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Oxford English Dictionary definition of

Chinese helicopter n. Singapore English derogatory a Singaporean whose schooling was conducted in Mandarin Chinese and who has limited knowledge of English.

Chinese-Educated Singaporean is now officially deserving derogatoriness in English language?

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Singaporeans launch petition against 'Chinese helicopter' in Oxford dictionary

KUALA LUMPUR: A Singaporean freelance writer and translator Goh Beng Choo, 64, on Monday launched an online petition to have the term "Chinese helicopter" removed from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Singapore's The Straits Times reported yesterday.

The term, used in the 1970s and 1980s, describes a Chinese-educated person who spoke and pronounced English poorly. It was among 19 new words added to the OED in its quarterly update in March including shiok, teh tarik, char siu, sabo, blur and sotong.

"Chinese helicopter" appears to have been derived from a mispronunciation of "Chinese-educated".

Goh, who was a bilingual journalist for The Straits Times, described the term as degrading and insulting.

OED itself defined "Chinese helicopter" as being a derogatory term for a Singaporean whose schooling was conducted in Mandarin Chinese and who has limited knowledge of English.

On Friday, Goh told The Straits Times that the term was an insult to the Chinese-educated in Singapore.

"With it in the dictionary now, it will give the impression that it is an acceptable term, when actually it is insensitive and highly derogatory," she said.

She also said she would write to and present the petition to the dictionary's editorial board after the number of supporters passes a minimum 200 mark. As of 12.40pm today, there were 347 signatures.

On the petition page, supporter Kia Boon Wong commented: "The mockery is crass and uncalled for," while ST Kum commented: "It's a totally discriminatory and derogatory term, with an intention to humiliate the then Chinese-educated."

Another supporter Chua Hui Lee, who is a teacher, said she and her colleagues will stop using OED as a reference.

Former civil servant and National Institute of Education lecturer Tan Teng Lang e-mailed OED's world English editor Danica Salazar asking for the term's removal.

In the e-mail, she said the term "had long degenerated into a label that equated Chinese-educated Singaporeans with inferior quality and low status in society. It was blatantly intended to belittle, humiliate and demean someone on the basis of his less fluent command of English".

She added: " 'Chinese helicopter' is unequivocally a painful reminder of their long and difficult struggle to find their rightful place and dignity in the Singapore society. Fortunately, by the 1980s, this highly derisive term had mostly lapsed into disuse with the closure of Chinese schools. Not many younger generation Singaporeans have heard of 'Chinese helicopter', much less understand its meaning. My friends and I are therefore shocked and saddened that an almost forgotten Singlish term now resurfaces in the OED, rubbing salt into an old wound that never healed."

Dr Salazar, when contacted by Straits Times, said that she was aware of the petition but could not comment on it. She said she had earlier stated that the process of including new words is "very exacting and rigorous".

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
 
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solarz

Brigadier
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I've been following this story all day, and it just sickens me to see how many internet warriors are condemning the mother without even a basic grasp of facts.

As this article puts it succintly, sometimes accidents happen, and no parent can watch over their kid 100% of the time:
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I have a 3-year-old, and I can completely relate to the author of the above article.

Once, when my son was 2 years old, we went to the Science Centre with my wife and her mom.

We had a stroller, so we had to take the elevator everywhere. One elevator was particularly crowded, so I decided to take the stairs by myself. I walked downstairs and went to the elevator to wait for the others.

Imagine my surprise when my son walks up from behind me, alone. I was completely mystified. I thought at first that he came after me by himself, but there was no way he could have gotten down the stairs that quickly. I asked him where mommy was, and he pointed to the elevator. That only increased my confusion.

Turns out, they had actually gotten downstairs before I did, but there were so many people, my wife and her mom couldn't get out, but my son had darted out ahead of them. The elevator doors closed before my wife and her mom could follow him out, taking them back upstairs. When I came to the downstairs elevators, I didn't notice him in the crowd, but fortunately he saw me.

So kids get lost all the time. Most of the time it's completely harmless, but on rare and unfortunate occasions, they find themselves in danger. At least this time, in the case of the little boy that fell into the gorilla pen, the story had a happy ending, despite the tragic death of the gorilla.
 
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I've been following this story all day, and it just sickens me to see how many internet warriors are condemning the mother without even a basic grasp of facts.

As this article puts it succintly, sometimes accidents happen, and no parent can watch over their kid 100% of the time:
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


I have a 3-year-old, and I can completely relate to the author of the above article.

Once, when my son was 2 years old, we went to the Science Centre with my wife and her mom.

We had a stroller, so we had to take the elevator everywhere. One elevator was particularly crowded, so I decided to take the stairs by myself. I walked downstairs and went to the elevator to wait for the others.

Imagine my surprise when my son walks up from behind me, alone. I was completely mystified. I thought at first that he came after me by himself, but there was no way he could have gotten down the stairs that quickly. I asked him where mommy was, and he pointed to the elevator. That only increased my confusion.

Turns out, they had actually gotten downstairs before I did, but there were so many people, my wife and her mom couldn't get out, but my son had darted out ahead of them. The elevator doors closed before my wife and her mom could follow him out, taking them back upstairs. When I came to the downstairs elevators, I didn't notice him in the crowd, but fortunately he saw me.

So kids get lost all the time. Most of the time it's completely harmless, but on rare and unfortunate occasions, they find themselves in danger. At least this time, in the case of the little boy that fell into the gorilla pen, the story had a happy ending, despite the tragic death of the gorilla.

I don't disagree with how the situation was resolved but I think the point is that this is not a happy ending, the child, the parents, and the zoo got off very easy at the expense of the gorilla's life. What should be done is a review and securing the enclosure better so another child cannot get in that far and another gorilla cannot get out that far, then potentially having to pay the ultimate price when not capable of being responsible for posing a potential perceived risk.
 

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
Let's see if the parents sue the zoo. There was an incident at the San Francisco Zoo a while ago where three guys were taunting the tigers. It wasn't a cage, it was an enclosure with a deep trench/moat in between the tigers and the people. I believe it was 15-20 feet deep. One of the tigers easily climbed the side and killed one of the guys immediately and then went hunting for the other two who ran off while their friend was being mauled and killed. I went to that zoo when I was a kid and can recall then anyone could climb over the short barricade then a 2 ft. wide hedge and you were at the edge of the trench. I'm sure there's something more now since I've was there but after this incident, they had to raise the height of the side so the tigers can climb out.
 
Chinese UN peacekeeper killed, 4 wounded in Mali attack

Condolences to all the victims and their loved ones. From the footage of the VBIED attack site it's hard to tell whether the attacker detonated inside or outside of the base, judging by the low number of casualties I would guess it was outside of the base.
 
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