: Speak better English

Cheers!

Andrew Kam

Hi Andrew Kam!

Are you referring to the Fix That Sign contest that’s currently running on STOMP? Well, we agree that you won’t win, Andrew Kam, because you haven’t sent in a picture of a sign here!

Anyway, we’ve answered similar questions on this before, and we don’t think that ‘speak good English’ is incorrect! As we have said earlier, it’s like saying ‘he cooks good food’ or ‘he plays good football’. What ‘good English’ would be is the opposite of ‘poor English’.

And we thought we’d mention that there’s a difference between ‘good English’ and ‘better English’. ‘Good English’ describes a type of English by itself while ‘better English’ describes a type of English in comparison to another type. So they’re not interchangeable, Andrew Kam!

Saw this in Toa Payoh. What’s a ‘gunaecologist’?

One who studies ‘gunaes’?

Cheam Wei Lek

Hey Cheam Wei Lek!

‘Gunaes’? Sounds like some kind of herb.

But of course you know there’s no such thing. That’s a typo! It should be ‘gynaecology’. 

This promotional blurb just doesn’t sound right to me.

Shouldn’t it be:

1)‘Originally served in glass bottles since 1886’?

2)‘Unique twist-cap offers all….’?

Lastly, what is a ‘differentiated experience’? It seems a little too wishy-washy to me.

Regards,

Coca Spaniel

Hey Coco Spaniel!

It does seem a little funny to us too, Coco Spaniel!

1. We're not too sure about this, Coco Spaniel. Do they serve Coke in glass bottles today? Perhaps they meant that Coke was served in glass bottles only in 1886?

2. We agree with you here. 'Twist-cap' is more sensible because the hyphen ties the two words together into one!

And as for 'differentiated experience', we guess they just mean that it's a unique experience! So we guess they could have just said 'unique experience' and left out the '…from any other pack types'!

Why is the website ‘Google’ not spelled as ‘Googol’?

As far as I know, ‘google’ is not a word, whereas a ‘googol’ is a number.

Ant

Hey Ant!

Actually, the name ‘google’ is derived from a misspelling of the word ‘googol’!

And actually, ‘google’ is now an official word. It’s a verb that’s used to mean to use the Google search engine to search for something!

Pretty good example of a non-existent word that is so popularly used that it becomes an official one!