[SG Talk] Facts about Singapore - Did you know...? [Archive]

ene

08-02-2004, 07:26 AM

Since it's our week, I thought it'll be good to have a thread where each of us Singaporeans can post a fact about Singapore. It can be anything as long as it's related to Singapore. Food, chewing gum ban, our various fines, how small Singapore is, the origin of certain local food, etc. Anything goes really. This way, our international friends can learn more about our little island.

Since I have the Singapore flag in my siggy, here's a description of what the colours and symbols stand for.

The Singapore Flag is halved horizontally - red over white. It has at the top of the hoist, a crescent moon sided by five stars in a circle, all in white. The ratio of the width to the length of the flag is two to three.

The colour red is symbolic of universal brotherhood and equality of man and the colour white signifies pervading and everlasting purity and virtue. The crescent represents young country on the ascent in its ideals of establishing democracy, peace, prosperity, justice and equality as indicated by the five stars.

Is it illegal to chew gum in Singapore ?
Importing, manufacturing, and selling gum are illegal in Singapore. Gum chewing is itself legal, as long as you haven't imported, manufactured, or bought it. Read more about it here (http://www.jessegordon.com/Spectrum/bubble.htm)

What is also known as "The Durian" in Singapore ?
The Esplanade Theatre is also known as the Durian because the building looks like 2 halves of a durian ! I personally think it looks like a pair of bug's eyes :oops:

moonsilk

08-02-2004, 08:38 AM

Let me introduce some very nice plaves u go can visit if u are coming to Singapore.....

1)Sentosa
This is one of our most famous tourist attractions....Its located near the World Trade Centre...In Sentosa itself,u can see the Musical Fountain,The Merlion,Butterfly Kingdom etc...its definitely worth a go....

2)Zoo and Jurong Birdpark
The zoo and birdpark here in Singapore is one of the best in the world...the price is also reasonable as well...check out the places ya?

3)The Esplanade
As mentioned by ene,its our very own "Durian"....
Its a place where plays and concerts are hell...and i can assure u its of world class standards...Besides that,there are several restaurants and shops there....

4)Pasir Ris Downtown East
If you wana chill out with ur frens,consider downtown east....
U can go to Escape theme park...its like the Genting Escape theme park but the rides there are much newer....
We have our own Wild Wild Wet there too...we have lots of water games there where u can play all day and all night....

These are only some of our attractions...come to Singapore!U will nv regret!
:wave: :wave: :wave:

HaNaBi

08-02-2004, 09:38 AM

Let me introduce some very nice food and also some places with good food we have in Singapore:

1) Black pepper Crab
One of the most loved dishes among Singaporean. Most seafood restaurants in Singapore will definitely have this dish in their menu. Places which serves one of the best Black Pepper Crab

a) Kallang
b ) East Coast

2) Hainaness Chicken Rice
Don't be fooled by thinking that this dish originated from Hainan Island, China. It's actually a local dish. The most significate different from normal chicken rice is the flavour of the rice, which has a much thicker and more fragrant smell and also the chicken rice chilli.

3) Fried Kway Teow
Another dish that Singaporean love to eat all year round and never seem to grow tired of it. It's originated from road-side stall and only in dark soy sauce. As time goes by, slowly there are more varieties like plain, prawn etc etc.

Places with good food:
1) Geylang
Though considered as a "Red Light Zone" in Singapore, this place is actually a "Food Haven". With Famous dishes like Pig intestines, Bah Ku Teh and Tao Huey, this place is packed with the sun sets. A Must go place if your'e a food-lover.

2) East Coast
A famous beach located along the whole eastern stretch of Singapore. It is the hub for Seafood. A dinner by the sea and under the moon, it's a great place for a romantic night out or a gathering with your friends.

3) Clark Quay
Used to be a busy port in the early days of Singapore. Now, it has been developed into a place for the night-goers and party-goers. Besides all the hype and excitement, it is also a place where international cafes and restaurants set foot. With food like Mexican, Latin, American, Chinese, Thai and Viet. The huge variety of food will certainly spice up anyone's date.

kilaalaa

08-04-2004, 09:36 PM

Someone I know claims Singapura originally meant transit town. As in Singga means transit. Is this really true?

