The last Beauty Pageant I watched was in 1987. That was the one time Singapore played host to the Miss Universe pageant, with our very own Marion Nicole Teo placed 8th in the overall competition eventually.
Fast forward 22 years later, I find myself reading up about a Beauty Pageant, but this time for a very different reason: because the Singaporean contestant – if you follow online discussion forums and news here – has been accused of failing common sense and being unable to speak proper English. Heck – there’s even a Wikipedia entry for her right now.
Here’s the Youtube video that is getting circulated around online that illustrates the contention. The Youtube link has a long list of comments that are well, not very kind on her.
I’m not sure what to make of it. She’s pretty enough for certain, though personally I think she looks a little plasticky. It’s this thing I’ve got about excessive make-up on women: Ling should relate this story of our bridal shoot in April 2006 when I just couldn’t get used to all her layers of makeup!
Anyway, there’s a couple of opinions posted online that this is how young Singaporeans speak, or that some Americans speak even worse English (Matt says the same LOL), or that people are making a mountain out of a molehill. Either way, plenty of blog posts everywhere, like here, or here, or here, and even spoofed here; and online threads like this here.
The way I look at it: I agree that both spoken and written English among Singaporeans could be improved, and Ms. Low isn’t speaking in a manner that is uncommon. But then again, this is a world contest, and surely there must had been someone in Singapore who’s both beautiful and can speak better English.
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