Whats a Ang Mo?
Apparently, the pain inflicted during a good caning is so severe, the person being caned may pass out from it. To rememdy this, I was told, a doctor is on hand during the caning to revive the canee, should the canee lose consciousness, thus assuring he/she experiences every bit of of pain they have been sentenced to endure.
Is this actually true?
Stepping in to help Tabby_Cat out. Not that I’m a Singaporean guy or anything.
It’s a slightly more polite version of the Hokkien wah lan eh. It’s can mean something like “oh goodness”, “damn” or “wow” depending on context. The literal meaning is “oh cock”. I think.
A mildly uncomplimentary way of referring to Caucasians. The term is Hokkien…something to do with monkeys, if I remember right.
AAAAAHHH! Katong laksa!! Now you’ve made me crave the stuff…I’m going to have to make a trip down there this evening now!
Yup, first year in LSE! 
Well, I assume if they apply antiseptic, I suppose it means that they reserve the remainder for another day… I remember reading something to that effect in the papers, too. Full article here. Interesting read, with many official sources to back it up, and an interview with Michael Fay!
Literally, “Red hair”. I assume it means either a ginger haired person, or a chimpanzee. ^^;; I tend to believe ginger haired person. I don’t really think that it’s degratory, and I don’t mean it in a degratory way when I use it, but there you go.
It’s from a dialect of Chinese that’s quite widespread in Singapore, Hokkien. Literally, it means
wah = my
lau = penis
eh = “amplifier”.
So, it basically means, “Oh, my dick!” Charming. ^^;;
Cool! There’s another Singaporean here? feels slightly less unique 
Tabby_Cat, thank you for opening this thread. I have some highly ignorant questions to ask.
Singapore has always seemed to me to embody the virtues of a benevolent dictatorship. But what happens when Lee Kuan Yew dies? (the downside of a benevolent dictatorship, other than the minor lack of freedom thing…) I’m afraid I don’t know enough about your government to have the faintest idea.
Your English is extremely fluent and idiomatic; you read like someone raised in England. Does your speech sound like a Brit (yes, I know there are about a million different British accents, but you know - if I heard you, would I think you’d been raised in England? Or how about Australia/New Zealand?), or do other influences work their way in there - flavors of Chinese, Dutch, French, anything else? Is English your first language, or are most people bi-lingual - and if so, what is/are the primary other language(s)? I recognize that your personal experience may not be typical of most Singapore (-ese? -ians? -ites? er, natives of Singapore).
What is the relationship between Singapore and mainland China? Are there any tensions there? How about Taiwan?
Thanks a lot!
Is there a Jumbo in Singapore? Or were you thinking of the one in Hong Kong?
Well dammit, my Googling skills aren’t up to much today, are they?
Must be a chain, I suppose.
well, I’ll step up and help Tabby and Aankh too (hi aankh, sorry not written, shall do soonest, I promise!). I’m not S’porean, but the wife is, and I’ve lived here for eight-and-a-bit years now, my son was born here and I’ve worked in LOTS of interesting (very local) companies (the distinction is important). So I can probably assist from a slightly different perspective.
Oh and yes, I’m one of these…
…given that I live out in the HDB heartlands to the east of the island (with a lovely view of the straits of Johore!) near Loyang/Changi.
Now, down to questions…
ANG MOH
Ok, most of this bit (my response) is based on stuff I read YEARS ago relating to the history of Singapore and the co-related history of bits of China,as it was in the 16th Century. I have no cites, it’s all from memory, so take it with the proverbial grain of salt.
The phrase Ang Moh is used to refer to caucasians, ALL caucasians, however not in any derogatory sense. However as I’ve often pointed out, many folks use it through ignorance and/or laziness rather than any other real reason. (a friend used to ask ‘what country is ang moh?’). I have used the term myself from time to time.
NOTEThe suburb Ang Moh Kio does not refer to the Caucasian population in that area, instead it refers to the Tomato Farms that used to be there.
The phrase ‘Ang Moh’ originally refered to the Portuguese jesuits and moreso the western european pirates that were amongst the first westerners the chinese common-folk encountered (Like I said, I have no cite for this beyond heresay, but if you’d asked me about six years ago I could have told you where I read it), the foreigners were so titled because of their red hair, and for a long time the full phrase was ‘Ang Moh Gui’ (red hair ghost).
For some time (again, annecdotal, I can’t remember the cite) the phrase was definitely derogatory, but through common use it has become everyday jargon. Personally, I have a slight beef with the term because of the racist undertones (it lumps ALL caucasians together and is used in the same fashion as ‘those -xxx-’, replace ‘xxx’ with the xeno-group of your choice, using the derigeur terminology of our grandparents day). The origin of the term as a derogatory one makes it less than pleasant. If we look at other racial or minority labelling terms that were once commonplace and ‘used without intentional ire’ we have revised our language to better address the party concerned.