Ronaldinho

08-04-2004, 09:48 PM

Yes it is very true indeed !! :brows: u should be proud with urself :spam:
Thanx for the interesting information on Singapore :dry: Top Stuff :tongue:

ene

08-05-2004, 05:40 AM

Ronald Were you being sarcastic in your above post ? :? I thought kilaa was asking a valid question.

kilaa Although having said that, you're supposed to post facts and not questions ! This thead is to provide answers to our foreign friends about Singapore. Why not try to do a Google search on the question ?

rong

08-05-2004, 06:10 AM

[I]The Singapore Flag is halved horizontally - red over white. It has at the top of the hoist, a crescent moon sided by five stars in a circle, all in white. The ratio of the width to the length of the flag is two to three.

i always thought it was half!!!! now i know. thanks for the info :shy:

dazzlette

08-05-2004, 06:24 AM

Someone I know claims Singapura originally meant transit town. As in Singga means transit. Is this really true?

I thought Singa means Lion and Pura means City. So the name Singapore comes from from the malay term Singapura, meaning Lion City.

In case you're wondering if there are any lions in Singapore, there aren't!! Legend has it that our little island used to be called Temesek. A Sumatran prince called Sang Nila Utama claimed to have spotted an animal here and when he asked his servant what animal it was, he was told it was a lion. Hence forth the island has been called Singapura. So what was it that Sang Nila Utama saw that day? Well, it was most likely a Tiger, since Tigers are commonly found in South East Asia. So if his servant had gotten the animal correct, we might have been called Tiger City!! :rolleyes:

ene

08-05-2004, 07:13 AM

Speaking of the whole lion city name, can you imagine if his servant saw a cow or a *gasp* pig ? I cannot begin to imagine what Singapore would be known today otherwise.

:roll:

rong I also thought it was half as well but I guess if you look really carefully, it's 2/3, 1/3.

jAywalkIng_xiaozhu

08-05-2004, 07:45 AM

haha... i wont want to be a Pigaporean... this is total hilarious... talking about the ban on chewing gum, I once read an article about Fann Wong going to England to shoot Shanghai Knights.. the english people there were amazed of her proficiency of proper english... then she explains to them our 10 yrs compulsory education with english as main language blah blah... then it also mentioned about the people there thought that chewing gum AND drinking coke is illegal! lol... drinking coke being illegal... that is extreme... we have coca cola and pepsi machines (coca cola as the dominant brand) almost everywhere...

dazzlette

08-05-2004, 07:52 AM

Eek!! But Fann Wong's English sucks!! Sorry, I had to say that.. I think most Singaporeans can speak better English than her...

I find it very amusing that people are surprised that we speak English here. I often get praised for my English overseas. hehehe~

Yeah, people have so many misconceptions about us!! So if anyone out there has a question or a doubt about Singapore, feel free to ask it here!!

ene

08-05-2004, 08:04 AM

Tell me about it ! I get people giving me a :glug: look after I start rambling in English (I speak very fast, btw) and after they catch their breath, they go : Wow. Where did you learn to speak English so well ?

:dry:

Somehow, there's a misconception that Singaporeans can't speak English properly. Don't ask me why ! I've even had local Cambodians speak to my British friend, asking him if I can speak English - right in my face. That was quite funny :wink2:

Recently, I had 2 Australian guys come up to me on Orchard Road (shopping belt in Singapore) and they asked if (1) I can speak English (2) whether it's illegal to carry a bottle of water around Singapore. Good grief. I wanted to laugh. I know it's illegal to walk around with an open bottle of alcohol in Australia. I guess that's why they were paranoid :laughing:

As for it being illegal to drink Coke in Singapore, you sure they weren't talking about....coc@ine ? :tongue: Now that is totally illegal. You hang if you do drugs in Singapore. Now that's another piece of info for you !

