If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you squeeze 5.7 million people onto an island smaller than New York City, look no further than Singapore. We’re the proud citizens of a country so tiny, you might mistake it for a dot on the map (hint: it’s the red one). But don’t let our size fool you – we Singaporeans have mastered the art of standing out in a crowd.
From our ability to queue for hours for the latest food craze to our Olympic-level skills in complaining about the weather, we’ve cultivated a unique set of traits that scream “Singaporean!” louder than a bunch of uncles at a kopitiam. Buckle up as we dive into 21 ways you can spot a Singaporean from a mile away – or should we say, from Jurong to Changi?
Get ready to nod, laugh, and possibly feel a little exposed as we reveal the quirks that make us the most “uniquely unique” bunch in this little red dot we call home.
21 Things That Scream Uniquely Singaporea-an: The Ultimate Checklist.
- Free things are the best things
- You see a queue, you don’t ask, you just join!
- Singlish is English, but the Singapore version, so do *not* even start with the ‘Speak Good English Movement’. This is our legacy. Forever.
- You chope (reserve) tables with tissue packets/umbrellas/work passes/laptops/entire bags and get annoyed when tourists don’t understand this core Singapore culture.
- Three minutes to wait for the next train during rush hour is a very long time.
- It never rains when you carry an umbrella, but it does when you don’t. And it is always so hot no matter what.
- POP Toys. No, really. And some of us don’t even know why we own one?
- Anyone who sits at a table with a cup of coffee and a tablet is an insurance agent. That long lost “eh hi long time no hear, wanna catch up” all of a sudden friend…
- The entire CBD is ‘City Hall area there’ and Orchard is ‘Town area.’
- You are always up for a good ‘own car’ vs ‘private car and taxi’ debate.
- You are always up for a good ‘own transport’ and ‘public transport’ debate.
- You book rides on Zig, Grab and Gojek at the same time to see which is the fastest (or cheapest).
- East side, best side. Sorry, what? East side best side!
- Anywhere that is beyond a 10-minute drive is ‘wah lau so far?’.
- Bubble tea is part of a core pop culture and can be found everywhere. One MRT station even has over 17 boba brands surrounding it (Tampines, here’s looking at you)!
- You complain all the time, but you also look on the bright side of things after complaining because talking to therapists is (literally) expensive.
- You will take a bus into JB with empty luggage for a day trip because IYKYK
- You will drive into JB, even when all the signs in the universe tell you that you will be stuck in a possible massive 7-hour jam.
- You tell everyone what you want in your Cai Fan or Nasi Padang because aunty or makcik needs you to shout through the food station glass.
- You plan a short getaway once in a while to escape the hustle and bustle of city life because even though there’s no place like home, maybe you love Bali a little bit more that weekend.
And last but not least…
21. You tell yourself that you cannot be bothered to celebrate National Day by singing along to the songs, but…somehow you can sing to a lot of parts of one song automatically – mainly because every single supermarket you went to in the past few weeks has National Day songs on repeat.
It’s okay, we get it. You’re not alone in this (get it? The official National Day song for 2024? By Benjamin Kheng?)
Parents World wishes the nation a Happy 59th!
Tag #parentsworldsg in your National Day photos for a chance to be featured in our I Love Singapore shoutout this weekend. Cheers!
