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... -_-