dazzlette

08-05-2004, 08:10 AM

You know, my friend was telling me that she and her other friend was chatting in English in Taiwan and the salesperson went up to them and asked them what language they were speaking cos he didn't understand a word!! And he was very very shocked to learn it was English... :laughing

Wasn't there a joke last time about how a lot of Americans think we're part of China?? :dry:

Yeah, I don't really like it when foreigners come up to me and the first thing they say is, 'Can you speak English?' I'm pretty certain that every young person can speak English in Singapore. Well, it's at least of a level that can understand simple questions.

kilaalaa

08-05-2004, 08:31 PM

Well I have tried to searched online but nobody could really say. I've been wondering about the question ever since my GP tutor told me that singgah is actually transit. As in it *could* have really meant transit town.

I am Singaporean, its just that this possibility intrigues me so much.

On another note, I agree about the people finding it hard to believe we can actually understand english. More than once I have foreigners (mostly african americans I don't know why) asking me, "You know english?" And then they always conclude I don't. Which is kind of stupid. Maybe because I looked perplexed why people have to ask me whether I understand English that they think I do not fully comprehend their question.

scarletwillow

08-05-2004, 10:05 PM

Wasn't there a joke last time about how a lot of Americans think we're part of China?? :dry:

Let me attest to this:
The majority of Americans have never heard of Singapore.
The only Asian country they can locate on the map readily (without searching for it) is China, and *possibly* Japan.
You'd be surprised how many people don't know the difference between Korea and Vietnam.

ene

08-06-2004, 04:07 AM

kilaa That's an interesting fact because I've never heard of it ! But I won't be surprised if we did mean transit town because even today, we're still pretty much a country that everyone spends about 2.5 days before flying out to somewhere more exciting ! :roll:

scarlett Wow. Thanks for attesting to that fact. I've always thought I was just being judgemental by thinking that most Americans don't know where Singapore is. So it is true ! Hm. I guess we're really too small on the map for a big powerhouse like America to notice :tongue: Some maps don't even have Singapore on it ! :shock:

petricia

08-06-2004, 06:15 AM

Well.. i don't know if the fact i am going to provide now falls into the catergory of 'interesting'...

Just a thought.... Did you all realised that Singapore is expanding constantly, be it horizontally and vertically? there are some places which are reclaimed land, such as Marina Bay (i think so) and after a search on google abt reclaimed land, it said that The Esplanade is also built on reclaimed land. Other areas include Tuas and some islands offshore. Veritically, i mean the increased in underground facilities.

Does this count as an interesting fact? Well, i just wonder if other places 'reclaim' as much as we do.

HaNaBi

08-06-2004, 07:13 AM

Searching the net for about 2 mins was all it took to find out the meaning of "Singgah"
In Malay, it means "Drop by", thus people came up with "Singgahpura"

But it was just some myths people created about how the name "Singapura" came about.

But the most popular myth would still be the one on Utama.

A fact on reclaimed lands in Singapore. 20% of the present area of Singapore is reclaimed land.

Some places which are reclaimed Land:
1) Pasir Ris
2) Marina
3) Tuas
4) Changi
5) Jurong Island
6) Sentosa
7) Pulau Tekong

Singapore is actually considered as more of an island rather than a country to many foreign countries. But as Singapore slowly builds its name overseas in areas like IT, businesses and maunfacturing, people are slowly starting to recognise Singapore as a country rather than an island

Other countries such as Holland don't reclaim lands like Singapore do, rather they pump out sea water to make more "lands", thus 35% of their lands are actually 35m to 100m below sea levels

kilaalaa

08-08-2004, 11:23 AM

Sorry if I don't know malay and I didn't know singgah = transit. I was looking for singa = transit all along.

macdawn

08-09-2004, 09:41 AM

I am sorry, if I am kinda late in the discussion here.....
On ene's earlier post, I am not sure if I want to be known as a Barbiporean..... In case our friends from other countries are wondering, barbie, in Malay, means PIG, and not the voluptous dolls.......

