In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,
Living with a family that is involved in the Kek Lapis business, the house smells deliciously of Kek Lapis all the time. Sounds good eh?
Not so if you are trying to cut down your sugar consumption. The sugary smell can be too tempting for my weak soul.
One fine day, while my sister was busy preparing Kek Lapis in the kitchen and the house was unsurprisingly filled with the fruity fragrance of the Kuih, I decided that I needed to go out to get away from the delicious aroma lest my hope of cutting down my sugar consumption be not more than that of a new year's resolution.
Living with a family that is involved in the Kek Lapis business, the house smells deliciously of Kek Lapis all the time. Sounds good eh?
Not so if you are trying to cut down your sugar consumption. The sugary smell can be too tempting for my weak soul.
One fine day, while my sister was busy preparing Kek Lapis in the kitchen and the house was unsurprisingly filled with the fruity fragrance of the Kuih, I decided that I needed to go out to get away from the delicious aroma lest my hope of cutting down my sugar consumption be not more than that of a new year's resolution.
As I took the car keys that were hanging on the wall, my sister spotted me and approached me with a RM50 bill, (Do take note that all this is made up because my family doesn't speak English at home.)
"Can you get me something while you are out?"
Being the helpful brother that I am, I happily obliged.
Being the helpful brother that I am, I happily obliged.
"Sure. What do you need, kak?"
"I need 5 kilograms of flower. I received a new order for more Kak Lapis and we are running short on flower. The usual type would do. Be sure to get a receipt."
Flower? Flower for baking? My sister wants me to buy flowers? By the kilo? She is kidding me right?
"I need 5 kilograms of flower. I received a new order for more Kak Lapis and we are running short on flower. The usual type would do. Be sure to get a receipt."
Flower? Flower for baking? My sister wants me to buy flowers? By the kilo? She is kidding me right?
Well since we were in the mood for jesting, it seemed that there was no harm in seeing how much funnier this joke could get.
"Usual eh Kak? Is that hibiscus or sunflower? I seem to forget." I said that with a wry smile.
"Usual eh Kak? Is that hibiscus or sunflower? I seem to forget." I said that with a wry smile.
To my amazement, my sister stared blankly at my face as I said that.
"Huh? What?"
Judging by the expression on her face, maybe my sister was not joking after all.
"You said you wanted flowers right? So that's why I asked hibiscus or sunflower? I don't know why you would need them for the Kek Lapis, though. For the scent perhaps?"
I asked her, hopefully seeking explanation for the need of flowers.
"Oi, I meant tepung lah. Thats how the word flour is pronounced. Go look it up in a dictionary."
"Huh? What?"
Judging by the expression on her face, maybe my sister was not joking after all.
"You said you wanted flowers right? So that's why I asked hibiscus or sunflower? I don't know why you would need them for the Kek Lapis, though. For the scent perhaps?"
I asked her, hopefully seeking explanation for the need of flowers.
"Oi, I meant tepung lah. Thats how the word flour is pronounced. Go look it up in a dictionary."
Ah... Flour! My sister wants me to buy flour, not flower! Oh, to be a fool.
"Oh, tepung ke? My mistake! Sorry eh kak." I apologised to my sister before I went out the house in shame, thinking that my sister needed flowers for baking.
Later that day, I did look up the word flour in the dictionary and it is indeed pronounced in a way similar to the word flower.
Allah knows best.
Allah knows best.
Flour pronounciation at www.howjsay.com
7 comments:
Did this actually happen?
Flowers for baking. U r the funneh.
But seriously I thought both were acceptable re: flar or flauer.
But seriously u r the funneh.
-Word verification?
No, this never happened. I made it up for the blog.
Word verification? I dont need verification cause I am teh funnee.
But according to most online dictionaries, there is only one way to pronounce the word flour and it is similar to how you pronounce the word flower.
So, we have always pronounced it incorrectly.
I blame the teachers.
I have heard people pronounce flour as floor and flow...
"Word verification? I dont need verification cause I am teh funnee."
teh funnee tu hape?
Salam and hello. About ten years ago, when a person says "English", they are referring to a person from Great Britain, or to the language spoken by the British. These days however, people confuse British English with American English.
Till now, you can call a white person from Britain as "Englishman", but you can't refer the same to a white person from America (unless if he really is an Englishman!). Point is, that alone is enough to show where the origin of original English (or correct English, by correct, I mean origin or yang asli) comes from.
If you are talking about the correct pronunciation for English in British English, it would be without the stress in "w". Hence, it will be "fla-r" or "fla".
Pronouncing it as "flower" is American. This is how my husband, who spend a good few years in the US pronounce it. I, however have been taught (just like all of us) to pronounce it as "fla" (silent "w").
So it's not a question of what is the correct pronunciation. Silent "w" is correct British English (or what most "English" speaking people would say as "proper English" i.e Queen's English) whilst stressing the "w" is American or Canadian.
These days, as compared to ten years ago, more and more are pronouncing it as "flow-wer" because our "English" is americanised.... Or rather, Americanized;)
Even the spell-check on blogspot.com and in our microsoft word are set to the American standard!
BTW, the website that you directed us to (howjsay.com) is american based. So...;)
Most of the "English" on the internet is American-based anyway!
Sorry for the long comment!
I did wrote about this issue. Do feel free to view it here: http://kimimayumi.blogspot.com/2009/05/egad-understanding-english-slang.html
I understand I'm no expert here but, this is just an opinion :)
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