Right here in colourful Singapore
We’ve ethnicities and cultures galore
While we learn in school to say it right
It’s hard to maintain without a fight
‘Cos in the streets and gor-kah-kee
We’re one big rojak family
Chapalang mix together in talk
Words from various races brought
This leads me to one English variant
That strikes fear in our teachers’ hearts
Of lah leh lor meh dis and dat
Colloquial insertions at the front and back
Should you wish to speak like us
Feel free to get a crash course
Saunter down any of our local streets
Singlish’s not really that difficult a feat!
Gor-kah-kee: Hokkien translation of the Chinese phrase 五脚基 meaning five foot way
Rojak: A South-east Asian fruit salad dish
Chapalang: A colloquial slang meaning a mixture of things
Items lah, leh, lor, meh, dis and dat: Some of the ‘prefixes’ and ‘suffixes’ we add to our conversational sentences
To find out more, go get the Coxford Singlish Dictionary! 🙂
Awl and Scribe 