To be URBAN?

Speaks and writes (read: blogging) in English, no matter how broken your English is, you are licensed to curse and use all types of 4 letter words without feeling guilty! That does not include the modified cursing words (darn, shoot, F you, etc). Just browse through any blog which uses English partly, brokenly, as a whole, intermittently or even one liner. If you cannot find any of the words, I will cut my finger nail short! Listen to our children converse. They use bad words freely. Words like stupid, darn, damn, bullshit, shit, whatde is like their breathing in and out.

When I was in Secondary 5, I remember a boy was held up in a DC (detention class) by Mr. Surjit Singh (my English language teacher) for saying 'damn' to him. It was a serious matter then, and it should also be now. We try to be more American than the Americans by imitating their culture, allowing such words to be in our platter. But why imitate the bad ones? To be URBAN?

Ada satu malam tu (cakap melayu pulak lah), I was at 7 Eleven Taman Tun. (I have to mention TAMAN TUN because orang kat situ memang berlagak konon-konon they are more civilised than other people residing in other area. Peeeerah!) Ada sorang 30 something mother, colored hair, pakai fit tee with pyjamas bottom, talking to her about 3 y.o son, inside the 7E, in a B# Major Scale (try play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star using that scale! Sounds horror, high pitch tapi ala-ala malu gitu) and in English! Anak dia selamba aja jawab dalam bahasa Melayu, (that proved that their language at home is Bahasa Melayu, kids tak pandai bohong) tapi she is trying very hard to impress to other people (by talking in B# Major Scale) that she is 'just like other Taman Tun residents', converse in English like-water-one, walaupun intonasinya sangat lah kelakar. Ahh... pllease lah! I am already 44 years old and wise enough to understand not only English language, but also body language and tone language. Apa masalahnya kalau cakap Bahasa Melayu? Oh, that makes you less Taman Tun than other Taman Tun-ers? However, not to discourage. Boleh lah converse in English (I mean broken Manglish) tapi DO NOT TRY TOO HARD! WHEN YOU TRY TOO HARD, JADI KELAKAR DAN SANGATLAH MENJENGKELKAN! And that lady, I know she is from Sungai Penchala.

By the way, English is NOT our mother tongue. Malaysian speaks and writes Bahasa Melayu. Shame on you if you cannot speak the language correctly.

Kalau nak jadi URBAN pun, janganlah sampai kelakar. Kalau dah kelakar macam tu, apa barang?