August 17, 2021, 03:54 PM
National Day might be over but we’re not quite done with celebrations just yet.
For starters, the National Day Parade is still a few days away and National Day flags can still be seen hanging outside the windows of homes.
In line with this year’s NDP theme of “Together, Our Singapore Spirit”, we got 56 Singaporeans to tell us what being a Singaporeans means - without telling us they’re Singaporean.
- “Cannot lah - I don't know sia. I think this kind of thing hor, very hard to say in words one” - Zi Shan, 24
- “You know who Liang Po Po is” - Matthias Ang, 30
- “Seeing a long queue, and joining it without knowing what you're queuing for” - Jason Fan, 27
- “Asking the cai fan (economical rice) aunty if adding more rice need to pay extra" - Jia Ying Low, 23
- “Never grabbing the first item off the shelf, but the second or third one” - Michelle Lim, 27
- “Being able to get various food from different ethnic cuisines at a hawker centre” - Faris Alfiq, 30
- “Knowing what the acronyms ‘LKY’ and ‘PAP’ stand for, even if otherwise clueless about politics” - Zacharoy Dass, 33
- “Recalling and reciting the PCK SARS rap” - Josephine Kawi, 33
- “Little red dot” - Wei, 40
- Brian Low, 31- "Please mind the gap / 请小心空隙/ Berhati-hati di ruang platform / தயவு செய்து தளமேடை இடை வெளியை கவனத்தில் கொள்ளுங்கள்” - Tanya Ong, 27
- “You know what ‘one egg, one kosong’ means” - Nigel Chua, 29
- “Stoking East side versus West side arguments to feel superior when in reality we can get around the country in less than a day” - Faiqah Rizliana, 27
- “That sense of kinship you feel with a random stranger when you're overseas and hear someone on the street speaking Singlish” - Ashley Tan, 26
- “Proposing to my partner by asking if she wants to apply for BTO” - Travis Loh, 28
- “Looking forward to eating my favourite hawker food after a trip overseas” - Fiona Tan, 28
- “Being called ‘xiao di’ (little brother) or ‘ah boy’ even though I'm close to 30” - Abriel Tay, 27
- “The small shared quirks, from colloquial everyday expressions like "more better", to the reservation of seats with tissue paper packets, to our collective fear, when we smell the scent of frangipani or jasmines wafting at night” - Zulhaqem Zulkifli, 28
- Jinghui Lean, 26- “I eat prata with sugar” - Mohamed Arshaan, 7
- “The letters ‘C’ and ‘B’ have a whole new meaning now" - Olivia Lin, 30
- "PAssion card member?" - Daniel Ho, 31
- “Always defending our local food when neighbouring countries want to claim them” - Aisyah Iskandar, 27
- “We have the best burger in the world - mcspicy. I’m willing to bet the one in the UK isn't even that spicy” - Ameera Bajrai, 26
- “Peeking into your neighbour’s living room when you walk past their HDB flat” - Joshua Lee, 32
- “I go chope seat first” - Magdalene Lim, 33
- “Paying to drink tap water at a restaurant” - Eileen Lee, 29
- Rei Chong, 23- “When you can order ‘Michael Jackson’ in the form of a drink” - Veldas Lim, 27
- “When the entire cinema went “WAHHHHH!” when the country was mentioned in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’” - Cheryl Lim, 33
- “Having a mother who complains about the hot weather but refuses to switch the air-con on” - Alfie Kwa, 24
- “Complaining about the country, but being the first to defend it when someone weighs in with unfair brickbats” - Sulaiman Daud, 33
- “Bringing a bottle of chicken rice chilli or McDonald’s Garlic Chilli packets with me when I travel, especially to countries outside of Asia” - Tricia Kiang, 27
- “Fear of losing out / FOMO and wanting to be in the queue to get something, especially when it’s free” - Sabrina Tan, 33
- “Saying dapao when you no longer need to say dapao during periods where dining in is not allowed” - Zhangxin Zheng, 28
- “Calling everyone who looks older than me auntie or uncle” - Belmont Lay, 37
- “Waking up at 5am to the sound of the Asian Koel” - Hass Ross, 27
- Sadrina Shah, 27- “Not calling the police when your friend says ‘I'm mugging’" - Darryl Laiu, 26
- “Eating chicken rice 1,316 days in a row but not getting sick of it” - Hui Si Loh, 27
- “Breaking down when bubble tea shops are closed during circuit breaker, then proceeding to try and make your own at home. BBT is life” - Kane Goh, 27
- “I study and sleep at Starbucks” - Fadzly Aziz, 28
- “My go-to cai fan order is ‘zhe ge’ (this one) and ‘na ge’ (that one)” - Karen Lui, 27
- “Ordering fish in cai fan = rich” - Denise Tan, 26
- “Wah today 0 community cases leh” - Chandel Tan, 27
- “Vibing to ‘Home’ whenever you hear it” - Tan Xing Qi, 38
- Ilene Fong, 26- What parents want for their kids: go to Uni, find a job, BTO and have two kids” - Qian Qi Sim, 26
- "Eh, just chin chai ah. Confirm can" - As’ad Nazif, 24
- “You know what the words ‘low SES’ and ‘high SES’ mean” - Melanie Lim, 27
- “Rain a bit, all wear winter wear” - Hannah Ariffin, 25
- "Being understood by the hawker when I ask for Teh O Siew Dai, Tak Giu Peng and Mee Kia Gan Mai Hiam" - Danny Kong, 31
- “I stay in Woodlands and I'm in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend who stays in Pasir Ris” - Angela Lim, 25
- “When you quickly finish up dinner to catch the 7pm channel 8 drama” - Lauren Choo, 26
- “One of my closest friends is Chinese. Whenever I go to her house, which is quite often, she'll prepare a space for me to perform my prayers in her room” - Syahindah Ishak, 21
- “As Hossan Leong once sang, ‘it’s not perfect living but at least it’s interesting’” - Guan Zhen Tan, 26
Find out how Singaporean you are with this IG filter quiz
All this to say, Singaporeans have more in common than that which divides us.
If you want to find out just how Singaporean you are, try this IG filter quiz that showcases some common things all Singaporeans do and can relate to:
This sponsored article by Our SG made this writer proud to be a Singaporean.
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