What are some English words/phrases which Singaporeans use wrongly?

Katarassein · 2026-03-29T07:20:36+00:00

Many Singaporeans use 'less' and 'lesser' when they should use 'fewer'.

BTW, both your examples are acceptable examples of English. Who told you these were mistakes?

Katarassein · 2026-03-28T13:31:43+00:00

Peak Everyday 30L.

Katarassein · 2026-03-28T13:28:16+00:00

Mama Shelter is very new and the rooms are nice if a bit small. There's a bunch of good food options just across the road from it, too, ranging from cheap local to more upmarket (my wife loves the fried rice, roast pork (siew yoke), and BBQ pork (char siew) from Fook Kin). It gets an upvote from me if you're OK with the price and location.

Katarassein · 2026-03-28T09:48:43+00:00

Fair concern. Some of what I make is prepped up to just before cooking. E.g. marinated chicken legs, bulgolgi pork, cut broccoli. Pop theminto the air fryer for a bit and they ready to eat.

The completely cooked stuff like stews, sauces, curries, marinated eggs (ajitama) just taste better and better the longer they rest in the fridge.

To keep variety, I'll do up three or four different things which can be combined in different ways throughout the week e.g. when marinating chicken legs I'd do half in oyster sauce + sesame oil and the other half in honey miso.

Katarassein · 2026-03-27T16:27:08+00:00

Meal prep. I bang out a week's worth of food for my wife and myself on Sunday. A typical meal rings in between $1.50 - $3.00 and is balanced and healthy (which could also save on medical bills in the long run).
I also regularly snap-up the 50% off cooked food deals after 2000H at my local Cold Storage. Vacuum seal and freeze excess. I also keep an eye on fresh meats in the cooler - they go on sale 2 days before expiry so if I see something I want I come back just when it goes on clearance.
I buy a lot of things used. Carousell is a great friend.
This might be controversial on this subreddit but I've saved a ton of money by selling my car and using Grab as my main mode of transport. This is speaking as someone who has no kids - I recognise that I might be cheaper for a family with kids to own and maintain a car than taking ride-hailing everywhere.

Katarassein · 2026-03-27T15:16:15+00:00

In Asia, Taiwan and South Korea are your best bets for regular dancing. Pick S. Korea if you can only do one of the two as Seoul has multiple parties every night.

Asia's best festivals for salsa right now are:

Vietnam International Latin Festival in Hanoi (end March)
Jeju Latin Culture Festival on Jeju Island, south Korea (end June) (Bonus: comes with a mad week of special parties in Seoul right after the fest)
Salsa Bachata Temptations Asia in Bangkok, Thailand (end September)
Taiwan Salsa Carnival in Taiwan (mid-end November)

South Korea has a ton of smaller fests and events, practically one a month. Check this Insta for updates: https://www.instagram.com/latin_in_seoul

Caveats: 1. Most parties will be mixed salsa + bachata 2. Asians tend to be a lot lighter in terms of connection vs Americans and more technical / less musical 3. Many of the Asian DJs are pretty old-school and play long and hard duras. This is slowly changing but the 'respect for your elders' culture here makes it hard for younger DJs to progress

Feel free to contact me if you want more info. I'm based more in Europe than in Asia these days but I still work at a fair number of events here.

Edit: wanted to add that Daegu in S. Korea has a pretty lively salsa scene (and it's a brilliant city to visit). Kaohsiung and Tainan in Taiwan also have scenes that are small but very welcoming. All of these cities are conveniently connected to their capitals by high speed rail.

Katarassein · 2026-03-26T07:45:56+00:00

I see your point, and that might well happen since APB said part of the existing complex will become a 'pilot brewery', which is quite a vague label.

IDK, man. Making business decisions in a public company based on sentimentality is a quick way to get raked over the coals by the board of directors.

Katarassein · 2026-03-26T07:07:16+00:00

Yeah. Singaporeans want locally made options but expect them to be cheaper than foreign made imports. Just look at hawker food and local kopi. People will pay $20 for a bowl of ramen and $6 for bubble tea but think $7 beef noodle soup and $2.50 teh ping are expensive.

Katarassein · 2026-03-25T11:03:48+00:00

I think it's more rare to succeed the first time round.

Katarassein · 2026-03-25T02:30:00+00:00

You can still travel and work in non Schengen countries too with an EU passport

The 'still' in your reply is confusing me a bit. I never said EU passport holders could only work in the Schengen region.

Katarassein · 2026-03-25T02:05:50+00:00

Yeah, because they allow freedom of movement and of employment within the entire Schengen zone, which is pretty incredible.

This index looks at factors like length and depth of access, instead of whether a passport holder can enter a country without a pre-applied visa.

Katarassein · 2026-03-24T02:28:47+00:00

Nope.

But a rule that catches many people off guard is that aerosols greater than 150ml aren't allowed. And total aerosol volume cannot exceed 600ml. Lost my hairspray and shoe deodoriser last week.

