Speaking good English has been a topic of especially fierce debate, even before it got plastered over a few buses.

Singlish, however, is still the song of heartlanders (i.e. most Singaporeans). You're not going to build a rapport with the cai png auntie speaking perfect English, are you?

But who cares about all that, because a certain Joe Teo has emerged to reignite the longstanding debate, to argue, quite out of the blue, that Singlish should not be used at all, even calling it a "crude" variant of English ( :'( ).

In his Straits Times forum letter titled "Time to improve standard of English here", he exhorts the value of effective communication — which only proper English can achieve, of course.

Here is his letter in full:

Time to improve standard of English here

In my interactions with my fellow Singaporeans, I have come to realise that, by and large, people are adamant about using Singlish and are not accustomed to conversing in proper standard English.

They feel that Singlish is far more intimate and effective.

It is not uncommon to find people confusing expressions like the "first floor" with the second storey. The first floor or the first storey is the ground floor.

I have also been met with stunned and perplexed countenances when I use phrases like "a quarter to five" or "a quarter past five" instead of 4.45pm and 5.15pm.

Singaporeans have been exposed to crude English for decades. It is time for us to start speaking proper English.

One way to do this is by tuning in to BBC news programmes.

I also learnt many useful English phrases from the British sitcom Mind Your Language, which was telecast in Singapore in the 1980s.

One can learn much better when the process is intermingled with humour and is stress-free.

We should endeavour to use more English idioms as part of our daily interactions.

Idioms add life and verve to speech and writing. Without them, the English language would be very bland.

For example, describing the weather as "raining cats and dogs" is much more fun than saying that it is "raining heavily".

Having a good working knowledge of the more common English idioms is essential and critical for effective communication.

Joe Teo Kok Seah

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While admittedly not as atas-sounding, Singlish is arguably more than a crude version of English; it is vernacular, a local language that stems from, and informs, our cultural identity.

Moreover, Singlish, with its unique grammar and intonation (there is such a thing as incorrect usage of Singlish), is something that a non-native speaker would find difficult to replicate — something the cast of "Les Misérables" can attest to discovering when they visited Singapore to perform last year.

As it is, the language is marketed as a cultural tidbit for the global stage, taught to everyone from tourists to Elmo. We should be quite proud of it leh.

Hor?

Here are some totally unrelated but equally interesting stories:

Apparently, there’s a headless ghost that will deliver booze to you this Halloween

5 times Singaporeans ownself scared ownself with hoaxes

I let a 20-year-old Tarot card reader inside my mind and it was nothing like I expected

Top photo adapted from Flickr user David Blackwell