Components & Representation of Communication Systems

So funny lor... Culture. Like how Singlish can represent Singapore. English is English what, although we use a slightly weirder kind, why ours got special name leh? Then the Australians go "Howdy Mate!!" instead of the regular "Hello!" why don't have Australish? Must be the people who studied cultures not happy with not being able to understand us when we say, "We are all just talking cock!!" and go on thinking along the lines of male poultry...

"Talking cock" aside, seriously culture is really a tricky thing to learn. It exists in so many sub-sets, prescribes to so many different people, includes some, excludes others, coupled with globalisation where cultures merge, adapt, transform, disappear, one might be better off saying that each individual is his own culture. Honestly, I don't use tissue packets to 'chop' tables but I speak (type) and understand Singlish perfectly. Does this make me more or less of a Singaporean?! I knew that M&M's 'melt in your mouth not in your hands'. Would I then be qualified for an American Passport or a Green Card?

... Digress a little, suggest to any Singaporean guys older than 20 years old if they would prefer a GREEN Card to a PINK Card and you would know which ones are true blue Singaporean.

... Digression no. 2 (Muahahaha, Its my blog and I digress if I want to!) , there was once a princess who was diagnosed with a condition whereby everything she touches melts. The king was in terrible distress and ordered all the Physicians in the Kingdom to attempt to cure her. Whoever succeeds would be rewarded with a bag of gold. Countless physicians tried and fail, several melted. The news of this princess traveled far and wide and one fine day, a young punk from far far away came by and proposed to cure the princess. In front of the King, he requested for the princess to put her hands in his pants pocket and grab the object inside. The King was furious at the outlandish proposition!! Such... such... unspeakable notion!! However, the young punk, in all his due punkish respect, assured the king that THAT, would surely cure his beloved daughter.... And so the princess inserted her hands slowly and cautiously into the pants pocket of the far far away guy.......... grabbed out some M&M's and she was miraculously cured. =p Cuz it melts in your mouth but not IN YOUR HANDS.

Highlight the texts if you haven't figured out what she grabbed. Muahahaha!!

ANYWAY, back to topic. I personally think there is no absolute way to study cultures. One can try but one can never ever get the essence from books or literatures. Anthropologists and academics study them well and try to pass it on by writing, but as the written discourse lecture has already shown, every writing is different hence there would be some essence of a culture lost in translation.

I remember back when I was in polytechnic, the school organized etiquette courses for us to take to prepare us for the working world. The instructors told us that you should be this and that but did not tell us which culture(s) those teachings prescribe to!! They might as well not teach us anything at all!! And for that statement, I shall illustrate why.

When I was over in Hong Kong for my attachment, I dined with some of my superiors and there was this particular guy who likes to tap his fingers on the table everytime someone refills his cup of tea. He came across to me as being extremely rude. In the Westernised culture, tapping your fingers meant impatience, I did not understand why did he have to do that when others are doing him a favour!! So, being very tactful, I asked him if there were some protocols to follow in Hong Kong when someone serves you tea (Well, I can't ask him if the tapping was polite right? What if it was really impatience he was attempting to display!!) and indeed!! He explained that tapping your fingers on the table when someone serves you tea meant Thank you.

I would NEVER have figured that out. No other Hong Kong person I met did that!! Apparently it was a diminishing culture due to the influence of the West!! So what I thought was correct, tapping your fingers meant impatience and many young HK-ers do not feel comfortable prescribing to it due to the clash in meaning...

And so I say, each person is his own culture. So why study? =p I think the main thing to understand about cultures is tolerance. Everybody is different, with a little less judging and more graciousness, this world would be a prettier place with more peace yet more diverse and colourful. (: