06 April 2007

Results of Chingrish (2) Contest

There were 8 entries this time. (Well, actually only 6 as you shall see.)

A recap of the entries:

1. Shilpa - Laxative.

2. Chris - (No guess.)

3. Cool Insider - Job that requires running about.

4. Etel - (No guess.)

5. Tigerfish - Do BIG toilet business.

6. Chun See - Business continuity assurance. (Or something to that effect. Trust a management consultant to come up with a term like that.)

7. Fr - No peeing here.

8. Firehorse - Related to toilet stuff.

Thanks to all of you for your entries. And the results are...

*drum roll*

Sorry, none of your guesses were correct. The photo in the last entry was part of a sign hung at the door of a Taiwanese restaurant in Joo Chiat Road:



The traditional Chinese words, written in simplified Chinese as 营业中 means "operating" or "open for business" or simply "open" - any of the 3 English answers would have been correct. Chun See's "business continuity assurance" guess comes close but not quite correct.

Nevertheless, everyone of you still walks away with an award, as usual.

The Persistence Award goes to Shilpa, Tigerfish, Fr and Firehorse for participating in this contest for the second time:



And now, the Special Awards.

The Lame Out-of-guess Award goes to Chris for not only his lame remarks but yet tagged me with a lame meme which he knew that I won't do:



The Maiden Effort Award goes to Cool Insider for guessing for the first time:



Finally, the So-close-yet-so-far/Goggle Award goes to Etel and Chun See for coming so close to making a correct guess but didn't:



Etel did a Goggle Google search but yielded no results. She had probably used the terms ["to run business" chingrish] in her unsuccessful Google search. If she had used ["to run business" chinglish] or even ["to run business" engrish] she would have found that celebrity blogger Kenny Sia had blogged about it before here. Wikipedia even has an entry on it and so do dozens of other websites like this one.

Having said that, I would like to clarify that when I posted this poser on April Fool's Day, I didn't know that this Chingrish sign had already been documented by so many websites. It was only after Etel gave me the idea to do a Google search on it that I discovered it was so.

So what's the moral of the story? Without any intention to sound smug, there are two things that I learnt here:

1. When looking for information using Internet search engines, it is very important that you specify the right search words; and

2. It doesn't necessary mean that you are less Internet savvy when you reach my age.

So take heart, Chun See and Fr.


Disclaimer: As usual, this post is meant to be light-hearted and fun. I apologise if anyone is sore about his/her award. He/she has 2 recourse - go apply some ointment or go ahead, strike me off from your "favorite blogs" list.

12 comments:

Chris Sim said...

How you determined the awards one? Etel and I "no guess", yet both got different awards. The least you could do is to give me a "Johny-comes-lately" award me. I did give a guess, juz that you DID NOT check your email or the comments! Lousy award giver!

tigerfish said...

Alamak! Was there anybody eating in the restaurant?

Anonymous said...

next time give us answers to choose, easy for you to 'grade' also

Victor said...

Chris - At least Etel made an effort to google for the answer, only that she didn't use the correct search terms. If she had, she would have got the correct answer. As for you, you made multiple guesses again. To refresh your memory, you said:

"Is it near the beach? Something to do with the many bicycle and in-line skater rental? Fly kite?"

You broke the rules time and again. You lousy player.

Victor said...

Tigerfish - That restaurant is never very crowded even during peak hours. Hmm... now that you've mentioned, it must be either due to the sign or because they sell smelly bean curd. I don't like (to smell or eat) smelly bean curd and I suspect that a lot of people are like me.

Victor said...

Fr - Chey, you think this is primary school ah? Still want multiple choice questions. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Anonymous said...

Chey, who says only pr sch kids do mcq. Don't underestimate these mcq ah, not tikam tikam one. Even proficiency eng exam has a mcq paper to test things like comprehension and vocab.

Anonymous said...

So close yet so far sounds good hehehe

and hor.. ok la i spelled google wrongly as goggle, but u dun have to repeat so many times what! LOL

Victor said...

Frannxis - Ya hor. There are two tests for adults which last I know, are still in MCQ format:

1. Taxi driver's license; and

2. Highway code.

Victor said...

Etel - Ah, finally an appreciative participant, hehe. (So unlike Chris who is so difficult to please.)

Sorry hor, I made fun of your mistake one time too many.

KopiSoh said...

How come I win "Persistence Award" never inform me wan, I "sick sick" oso drag myself over to check results, now too late ady award ceremony sudah pinish (slowly drag myself home pouting).

Victor said...

Firehorse - Hahaha. You 'sick sick' but your sense of humour is still 'slick slick' hor.

Aiyah, post results on my blog is considered announcement already mah. You want me to DHL the physical plaque over izit? LOL.

I hope your are feeling better already.