In August, a British YouTuber listed Singlish as one of the most confusing English accents, but it seems there’s more to Singlish that confuses non-Singaporeans.
Just recently, TikTok user and expat Jenna took to Instagram to share what’s in her view the ‘hardest Singlish phrase’.
“I moved from Montana to Singapore 10 months ago, and today I want to talk about a Singlish phrase that troubled me and has been hard to get used to hearing,” said Jenna two weeks ago (Oct 23).
She recalled how she went for a medical appointment after her first first weeks in Singapore: “I check in on time, and then the receptionist says, ‘Please go have a seat and wait a while. The nurse will be out to collect you.’ And she’s smiling as she says this.”
While this might be easy to understand for most Singaporeans, it caused Jenna to panic: “Inside I am flabbergasted that she would say that with a smile on her face. Doesn’t she understand what she just said?”
Not long after, the nurse called Jenna.
“That wasn’t a while, that was a moment!” she recounted, pointing out the difference between American English and Singaporean English.
“In the US, if you were to say you need to wait for an indefinite amount of time and that time is going to be short, you would say, ‘Wait a moment,’ but if you’re going to be waiting for a long time… you would say wait a while and you would probably also apologise after you said it,” she explained.
She added that she has had to get used to the fact that “wait a while” does not mean that she has to wait for a long time, but a short amount of time.
She concluded: “I’ve actually not had to wait a long time, most appointments are pretty prompt here. I don’t know what the actual phrase for wait a while in Singlish would be. If you know, let me know in the comments.”
AsiaOne has reached out to Jenna for more information.
Netizens in the comments sympathised with her, with some explaining the nuances.
“Our English is all over the place. Sometimes it’s just that inconsistent. You’ll get used to it soon enough, or a while,” one joked.
“It’s more of the tone when the “awhile” is used. If it’s like “wait awhile ah!” That’s like long!. If it’s more rhythmic “wait a while ah” that’s short,” another explained.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.
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