Introduction

Crack open the pages of The Coxford Singlish Dictionary (2002) or browse the rather different pages of TalkingCock.com, specifically its dictionary section, and you enter a world of proudly if (to non-Singaporeans) frequently opaque cultural identity and satire. Arguably, these two sources amount to one dictionary, available in print but more accessible online, and standing as an amalgamation of satirical comment on Singaporean society and a source of linguistic data. There you can learn the proper pronunciation of the world's premier fast food restaurant (‘Macnoner’ or ‘Mehnoner’), the nature of the advice, ‘Don'ch play-play’ (a warning against hubris, derived from Hokkien), or perhaps just remind yourself of the meaning of ‘kiasu’. Of course, this is ‘Singapore's premier satirical humour website!’, and, as a colleague suggested to me, it is accordingly ‘for fun’, and perhaps should not be taken too seriously. Indeed, before you click through to the main site, you are encouraged to note the following: ‘1. WE MAKE STUFF UP … 2. WE ARE NOT A POLITICAL SITE … 3. WE USE SOME STRONG LANGUAGE … 4. IF YOU DON't BELIEVE IN FREE EXPRESSION OR OPINION, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE’. The warning not to be too serious serves its own function, and numbers 1 and 4 tend to undermine number 2; it all rather depends on how you define ‘political’. In addition, as has been widely argued, one of the key components of ownership of a language, particularly perhaps in the context of World Englishes, is the capacity precisely to take it unseriously, to be playful, in short to be ludic in its use (see Y. Kachru 2006).