free from exams.. and are singaporeans so bo liao?

i'm finally free from exams. didn't have that great elation when pens were asked to be put down, but anyway, everything's over. me and the eee people went to cambridge to breathe in some good old english fresh air. going to cambridge also meant we could breathe in the elite's air. the air that is taken in by thousands and thousands of really smart and intelligent people. the colleges were quite beautiful, except that because we were commoners, we couldn't get into the premises anyoldhow unless we paid a few pounds per entry. so we screwed it. we managed to find a free way in and it wasn't all that. buildings were still quite nice la. the grass was also very green. too green for the cows to eat in fact.

we went to punting after much deliberation. it was fun. i wasn't too eager to try, but got the hang of it after learning from kaileng and chooser's experiences. haha. they were funny. and good thing they didn't fall into the river yesterday. it would have been funnier though. anyway, cambridge was not as fun as our trip there and back. as usual, we kept talking cock like good old singaporeans.

speaking of good old singaporeans, i've been told by my ee friends that the st forum is now a place for very very interesting debates. i've also read friends' blogs mentioning the sad state of the forum. so i took a look at it earlier and this is what i saw:

Free gift? Aren't all gifts free?

I have often noticed that many retailers invariably use the phrase 'free gift' in their advertisements to attract customers.

But the word 'free' is redundant because all gifts are free.

However, retailers prefer to stick to the phrase for the simple reason that it gives their advertisements more impact.

The same applies to the oft-seen sign in department stores, 'Buy one, get one free', when better English usage would be 'Buy two at the price of one'.

Most, if not all, shop owners would choose the former, which is short and sharp and, above all, more impactful.

To them, as long as their cash registers ring continuously, it is all right to indulge in wrong English usage.

by Jeffrey Law Lee Beng

so i'm thinking. wtf was my response, the same as most of my mates. i asked suzi, who's been a british longer than i've known to use good english, "do british people use 'buy one get one free' or the 'buy two at the price of one because we have a very long sign board and because we prefer to spend more money printing more characters'?"

her answer was, "i guess, buy one get one free?"

yeah, i think so too. is 'buy one get one free' technically wrong? i don't know. but i think it gets the message across quite clearly. so though i'm quite free and bo liao as well to be commenting about this, at least i don't disgrace myself on the national newspaper, commenting on frankly, pointless issues such as this.

and then there is the 5 cents issue...

Buying in bulk? You may end up paying more

I frequently buy small items priced at $1.99 at Watsons. When I buy one item, the bill is rounded down to $1.95.

However, when I buy four such items, the bill comes up to $7.95, which is rounded down from $7.96.

But if I paid for the items separately, it would cost me 15 cents less ($1.95 x 4 = $7.80).

Chia Wee Ping Kann (Ms)

Of course, she should be concerned that she lost 15 cents. after all, it cost more than 15 cents to send a letter in singapore. or is it more? maybe, she's using the email so she could actually save 15 cents if she had gotten the items separately. anyway, we see the true colours of singaporeans in this forum. i wonder if foreigners reading these articles think highly of singaporeans as people who are concerned with their use of language or do they think we're a bunch of very very funny people. honestly, i do enjoy reading the st forum, as you can see people trying to act smart look very stupid.