I hate having to ingterneck in the library and pop into the living room to watch the TV. This is a situation caused by not having wireless access or ingterneck access in the living room. Speaking of which, I am reminded of a hilarious anecdote which I am now going to relate to you, whether you like it or not: I was in Shanghai, asking the cable guy if our internet access was unlimited (wu xian) which it was supposed to be. His negative reply almost threw me into paroxysms of frustration when my flatmate realised he had misunderstood me and meant that it was not wireless, which in chinese, sounds the same as unlimited (wu xian). I just can't win.

I have developed a morbid fascination with daytime TV since I got back, TV itself being such a novelty since I haven't actually been able to afford one for years. There are reruns of whole series of local teen dramas that I have completely no recollection of, like Lightning Years and Spin. I watched the tail end of Chicken Rice Wars the other day. I can't figure out how I feel about missing out on so much pop culture. Despite my initial scornful reaction to these shows, I can't help but be wary of such snobbishness. Don't I watch Amazing Race, after all? Who am I to judge? But even then, some of what I hear honestly drives me up the wall.

"Are you crazy?"
Yes, I'm crazy. (significant pause) I'm crazy about you!"
[cue dramatic music]


Warning: Rant follows

Has anyone seen/heard the new mediacorp trailer for their new programme, The Dance Floor? I take no issue with the show itself; the concept seems interesting, and I would definitely watch it if I am here when it airs. But I am slowly being driven to the brink of insanity by their excessive overuse of the phrase, 'young and young at heart.' Do english speaking people in this country not realise that peppering their speech/writing with cliches is not conventionally regarded as good english? I believe this will come as a revelation to most SGeans-- through no fault of their own-- as I remember being taught to use english 'idioms' in school essays. But cliches ARE NOT THE SAME THING AS CHENG YUS, ok?

'It was a dark and stormy night' is not equivalent to 'yi ge feng he ri li de zao cheng', alright? I wholeheartedly agree with Janadas Devan's article in the Straits Times on monday about the overuse of cliches by the local media. (which I unfortunately cannot post a link to-- see below for tirade against having to pay in order to access it online.) Of course, I am in no way saying that chinese is an inferior language in this respect. In fact, chinese is an incredibly expressive language. With just four characters, one can convey many subtle shades of meaning (which, regretfully, are often lost on me.) This richness makes for a language more poetry than prose.

English, however, is a whole different language. Yet here it is taught in the same way chinese is. We memorise whole books of cheng yus, or idioms, and try to use as many as we can in compositions. For chinese, yeah, I get it; we have to learn many cheng yus since it's impossible to understand chinese texts otherwise. And memorising them is the first step to using them appropriately and elegantly. In english, the overuse of cliches is usually a symptom of laziness (according to Devan). Why think up of a more original phrase when there's already one that does the job? Because english is not chinese, can? Cliches don't actually make your writing sound poetic. The word is hackneyed, or uninspired or maybe, boring.

So, a suggestion. In line with this whole Speak Good English campaign thingie, can we all try to MAKE MEDIACORP STOP BROADCASTING THIS DRIVEL. The media has a responsibility to the people of singapore not to propagate the myth that 'young and young at heart' is an acceptable phrase for marketing its programmes to the general population.

AND

Does it irritate the hell out of anyone else that the programme is described as a 'reality dance competition'? When was the last time you saw a dance competition open to the public that was entirely scripted and enacted by professional actors? It might be a reality TV show, or a dance competition, but I think the fact that it is a dance competition with real people, set in real life, does not actually need to be emphasised. Dance competitions, unless in the context of Dirty Dancing or Shall We Dance (which do not take place in reality. sorry. it might be in your head, but they aren't) are by nature reality TV. They are one of the very first manifestations of the popular phenomenon.

Ok?

I might be forced to write a letter to Mediacorp if this situation continues.