How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Bungalow – this is stretching the word a bit too high!

I first learned about the meaning of the word 'bungalow' when I was browsing through a surveyor friend's book in the '70s. I noticed the cost of construction for a bungalow was less than a terrace house. In his reply, he said something to the effect that it was because a bungalow is single-storeyed while the terrace house was double-storeyed. It really made sense to me then because Malcolm happened to be doing up his huge Victorian-styled double-storeyed terrace house in Poole-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire. It looked definitely more costly to build than a single-storey bungalow in the correct sense.

I have just checked again my old Oxford dictionary and it was simply stated: bungalow n. one-storeyed house. That was it!

In Malaysia, the term had been 'mangled' beyond description: double-storey bungalow; 3-storey bungalow; semi-detached bungalow; and the list goes on, limited only by the advertisers' imagination.

I was reading today's The Star on Property Up North, and I saw the words 'Sky bungalows' as the title to the write-up on Lone Pine Group's project in Tanjung Bungah, Penang. Yes, you are right, they are going to have several bungalows on top of their high-rise building! I think that is stretching the word... a bit too far up!

Incidentally, we will be meeting up with a couple from Maastricht (friends of Cheng), in Penang tomorrow. Just wondering if we would be driving through Tanjung Bungah as part of our guided tour.
Link

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