I have several friends from US, Belgium, Canada, and many other places... who thought Singapore is beside Hong Kong, part of Indonesia, beside Japan, on Mainland China...... :rolleyes:

I've tried to direct my friends to a map of the world, and telling them where Singapore is. You know what I tell them? Look for the word SINGAPORE, we are situated at the dot of the 'i' in the name Singapore, and sure enough, there we are....

I think it is a bit confusing to people from other countries, because some of the travel guides out there states that Malay is our national language, without explaining that we are all educated in English.

That is probably another fact of Singapore. Our official national language is stated as MALAY, but not that many of us, other than those of the Malay race, actually studied Malay. Malay is our national language because Singapore, or rather Temasek then, was a Malay fishing village. Even though we have a lot of Chinese immigrants coming to work in Singapore, the official language still remained as Malay.

Our national anthem is in Malay, and here it is, with the english translation in brackets:

MAJULAH SINGAPURA (ONWARD SINGAPORE)
Mari kita rakyat Singapura (Come, fellow Singaporeans)
Sama-sama menuju bahagia (Let us progress towards happiness together)
Cita-cita kita yang mulia (May our noble aspiration bring )
Berjaya Singapura (Singapore success )

Marilah kita bersatu (Come, let us unite )
Dengan semangat yang baru (In a new spirit )
Semua kita berseru (Let our voices soar as one )
Majulah Singapura (Onward Singapore )
Majulah Singapura (Onward Singapore)

How's that? I tell you, I have been singing the anthem for a long time, and I am still not so sure of the exact translation :sweat:

-MacDawn

wreking_havok

08-10-2004, 04:10 AM

petheads

08-10-2004, 05:48 PM

Well,Singapore says that Lion City...But us,Singaporeans,don't really know what it means,cos only part of the Singaporeans know about the translation of 'Singapura'...But I'm quite sure that 'Singapura' means Lion City...haHaZ

:hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

I truly have no idea what you are trying to say here. Or what Singapore is trying to say.

Did you just want to confirm something that we had concluded some time back? That Singapura = Lion City? :glug:

My tiny bit of fact:- President Nathan's full name is Sellapan Rama Nathan. :happy:

ene

08-11-2004, 05:22 AM

My tiny bit of fact:- President Nathan's full name is Sellapan Rama Nathan
That's interesting. I never knew that and I'm a *gulp* Singaporean. Tks for that fact !

Fact - Singapore is an island / state / city / country - all in one. As we locals would say it, "bao ka liao" (encompassing everything)

:wink2:

Reverend

08-12-2004, 04:32 PM

Yo, I'm new here.. =P

My bit of fact: Nathan is pronounced as Na - tan (not Nathan as in the english name).

Also, did you know that we have the tiger in our crest out of respect to Malaysia? The tiger and the lion holds the crest of Singapore, was created during merger to become Malaysia.

ene

08-13-2004, 04:43 AM

Also, did you know that we have the tiger in our crest out of respect to Malaysia? The tiger and the lion holds the crest of Singapore, was created during merger to become Malaysia.
Really ? Now that is yet another piece of interesting fact. Welcome to the site, btw. Interesting nick !

Did anyone hear about how our Singapore dollar coin came about ?

petricia

12-20-2004, 05:30 PM

Hmmm... I did hear about how our dollar coin come about... (hope i am talking about the same thing)

Anyway, according to some Internet mail, it is an effort to prevent some economic disasters by a monk who was greatly trusted by SM Lee (i forgot his new title). If one would look closely, you will notice that the coin is eight-sided instead of a round coin like other coins. This is somewhat similar to the Chinese Ba Gua Jing, which is used to prevent disasters. But apparently, Singaporeans don't like to 'show' their money and in the end, the disaster was not prevented. I think they were referring to the Asian Economic disaster then.

How about our reason for greeny? Anyone know anything about it?

fukakyon

12-21-2004, 02:15 PM

Well, no one ever mention army. Well, everyone is always waiting for his ORD date. :oops:

I would say, most of the singaporean males dread army a lot and trust me, there's a bunch of fellow will do silly things, like intentionally injure their toe by slamming the table on it (I shall not continue further), etc to downgrade their PES status so that they'll not include in the combat missions. As for the rest, I believe it makes up those high ranks officers and some guys who think army is made for them.