Alternately I could be being overly sensitive grin. Which is more likely the case…
One amusing side note on this, for a long time my mother-in-law could not/would not remember my name, so refered to me as ‘Ang Moh Lang’ (caucasian man), which sounds like ‘Ang moh Lan’ (caucasian penis). Being the amusing chap I am (note the emphasis), and being slightly off-put by her lack of interest in learning my super-easy name (easy, my name can be phonetically-allitertated into Mandarin as ‘jin’ (lit. ‘gold’)) … where was I? Yes, being the amusing chap I am my response was to refer to her as ‘hua chiao chee’ (lit. 'overseas chinese -ahem- lady’s um… ‘bits’).
You see the logic, yes? Oh the hilarity! I swear my life could be a sit-com dammit, A SIT-COM!!!
Alternately (and amusingly) some folks (mostly men apparently) may insist on using ‘WAH CHEE’ (‘my vagina’). My brother-in-law says this, which prompted me to ask him if he had a vagina and his wife had a vagina then, prithee tell, how did they conceive a child? B-in-L looked at me ascance while wife went white with shock then red as she started laughing. and yes, B-in-L still says, ‘Wah Chee’, he ‘caught no ball’ (local term for being whooshed).
I could get more crude, but I shall not, I’ll leave that to Tabby being the local boy. grin
dude, there’s lots of S’porean residents here on the boards, like maybe even five of us! (Aankh, you were keeping track in that other thread weren’t you? The one where you guys dicussed the MeeSiamDope?). But not so many of us are actual Singaporeans (I’ve got that damn song from National Day last year going through my head now! [sings]Sing-a-pore, A Sing-a-pore-eee-an![/sings] . CURSES!!!)
I’ll try to help on this one, but I’m sure others have more relevant details handy.
Singapore’s relations with China are pretty decent, and probably much the same as the US and China, or Australia and China. One interesting tale from a few years back, mid-90s or thereabouts, there was a joint venture between the Singapore govt and a local govt in China (was it Songshan? help on this somebody) that went bust. Nothing was proven (there were lots of implications as to why the thing went bust, many quite unsavoury), but the point was, it did sour relations for a while, but nothing overtly.
But (and please kick me if I’m misreading you here AvhHines) are you assuming Singapore is close to China? We’ve got a whole mess of countries inbetween, Malaysia’s to the north (I know it is, I can see it from here), then Thailand, then Burma (whoops, sorry, ‘Myanmar’ according to local policy tsk tsk) etc, all the way up to China. It’s a LOOONG way away.
Yep, it’d be far more interesting to ask about Singapore’s relationship with Malaysia. A different kettle of fish altogether 
sort of like really intense sibling rivalry … ?
I knew about the meaning of wah-lan … but I always thought it was a corruption of wah-lau, instead of the other way round! :o Oh well, no one’s fainted in horror so far when I use it …
And dang, there are five S’poreans/residents on board? Wow … waves hello to all friendly Dopers down south Suddenly the SDMB feels a little bit closer to home
Well, I’m not sure if I’d call it a benevolent dictatorship, as in, we obviously don’t have the NK kind of LKY worship, and technically speaking he isn’t really all that much of a power in politics. That said, he did make himself “Senior Minister”, and basically created that position for himself. AFAIK (and this is not very far), he doesn’t really intefere with the political process all that much.
It’s not clear if he needs to, however, as many people often imagine some sort of nespotism going on; the CEOs of the top companies are Lees, and the current Deputy Prime Minister is a Lee as well. Not that they aren’t qualified for the job, the current DPM, Lee Hsien Loong, was one of the top students in Cambridge, as was his father, LKY, but when the highest earning people in the land read like a Lee family tree (hyperbole) people start to wonder.
Now, when LKY dies, well, I guess we’ll all be somewhat sad, but I expect life to go on pretty much as normal. I would guess the most major effect felt would be the temporary loss of confidence by other countries who think that LKY is running the show by himself (no I’m not joking). Much as he is a fantastic politician, his “firebrand” style policies don’t seem to be the way forward any more. They were necessary when we were a small island with not much industry apart from being a British port/colony, and trying to establish our independance.
His policies were always a bit… elitist, though. Things like “Graduate moms should have more babies” and some such. I remember a quotation from the Queen, “It doesn’t work with horses”. I’m not sure if I’d be happy if I was politically consious when he was still making policy.
As for my language, well, I’m somewhat sad to say that I’m probably in the top 5% or so with regards to the English language. It is the de facto first language of Singaporeans, being the language of business, and is a requirement in schools. In fact, all school subjects, apart from the mother tongue, are taught in English. The mother tongue is a requirement as well, such as Chinese, Malay and Tamil, depending on your ethnic race. Singapore is about 70% Chinese, 20% Malay and 10% Indian, something like that.
