The office boys in my office are hilarious bunch. I think they are trying to brush up their English so, they always try to speak English whenever they have the chance. Somehow or rather, their effort always sent us into fits of laughter.
Office boy #1
He was walking by the photocopy machine and there was a colleague standing there, obstructing his way. Instead of saying, excuse me… he said, “Can I passed away?”
The colleagues sitting nearby fell off their chairs and laughed non stop… it’s direct translation from Malay – “Boleh saya tumpang lalu?”
Office boy #2
OB#2: Ada orang ah complain itu monster terlalu kecil lah. I cakap sama dia, monster besar kah, monster kecik ka… asalkan boleh pakai, cukup lah!!!!
*Monster here is actually the computer “monitor”. He said monster. LOL!!
Office boy #3:
OB#3: I am going out to buy survivor lah!
Admin: Ah??? Apa Survivor??
OB #3 : Cenderamata lah!
Admin: Adoi!!! Souvenir lah… apa survivor ni??
LOL.. you don’t get this working in multinational company! I love local companies’ sense of humour.
February 18, 2009 at 4:16 pm |
At least they are trying to learn, no? It’s like people who may have an accent when speaking Chinese, English, Malay, or any other language, it means they know another language more than us?
but yeah, still funny though.
February 18, 2009 at 10:56 pm |
Good for them … at least they’re not afraid to speak a language that is not their mastery… I on the other hand am a closet Mandarin speaker … I only speak it in my head and to myself…. probably make similar mistakes which can parallel what you have just written but in the Mandarin form….
February 18, 2009 at 11:03 pm |
zing: Yes.. like when I first learned Cantonese, we were at this video arcade and my classmates were playing video games of war planes.. feeling bored, I bid them good bye.. then I said… “Man man tah fei kei ah!” (Slowly masturbate.. when I actually meant, enjoy your game!)
shorthorse: Haha!! I remember my room mate, who had difficulty pronouncing “mirror” and “sperm” in Mandarin. LOL!!
February 19, 2009 at 9:43 am |
How quaint and charming! ROFLOL! True, office humour in MNCs don’t get this interesting, plan or down to earth. It’s usually about work and the terms and the people, the processes, yadayadayada. Haha!
February 21, 2009 at 8:57 am |
WH: We practically laugh everyday due to these people and more so, the moron who wrote official memo to staff… then recently, I saw her very bad English plastered all over our company intranet, announcing that, “we shall arrange our assembly once in two month’s time”. LOL
February 27, 2009 at 12:49 pm |
Hahaha! sorry, I am new here, love your blog, they are so ‘lively’…
You have ‘cute’ colleagues, good to your ‘brain’ and ‘heart’.