Someone placed a sticker at a pedestrian crossing in a road in Penang: “Press Once Can Already” had triggered a debate because the wordings were grammatically incorrect:
But the 4 words really conveyed the message effectively- possibly more effectively than a properly worded one could. I have often seen people keep pressing the button at pedestrian crossings many times. Sometimes very aggressively possibly because they somehow expected the pedestrian lights to turn green the second they press.
Definitely with the sign Malaysians the message would reach home. I really see the humor in this.
Perhaps visiting tourists may form a bad impression from the sticker which may indicate our bad command of English. But what makes Malaysian and Singaporeans unique is that the combinations of local dialects and English would form Manglish or Singlish. We all love Phua Chu Kang and movies starred by Gurmit Singh as well as comic strips drawn by local cartoonists (Lat, Kee’s World) because the usage of ‘bahasa pasar’ (market language) makes it so entertaining.
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