Recalled compliments in the pass few weeks:
1) You pass IPPT! Power lah you.
2) Don't worry, sure can pass one... You so smart.
3) Hey you got lots of money ah, can you lend me some?
4) Nice... Very nice. But this one must change abit.
After the lecture, I started thinking about how much I have complimented people. Not that much apparently. All I can recalled is 4 and I recalled them very vaguely. While the understanding of how one perceive compliments vary from one culture to another, how one performs it is also diverse.
We have seen in the lecture that compliments in English follows a certain syntatic patterns. This got me thinking even more. Is this how I compliment someone?
1) Noun is/looks (really) Adjective
2) I (really) like/love Noun
3) Pronoun is (really) a Adjective Noun
Hmm... I don't think I can categorize my compliments in any of the 3. Maybe the 'you so smart' came close but the rest are not.
Maybe it's the English we use daily in Singapore that cause this variance from this syntatic. Maybe it's Singlish, with lots of lahs and ahs that made us different in terms of how we structure our compliments? Or maybe we compliment because we have an ulterior motives behind our compliments and that's why we structure the compliments as they are.
1) You pass IPPT! Power lah you. -------------> wow, amazing didn't know he can do that
2) Don't worry, sure can pass one... You so smart. ---> i hope he feels better and try again
3) Hey you got lots of money ah, can you lend me some? ---> i need money, please help
4) Nice... Very nice. But this one must change abit. ----> praise 1st then criticize
Food for thoughts: Maybe the motives or the reason behind why we compliment plays a part in how we structured our compliments...
As long as we compliment for the right reasons...
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You have gone ahead of our schedule to think about why we compliment other people. We'll come to the different politeness strategies people use to maintain harmonious relationship. I have learned from you people on the unique ways of complimenting others. Power lah you!
ReplyDeleteHafiz! U LIVE!! power la u... LOL!
ReplyDelete"Food for thought: Maybe the motives or the reason behind why we compliment plays a part in how we structured our compliments..."
ReplyDeleteYou're right, but I won't say motives; I'd say it's the rationale. You see, motives connote intention but there are instances where some people compliment each other on a whim. These people compliment each other not always because they earnestly praise each other; rather, they do so as a form of bonding, or striking up a conversation.
Complimenting someone is very effortless, and it's just as easy for the listener to continue the conversation from there onwards. We had this small talk just now; the reason why some people have seriously have "lepak sessions" (empty talks) for several hours because of bonding. What we talk about aren't necessarily important, it's the fact that we are talking.
When I think about the use of English and Singlish, the English has drawn a lot of criticism for being the localised bad English. I strongly disagree; Singlish simply means Singaporean English in loose terms, but bad English isn't exclusive in Singapore. Even some native Americans and Britons speak bad English.