That said, I’m sure you’ve heard of “Singlish”, not too far removed from “Japlish”. Expressions such as “Lah” and “kiasu” have made Singapore famous all over the world, and made us somewhat difficult to understand. As for myself, I grew up listening to the BBC and watching Sesame Street, and in that sense, my childhood is somewhat special - most middle and working class people were chinese-educated (back in the days when Chinese schools were still a viable alternative), and so they tend to speak better Chinese, and not so good English. On the other hand, my chinese is unadulterated crap. Chinese is still one of the most popular street languages, though, about even or slightly ahead of English. Of course, you will also be able to hear Malay and Tamil being used, depending on the kind of people you are around.
I don’t have a British Accent, or American, or anything that you’ve heard before - it’s a bit hard to describe. If you want to, you can try to tune in to the web radio and have a listen : Try Here. Popular English stations are Class 95, Power 98, 98.7. If you don’t understand what’s being said, try harder, it’s really English. We DO use British spelling, however, and so the colour of the sky is blue. However, we don’t call French Fries Chips, and Potato Chips aren’t crisps. 
As for the relationship between Singapore and China, well… As you may know, most of the Singaporean Chinese came to Singapore to search for a better like, and they came from China. They were hardworking and became the majority in Singapore, even though we smack are in the middle of the “Malay bloc”. During the World War II, the Chinese in Singapore were still very closely linked to the homeland, and supported China with donations and such.
That said, I am at least a 3rd or 4th generation Singaporean, and have hardly any ties with China at all. In fact, I’m pretty annoyed at their human rights abuses, especially with regards to religion. However, most of the younger generation see China as some sort of a market ready to be exploited, and especially since we happen to be in the perfect position to play the middle man between China and the West - most of the population effectively bilingual, service industry, sitting on the shipping lanes, etc. As for Taiwan, well, we have some defence arrangements with them, and occasionally our National Servicemen will go over for some defence exercises, but other than that, I have no idea. ^^;;
Keep 'em coming, folks, it’s just getting interesting.
Ah, yes! The SuZhou tech venture. Pile of dogshit.
What happened was, the Chinese government asked for Singapore to help set up a business park, or tech park, or something of the sort, and after it was up and running, and making a profit, the Chinese government BUILDS AN EXACT COPY RIGHT NEXT TO IT. :dubious: Stealing, of course, all the people and all the expertise.
We sold the damn place back to the government and went home. :rolleyes:
And our currency appreciated 100% against yours since we went independant! Neener neener neener.
Seriously, though, 5? Who else? hmm… 5/3000 : 3mil / 6 bil… Wow, we’re pretty over represented here.
I wish to heaven that I could claim that my question on Singapore’s relationship with China was driven by its majority Ethnic Chinese population rather than a geographic idiocy. Unfortunately, I am a geographic idiot, and did not realize how far south Singapore was, and yes, that is mostly because of a tendency to lump it in with Hong Kong (but it is an island, right?).
Thank you for your kind and patient answers.
Fret not **Avh[/b} that’s what we’re here for, to fight ignorance!
Oh and Tabby, twas my understanding that a LOT of NSmen do training in Taiwan (and Australia, and occasionally Israel). I know a lot of my colleagues have been there for training camps and such, and there was lots of panic during SARS about NSmen potentially bringing the virus back with them.
um… as for LKY not being politically active, he’s still the head of the Government Investment Board (I’m surew I have the name wrong) which controls/decides what money goes where, and I understand he has a LOT of say in how the Prime Minister behaves (there was a questionable quote a while back about him suggesting that if the PM got out of line, he would send a note ‘down’. I reiterate, the quote was questionable, and obviously not in a local Singapore paper).
The guy is VERY active, but appears passive. My suspicion is, when he passes-on to that great lion city in the sky, or greets Kwan Yin, or whatnot, things in Singapore will not change enormously, but there will be a major period of official mourning (given the pre-eminent position he holds in society here, it could be weeks of officiating, etc) and there will more than likely be some amount of scrambling about within the government as the gap is filled by others hoping beyond hope that they can lead as he led in the past. Who knows how things will turn out?
hey there Purplycow waves out window to the north. That five number is a rough guess, nothing accurate as yet.
I shall refrain from making any references to the water supply.
jeepers, sorry Avh I forgot part of your question. Yes, Singapore is indeed an island (well, a bunch of islands, but there’s one BIG island that is known as Singapore, while the terriroty encompasses the much smaller islands, like Sentosa, Pulau Ubin, Pulau Brani, StJohn’s Island, Kusu Island, Pulau Tekong, etc. (Pulau is Malay for ‘island’, the Survivor Borneo island was literally ‘Island Three’).
And for the record, Hong Kong HAS an island, but it is not an island in and of itself. The bulk of Hong Kong is part of the asian mainland, stretching from Kowloon up through the New Territories (Shatin, etc) to the border with PRChina. But I don’t know how the handover has affected the border situation. I’m sure an HKDoper will be along to assist.
heya dangergene!
oh touche!