Accents and Conversations

At work, people have been telling me that they like my unique accent. I was rather surprised when I heard that and since I haven't seen a video or heard a recording of how I speak, so I have no idea how my accent sounds now.

Ever since I got here, my accent has unconsciously changed. It's quite inevitable really, because to in order to communicate effectively, the other party has to understand what I'm saying. So naturally, I changed the way how I say and pronounce certain words in order that other people can understand me easily.

What has changed is that I pronounce my Rs now and I emphasize my end consonants like Ts and Ds. For example in words like "that" and "did". Also, speaking in proper grammatical sentences is something I've found easy to adapt, probably because I always scored well in English back in secondary school.

My co-worker, Mia, who's white, surprisingly asked, "How come you speak such good english?" To which I shrugged and said, "I don't know, learnt it in school?"

She continued, "I like your accent. It sounds unique. I can't seem to place it to a particular country."

I laughed and shrugged, "Well, I guess it's become a weird hybrid now after I got exposed to the accent here."

When I speak with my brother though, we always speak Singlish. It's a pretty cool because over here, it becomes like another language. It's a good way to secretly communicate too.

For example, "Wah piang eh, that person damn smelly sia."

But of course when we're with friends, we'll speak proper English because it's rude to leave others out of the conversation.

Another thing I've gotten used to, is having short conversations with random people. You know, like small talk. Well, you know how western people are,make long enough eye contact with them and they can start talking about you about anything under the sun.

So at first when random people started having short conversations with me, especially at work, I felt awkward. I wasn't used to it. Over time though, I've slowly gotten used to it, and sometimes I even look forward to having those conversations. It's quite fun just talking to someone and getting to know them better. Sometimes with many people the whole conversation can go out of control and we all just burst out laughing.

For sure I'll be writing about those conversations in future entries.

It's time to end this entry though, I've had the flu since Monday and now the damn headache is coming back again.

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Video Of The Day #17

I've been wanting to write an entry, but work has been pretty crazy these past few days and I've been clocking lots of overtime. (Not that I'm complaining, x1.5 pay! Haha.)

So in the meantime, here's another cool video of the day.





What can I say? You just got served.

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Champions Of England

YEAH! Hail the Champions of England, Manchester United!

It's been an excellent season for Man Utd and today it's finally produced some silverware.

But the defining moment was really last week, when Chelsea drew with Bolton, and Man Utd came from behind to beat Everton 4-2. That was the ultimate turning point in the title race.



The goal that won it for Man Utd.



The goal that lost it for Chelsea.


I'm glad that Man Utd won the title because they've finally taught Chelsea some humilty and shoved their arrogance down their ass. I'll be honest. I like Chelsea. I like Jose Mourinho. I admire his self-belief and the way he has instilled that champion mentality into his team and backed it up with silverware. But this season, they've gone over the line. When Drogba and Essien started claiming they're the best even before the season was halfway through, self belief turned into arrogance. Mourinho's constant whining about penalties and insults of Ronaldo and his family was totally unprofessional and I'm glad Sir Alex Ferguson responded by putting Mourinho's comments into perspective.


An excerpt from the article:

Mourinho's comments about his fellow Portuguese in turn upset Ferguson, who said on Friday: "Everyone is entitled to have a comment or opinion. That doesn't mean to say they are liars."

And Ferguson added: "Mourinho is on about us changing the regulations. I would like to know who is doing it? Is it us? The FA? The Premier League? Uefa?

"I really feel he has been let off lightly with those comments.

"The biggest fear for us is that by citing the fact we are not allowed to get penalties at Old Trafford, it puts a terrible pressure on the referees."

Ferguson also pointed to several decisions that he felt had gone against his own club.

"Does he remember the goal Paul Scholes had disallowed for offside when we played against Porto in the European Cup?" said the United boss.

"We didn't like it and we complained. But we didn't go to war on it.

"Or should he be pointing to the fact Tottenham were forced to play on a Easter Saturday morning, a day and a half after their previous game, to allow Chelsea to rest before their European tie?

"We have to play Manchester City at 12.45 on a Saturday after a European tie in Milan next Wednesday. Is that fair? We don't think so but we are not going to start accusing the Premier League of carving things up with Chelsea."


But I know, most of all, I'll be laughing at one guy. John Obi Mikel. For those of you who don't know the story, he signed for Man Utd, then made an about turn and said that he was "pressured" into signing the contract and that he wanted to sign for Chelsea instead. What a bastard. In the end, it was settled by Chelsea buying him from Man Utd for 12 million pounds without him ever kicking a ball.



I guess that was how he was pressured.

Well, I say thank you John Obi Mikel, for the 12 million pounds because we don't need scum like you to win the Premiership title.

Now for everything to be perfect, we just need to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup to clinch the double, and for AC Milan to beat Liverpool in the Champions League final. Milan simply need to play the way they did when they beat Man Utd at the San Siro, and they'll have no problems beating the boring, long ball, lucky penalty shootout kings, Liverpool.


Now, the Premiership trophy is finally back where it belongs.


Stand up, for the the Champions.

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