Trademark infringement

Just got my Nikon D70 back from the service centre when I bumped into this car in traffic:

It's a learner driver. Slow, hogs up the left lane and often stalls at traffic lights during rush hour. This one's got a handicapped driver, though - hence the picture of a wheelchair next to the license plate and a little sign that says:

Hmm... I've seen those fonts somewhere before.

Eat your vegetables

It's now the season of Lent, which according to the Catholic faith is a time of fasting - to freely abstain from stuff you'd normally like to do (there's a lot more reasoning behind this, apparently).

Some give up chocolate. Others stop drinking alcohol. Most Catholics would take Fridays as a day to abstain from meat - simply because it's yummy and shit.


I am catholic, and therefore, I shall abstain from meat on Fridays too. Because I believe in God and I am a very very good boy.

But it seems that I've not been fasting properly for the past 27 years of my life, as I've recently discovered.



The following conversation is an excerpt from an online chat session:
me: Are you done with work yet? I come pick you up.

Elaine: no need
finish your work
i have stuff i can do here still. ... housekeeping etc...

me: T_T

Elaine: dun worry

me: ok... i hurry

Elaine: dun worry
don stress
had big lunch ... am not hungry

me: ah...
you do realise we're supposed to be vegetarian today, right? :)

Elaine: erm
chicken is a vegetable
it is

me: Oh... really???
So my mum has been lying all this while!!!


Elaine: yes ... um ... yes, she has
because i would never eat anything but a vegetable-chicken on fridays during lent

me: yes...
Ah... so THAT'S how they grow chickens!!!
They plant the eggs IN THE GROUND!!!

Elaine: YES!
The chickens get cut off their stalks when they are big enough to ... erm ... make a tasty vegetable dish



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Shortly after, the following mental image appeared in my head:

Click to enlarge

So there. Remember to eat your vegetables.

My England very terror worr...!

Being the self-appointed English language guru that I am, I often take pride in correcting the grammar of my friends and family members - just to show off my superiority superior English.

I also taunt Chinese-educated PR/marketing people over the phone with a supposed English accent (It's true! Ah Bengs and La Las can't tell the difference).

It's quite simple, just speak like one of those Indian English teachers you had in primary school and omit all the aar's and lah's from your speech. (FYI, there's an incredibly detailed guide to Malaysian English in Wikipedia)

And what I've just realised is that, because the standard of English is quite poor in Malaysia, it is possible to impose incorrect grammar/vocabulary on people (Accidentally, of course).

Take the following conversation I had with Aloy, for example:

EDITORS NOTES: Some parts of this dialogue are fictional.

Aloy: My cousin/brother/etc (I can't remember - Chris) just bought a Nikon D70s.

Me: Oh, he must have got it for a swan song!

Aloy: A what?

Me: A swan song.

Aloy: Erm... what's that?

ME: WHAT? YOU MEAN YOU DUNNO WHAT A SWAN SONG IS???

Aloy: Erm... No. what is it?

(Cue dramatic musical score by Hans Zimmer)

ME: IT MEANS THAT HE GOT IT CHEAP! FOR A GOOD PRICE!

Aloy: Erm... Really? Is it a common saying?

ME: OF COURSE IT IS!!! Now... BOW BEFORE MY SUPERIOR COMMAND OF THE QUEEN'S LANGUAGE!!!

Aloy: But... we're not an English colony anymore, and...

ME: SILENCE!!!

(Fade out dramatic musical score by Hans Zimmer)

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The big mistake I've made, of course, is that I used the wrong noun. It should have been just "a song", not "a swan song".

I checked my dictionary this morning - a "swan song" is a person's final public performance or professional activity before retirement. Erm... *Oops!*

Big white singing birds: cheap

So if any of you out there ever bump into me and find me correcting your English, just ignore me - I might be wrong... -_-