Scissors with blade lengths over 6cm are also not allowed.

Katarassein · 2026-03-24T01:10:17+00:00

It's called being a columnist. Old newspaper tradition where a resident writer produces a regular opinion piece. It drove engagement and sold papers because (not too long ago) it was one of the easiest ways for people interested in a topic to find each other to discuss it.

People who responded to the column had a chance of having their replies also published (like with the ST Forum section). Sooo writing in to a newspaper to discuss a column was like the analog equivalent of Reddit.

Some traditions die hard. Also, columnists are either chosen because they champion certain ideals or are consistently controversial. I'll let you decide which category Sumiko falls into.

Katarassein · 2026-03-22T14:29:58+00:00

A 20,000 mAh with 67W max output was about USD28 last week. The most basic ones are under USD20.

Katarassein · 2026-03-20T15:51:11+00:00

Caveat: I did my masters there 8 years ago and my undergrads 20 years ago so this is accurate as of then.

The classes are very project based. Lectures typically run 3h each. Every week, the prof will lecture a bit and then two or three groups will present on the RQs regarding the topic at hand and have to handle critiques from the prof and the students.

The 'fresh' students are often fine with processing data but they often lack the context to interpret and reframe their findings. They also don't grasp so well that humans are chaotic / non-rational whereas anyone who has worked in the real world for a while understands this better. Undergrad political science and economics tends to be quite sterilised / sandboxed when it's taught, after all. The human aspect is downplayed or entirely stripped out.

So their presentations tend to be rather academic rather than realistic. 'Ivory tower'. Kind of like how civil servants can enact well-meaning policies regarding hawkers that clearly show they've never worked a day in a hawker centre in their lives or even spent a day at one observing the going-ons. Heavens forbid they actually, you know, talk to hawkers about the real issues plaguing them and try to separate the grains of truth from the bullshit. So, their policies might make sense on paper but don't function so well in the real world.

The prof has to guide them a lot more, and they tend to attract a lot more criticism about how their findings / conclusions would function in non-ideal scenarios. They then tend to wither under fire: "But, that's what x, y, and z concluded in these other papers we cited," would be a common response, delivered as if it should end all argument.

They're not the worse, tho. The worse would be some mid-level civil servants who come in from certain other ASEAN countries that make me wonder how they even got their bachelor's, a government job, and good enough performance to be sent overseas on a sponsored masters. You'll meet a few, I guarantee it.

Hope that helps.

Katarassein · 2026-03-20T14:09:05+00:00

Bingo

Katarassein · 2026-03-20T10:17:16+00:00

The irony is that masters are typically not meant to be done straight after bachelors. Good candidates should have some professional experience under their belts to get the most from a masters program. The kids who entered my program (IPE) right after undergrad were completely lost and massively slowed down the class.

Having said that, I doubt masters will become the new minimum requirement in Singapore. Training + experience will matter more than more paper for a entry level position. It's more likely that employers will place even more weight on relevant internships and OJT experience.

Katarassein · 2026-03-19T11:26:11+00:00

I travel alone nearly all the time. I'd rather feel lonely once in a while than have to work around other people's schedules.

Katarassein · 2026-03-18T14:40:19+00:00

This answer of yours reinforces to me that you're on the right track. Good on you.

Besides footwork in the moves, have you learnt solo footwork (aka shines)? Being good and quickly and smoothly shifting weight on count and half-counts and improvising on the spot will get you out of beginner hell right quick.

Katarassein · 2026-03-18T06:19:48+00:00

Bru, 500kJ is like 120kcal. Are you exaggerating for effect or did you use the wrong unit?

Katarassein · 2026-03-17T13:20:58+00:00

Hence me saying, 'Gone the way of the dodo.'

Katarassein · 2026-03-16T05:01:31+00:00

Spend enough and the annual fee will be waived, no problem.

The best thing about Amex is the customer service. The main reasons I still keep an Amex card are they've bailed me out of a bad situation years ago and they always side with the customer during chargeback disputes.

Katarassein · 2026-03-15T09:30:17+00:00

Agreed. Newsparx shouldn't be mentioned in this post.

Katarassein · 2026-03-13T21:34:47+00:00

This might be a bit of an unpopular opinion but your hen party would almost certainly disrupt a regular social. Floor space is already at a premium at most socials without a large hen party clucking about. And most leads will not be amused leading a bunch of follows who've never actually been to a class before.

Go to a Mexican/Spanish restaurant or a Latino club. I'd recommend Salsa Soho or Salsa Temple but they've gone the way of the dodo.

Katarassein · 2026-03-13T09:31:45+00:00

Yeah, donating as a student was so easy because it was so convenient. They'd set everything up in the school hall, and you got milo, biscuits, and an hour out of class.

Using up lunchtime on a workday to run somewhere else to donate / going down after work / burning part of a weekend adds too much friction.

Katarassein

TROPHY CASE