Occupational Hazard

On Friday, I got into a quarrel with a stranger on the streets for the first time. I was paying for my groceries at a shop when this woman pushed me. I ignored her at first. She then proceeded to dump her groceries on the cashier table, nearly crushing my packets of fruit which were still on the table. I was a little irritated by her already.

Then as I left the shop, I stood at the doorway for a moment as there were many people stuck at the doorway. Suddenly, somebody pushed me away and said, "走开! (Go away!)" It was that woman! The next thing I know, I was telling that woman, "没礼貌! (You're rude!)" (Feels like I was scolding a Primary school kid)

Upon hearing that, she immediately turned around and started yelling at me! She complained that she was behind me for a long time. Hello! I do not have eyes behind my back! The more decent thing to do would be to say, "Excuse me" and I would immediately make space for her to leave. And that was what I told her. Did that shut her up? No. She then went into a long history of how Singaporeans behave and some other stuffs. I can't really remember what she said because she was screaming all the time incoherently.

My mum quickly came and pulled me away. I was also quite scared because she was taller and fatter than me. I do not wish to be beaten into a pulp. As we were walking away, she was still shrieking her head off! Crazy bit*h!

My dad told me off after that. He said that one day I will get myself into deep trouble. But I feel that we should stand up to injustice. By remaining silent, we are condoning those selfish and rude acts. If all of us can open our eyes and ears wide, I believe that the social conscience of the people will go up, making this a better society. Everybody has a part in educating the public. Well, that's my two cents worth of view.

Do you agree that I am in the right when I chided the woman?

You say what huh?

We were driving past West Coast when we saw this banner outside Tanglin Secondary School. "Tanglin welcomes you!" or something like that. When I saw this, I started thinking, "'Welcome' got 's" one meh?" I've just checked the dictionary and although "welcome" is a verb, it doesn't have the normal singular and plural form. There is no "s". So embarrassing! A secondary school making that mistake in a huge banner that is facing the road.

Actually, there are many English mistakes I've spotted in print and during conversations. I am not saying that I am a Guru in English and I can't speak English fluently either. But those mistakes are just so glaring that I couldn't ignore it.

The following mistakes are made by many people and I am not aiming at anybody.

1) "Welcome" has no "s".

2) "Couple" means 2. Do not use "a couple of days" when you mean more than 2 days.

3) "Either" can only be used between 2 choices.

4) "Sort of" is not pronounced as "short of". These are 2 different words with different meanings.

5) "Touchy" means sensitive. "My friend is very touchy". This means that my friend gets irritated easily. It doesn't mean that my friend likes to touch people.

6) It's "take off your clothes", not "take of your clothes".

7) "Taught" is the past tense of "teach". "Thought" is the past tense of "think". 2 different words.

Ok, think that's all for now. Finally can get some off my chest. =P Now, you can go and aim your friends. Haha!