Archive for Mistakes in English 5
May 13, 2013 at 8:07 am · Filed under Mistakes in English 5 ·Tagged Chinglish, Manglish
Some Malaysian expressions and words
which are not standard English:
horn
Local use: The man horned loudly.
Standard English: The man sounded his horn loudly.
In standard English, horn is a noun, not a verb.
chop
Local use: Chop this form, please.
Standard English: Please stamp this form.
In standard English, chop means “to cut into pieces”.
on/off
Local use: Please off the lights when you leave the room.
Standard English: Please switch off the lights when you leave the room.
In standard English, on and off are not verbs.
cut
Local use: We cannot cut buses on this busy road.
Standard English: We cannot pass (or overtake) buses on this busy road.
open
Local use: Open the lights. Open the screw.
Standard English: Switch on the lights. Loosen the screw.
In standard English we cannot “open the lights”, though we can “open the door”.
follow
Local use: I will follow you to the party,
Standard English: I will go with you to the party.
In standard English, follow means “to go behind”.
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Learning English by Uncle Teng 