The common attire that a soldier wear is commonly known as, "smart 4" or "Number 4". And they will have a head-dress that goes with it, either a jockey cap or beret. On the head-dress, they will pin on their respective unit crest and this crest is blessed by our 5 major religions of singapore. It's meant to wand off any 'evil spirits' and act as a 'protection' for individual.

Jam

12-21-2004, 02:42 PM

As mentioned earlier on, Australians don't understand singapore english? I have to explain on this. If singaporean pronouce the words in proper english, i believe they will not have a hard time trying to understand us.(Example: F - accent, th - accent and etc) It's just like china - chinese having hard time to understand singaporean's mandarin. :yeah:

What i can say is, Singapore is a small island with strict law, "kia-su" characteristic (afraid to lose out from others attitude) and lots more. Coz today i heard a news from radio, it says if a cyclist is riding an electronic bicycle, he/she must be above 16 years old; wear helmet at all times; no delivering of goods with it and must be battery operated.

I was like.. what the &*#(^& !! Why should they be so strict over this kind of thing? (Sorry i was grumbling about singapore. but i'm just trying to express how strict the law is.) So people traveling to Singapore must watch what you are doing. :)

kasic_fantasy

12-21-2004, 03:00 PM

FuKaKyOn in speaking of army...i was wondering if there is any other better ways to get out of it. i feel so sorry for the guys...why work so hard when the country is not in danger? i mean out government thinks too much....

...but to say the truth our army really did a very good job in protecting us. :happy:

but then still, is there anyway or reasons for the guys to avoid NS? jay didnt attend his NS too...

laruku

12-21-2004, 05:39 PM

There is no better way to get out of it simply because there's NO way you can get out of it. NS is COMPULSORY in Singapore. If they don't work when the country is peaceful, how can we count on them to protect us when the country is in danger?

Plus, Jay didn't attend NS doesn't give ANY reason or ANY comparison to Singapore guys. I mean, HELLO? We belong to TWO different countries for goodness sake!

fukakyon

12-21-2004, 05:47 PM

To get out of army, there're some exceptions.
1. He is so sick till he can't move (have major illness)
2. Handicapped/disabled
3. Other than that, sorry, army for you. But above stated, they're cruel facts, I don't think it worth it at all. =/

Your PES Status determine your vocation (normally it works this way), like one of my friend, his eyesight is near to 1000 degrees, going blind and he re-vocated to become a clerk, while Kendrick, he's a singapore badminton player, hence his army "vocation" will be SAFSA, play badminton everyday, don't need to do duty, regimental stuffs, etc. Another may be enroll into SAF's band so is 8-5 shift, play instrument everyday.

eunicezy

02-15-2005, 01:41 PM

On the head-dress, they will pin on their respective unit crest and this crest is blessed by our 5 major religions of singapore. It's meant to wand off any 'evil spirits' and act as a 'protection' for individual.
Wow, this is interesting. I never knew that they were that superstitious. Or they could be thinking better be safe than sorry.

Did you know that the Night Safari is the world's first night zoo?
And that Buildings in Singapore cannot be higher than 280 metres? There are presently three buildings of that height: OUB Centre, UOB Plaza and Republic Plaza. :wink2:

lattae

02-15-2005, 02:04 PM

Okay, one question what does PES stand for? I scrolled through the posts and see no traces of what it stands for :unsure:

j0ty

02-15-2005, 07:39 PM

dazzlette

02-15-2005, 08:42 PM

I always thought being a transexual or gay counts too, does it?
I think it does! Apparantly there's was this guy from my school last time who declared himself gay and so he doesn't have to serve in the army. Don't quote me on this. Maybe he still has to serve army (like be a clerk or something) but I know for sure he didn't go for BMT where he's with big groups of guys.

I dunno, I hear so much dodgey stuff going on in the SAF (from most of my pals in there now) that I have kinda lost faith in our army. I hope we never go to war.... :shy:

and yeah what does PES stand for? I only know it shows your physical fitness status.. :oops: