Overhead at a fruits store along Katong Road:
Woman (young and fluent. attractive too, I must say): Is this all the bananas you have?
Store assistant (young, fluent too but in the wrong way): oh, you want orrh (black) one ah? We don't have sell here.
Woman: No, I mean do you have any other bananas...
(lost in drone of crowd. this writer had no particular interest in following this conversation to the end either.)
Lesson #1: don't use complicated language on simple people.
Lesson #2: given the rather cosmopolitan clientele of the east coast area, call a black banana a black banana and quit the colloquail!
Ang Heng
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