A glimpse of Singlish!

We brothers had our first glimpse of what would later come to be known as Singlish right there in our kampong house in the early 1970s. We were only between seven and nine years old then, yet the experience remains vividly etched in our memories to this day.

Our mother took great care in cultivating our English, carefully selecting reading materials for us and encouraging us to speak the language properly. Every June school holiday, however, our dear second cousin would come and stay with us for a few days, sometimes even a week. Chinese-educated, she was keen to learn English as well. The challenge was that she often translated directly from Chinese into English, producing expressions that were perfectly logical in her mind but completely baffling to us.

At mealtimes, if she wanted a dish passed to her, she would say, "Boy, bring come, bring come!" When she wanted us to take something away, it became, "Please take go, take go!"

As young boys, we were utterly puzzled. What exactly did she mean? Yet somehow, after a moment of confusion, we always managed to work it out.

The amusing part was that only the three of us ate together at the children's table, while the adults sat separately at the main dining table. As a result, no one else heard these exchanges, and the linguistic adventures unfolding at our table went entirely unnoticed.

Looking back, those seemingly amusing exchanges were perhaps more than childhood curiosities. They were small glimpses into the making of a uniquely Singaporean way of speaking, born naturally from different languages meeting around the dining table of an old kampong home.

At the time, however, they simply left two young boys scratching their heads in bewilderment, trying to figure out what "bring come" and "take go" actually meant.

Colourised by Nusan N