Words cannot express how devastating this is to me.
Since late 2016, when I caught a bout of flu and happened across the show while recuperating at home, it has been a fixture in my weekday evenings.
Pepsi in one hand, Kleenex in the other, I would sit enthralled as the Tongs, Bhaskars, Rahmans, and others played out their utterly compelling drama.
Grinning like a fool as warm, fuzzy moments unfolded on screen, and tearing up like a child at the touching and tragic scenes... I can't think of a better way to spend 30 minutes each day.
Tanglin lets me forget all my problems while it's on. It makes my life bearable, knowing that at the end of every day is something worth looking forward to: that precious half-hour of solace in front of the telly.
Its absence will leave a gaping hole in my heart.
A new drama called Kin will be taking the 8:30pm to 9:00pm timeslot.
I'll give it a chance, because I love TV and believe in supporting local. If it's any good, I'll follow it faithfully too.
But nothing will ever truly take the place of Tanglin.
Goodbye, old friend, till we meet again.
A serendipitous find
While writing this post, I, as many others do these days, popped over to Facebook for a brief interlude. I came across a set of stickers made by user Aaron Mak, who seems to be some sort of Grammar Nazi.
This set of stickers, making the rounds on social media right now, aims to correct several common English mistakes made by Singaporeans.
Here's one that caught my eye because it deals with exactly the situation I'm about to face a few weeks from now.
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| Did Aaron Mak know about Tanglin when he made this? |
I know that feeling. People's inability to distinguish between "it's" and "its" grinds my gears too.
Out of curiosity, I flicked through the rest of the set and found that Aaron Mak is a very demanding person with a very low tolerance level. For example, he made a sticker that states "You want a stamp, not a chop. But if you really want a chop, I know a bit of kung fu." And one that says: "NEH-MIND ✗ NE-VER-MIND ✓ Pronounce it loudly, proudly and properly today." He also has this strange vendetta against American English, dedicating entire stickers to the fact that there is a "u" in "colour" and "neighbour", and another that implores people to "Use British English. After all, the English are the ones who invented the goddamn language!"
It's not that I condone the use of improper English. In fact, I was once a militant Grammar Nazi too. I'd go around shamelessly correcting people's language errors like a vain, arsey pedant (credit for this eloquent turn of phrase should go to Daily Mash). To some extent, I still get annoyed when people use certain expressions that I don't like, such as "For your information, please" in emails, or butcher the language beyond reasonable limits, for instance by misusing punctuation marks or leaving them out altogether.
But my stance has softened after learning basic linguistics in university. I now recognise that language is a fluid construct which is ever-changing. What was regarded as bad English during my parents' generation is today widely accepted. What is regarded as bad English today could very well be part of everyday English 20 to 50 years from now, and who are we to judge?
Besides, the purpose of language is to communicate. As long as we achieve that, does it really matter if we use the Queen's English or the variant used at the market? Particularly in speech, what does it matter if I say [næmai] or [nɛvəmɑind], as long as the other party knows that I mean "never mind"?
Languages take on unique characteristics in different parts of the world. That's why we've got American English, British English, and even Singapore English as a recognised version of English as described by linguists. Even within American English, there are dialects spoken by the various demographic groups, such as the Blacks who speak African American Vernacular English (AAVE). There's nothing inherently wrong with this diversity. One isn't more "correct" than the others. They just are the way they are.
So I don't think there's anything wrong with using "chop" to refer to a rubber stamp. That's just how we do it in Singapore, just like we say [næmai] instead of [nɛvəmɑind]. We still understand one another, and life goes on. In fact, the basilectal form of Singapore English builds warmth and a feeling of closeness between two people who use it with each other. This can only be a good thing when navigating the social world. Try acting all uppity and acrolectal with the fishball noodle hawker and see where that gets you!
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