Word of the Day - January 2010

Anyone who has resided in Singapore for a period of time would notice that conversations of local Singaporeans are often littered with phrases and exclamations derived from different languages and ethnicity; over time, such loose habits has turned our use of the English language into a cultural phenomenon known as Singlish.

One may agree that the use of Singlish has added much flavor and variety to the way we communicate but yet we should not ignore the synonyms which sums the beauty of the English vocabulary: synonyms which exists to replace exclamations like 'Wah Liau' / 'Wah Lau' as shared by our Langauge Evaluator, Loo Mei Mei, Competent Toastmaster (CTM).

Synonym [sin-uh-nim]
- noun

1. A word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or other words in a language.

2. A word or an expression that serves as a figurative or symbolic substitute for another.

Perhaps whenever you're tempted to exclaim 'Wah Liau' / 'Wah Lau', which could be grossly taken as an expletive. Why not try words like fabulous, fascinating or fantastic in the spirit of speaking good English in the year 2010.