Chitchat Petition on "Chinese Helicopter" on Oxford Dictionary Entry

Petition to remove 'Chinese helicopter' from Oxford English Dictionary
PUBLISHED6 HOURS AGO

Leong Weng KamSenior Writer
Freelance writer and translator Goh Beng Choo has launched an online petition to have the term "Chinese helicopter" removed from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

She and the 185 other like-minded Singaporeans who had signed the petition as of 10pm yesterday say that the term - used in the 1970s and 1980s to describe a Chinese-educated person who spoke and pronounced English poorly - is degrading and insulting.

"Chinese helicopter" was among 19 new Singapore words added to the OED in its quarterly update in March. Others included shiok, teh tarik, char siu, sabo, blur and sotong.


"Chinese helicopter" was among 19 new Singapore words added to the OED in its quarterly update in March. PHOTO: BBC WORLD
The dictionary itself defined "Chinese helicopter" as being a derogatory term for a Singaporean whose schooling was conducted in Mandarin Chinese and who has limited knowledge of English.

The petition by Madam Goh, 64, a former Straits Times bilingual journalist, was first posted on Monday on the petition website Change.Org

Madam Goh, the wife of Cultural Medallion writer and novelist Yeng Puay Ngon, told The Straits Times yesterday that the term was an insult to the Chinese-educated here. "With it in the dictionary now, it will give the impression that it is an acceptable term, when actually it is insensitive and highly derogatory."

Among those who supported the petition was Singaporean Michelle Tan, who said in a comment: "Very ignorant and arrogant of those who have coined and spread the use of this word."

The term appears to have been derived from a mispronunciation of "Chinese-educated".

Madam Goh and those who signed the petition are not the only ones upset. Former civil servant and National Institute of Education lecturer Tan Teng Lang e-mailed OED's world English editor Danica Salazar asking for the term's removal.

In her e-mail on Friday, seen by The Straits Times, Ms Tan, who now lives in Canada, said the term "had long degenerated into a label that equated Chinese-educated Singaporeans with inferior quality and low status in society. It was blatantly intended to belittle, humiliate and demean someone on the basis of his less fluent command of English".

She added: " 'Chinese helicopter' is unequivocally a painful reminder of their long and difficult struggle to find their rightful place and dignity in the Singapore society. Fortunately, by the 1980s, this highly derisive term had mostly lapsed into disuse with the closure of Chinese schools. Not many younger generation Singaporeans have heard of 'Chinese helicopter', much less understand its meaning. My friends and I are therefore shocked and saddened that an almost forgotten Singlish term now resurfaces in the OED, rubbing salt into an old wound that never healed."

Dr Salazar, 32, who was in Hong Kong yesterday, said when contacted that she was aware of the petition but could not comment on it.

But in comments carried in The Sunday Times of May 22, she said the process of including new words is "very exacting and rigorous".

Yesterday, Madam Goh said she would write to and present the petition to the dictionary's editorial board some time after the number of supporters passes a minimum 200 mark.

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OED DID NOT INVENT 'CHINESE HELICOPTER'

NO, OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY DIDN'T INVENT THIS S'POREAN TERM

May 15, 2016 6:00am
BY S M ONG
Look! Up in the sky.

It's a bird!

It's a Chinese helicopter!

It's 19 new Singapore English words in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

Actually, it's only 17 words because "lepak" and "sabo" were each counted twice as a verb and a noun.

Wait. "Sabo" can be used as a noun? Really? I think Oxford kena sabo.

Also, the inclusion of "lepaking" and "sabo king" seems rather random as "blur" is also added but not "blur king". Why so sotong?

By the way, "sotong" is another new entry but is counted only as a noun. Shouldn't it be counted as an adjective as well? Don't be such a sotong king, Oxford.

And how is "HDB" a word? It's just an abbreviation for Housing and Development Board.

Might as well include MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), CPF (Central Provident Fund) and CMI (cannot make it).

And if names of local food and beverage like "char siu", "chilli crab" and "teh tarik" can qualify to be in the dictionary, where does it end?

Is it only a matter of time before "bo bo cha cha", "McDonald's curry sauce" and Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim's favourite, "orh lua", all become Oxford-approved words?

By the way, remember how a few years ago, the Malaysian tourism minister claimed that chilli crab is a Malaysian dish, sparking a debate over its true origin?

In one fell swoop, Oxford pretty much settles it by defining "chilli crab" as "a dish originating in Singapore but also popular in Malaysia".

Ha! Take that, Malaysia.

Unfortunately, there's no word yet from Oxford on the origin of Hainanese chicken rice, which the Malaysian minister also claimed to be Malaysian, so that's still up in the air.

As a Hainanese person, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the origin of Hainanese chicken rice is… Hainanese?

Food origins aside, probably the most controversial addition to the dictionary is "Chinese helicopter", which has nothing to do with China or aviation.

Oxford defines it as "a Singaporean whose schooling was conducted in Mandarin Chinese and who has limited knowledge of English".

According to the 1985 book, Army Daze, by Michael Chiang: "The story goes that a Chinese-educated recruit, when asked what school he came from, answered 'Chinese helucated', which went down in the army annals as Chinese helicopter."

BAFFLING

Yet it seems that many Singaporeans have never heard of the term. One person in an online forum accused Oxford of making it up: "Oxford invent new Singlish slang for us?"

A headline on the AsiaOne website asks: "What's a 'Chinese helicopter'? Latest Singlish entry in Oxford Dictionary has us scratching our heads."

A BBC headline says: "'Chinese helicopter': Singlish OED entry baffles Singaporeans."

I am baffled that Singaporeans are baffled by "Chinese helicopter". Maybe they didn't do national service.

Even Chinese helicopters know what "Chinese helicopter" means.

In 2005, film-maker and performer Jack Neo starred in a one-man stage show called The Last Chinese Helicopter.

He said at the time: "I look at things from the perspective of a Chinese helicopter. But some things are always the same, no matter how you look at it. If you get a traffic summons, it's still the same experience, no matter what you're educated in."

In a 2004 interview with The Straits Times, Neo's frequent collaborator, Mark Lee, was asked: "Are you really a Chinese helicopter? You were a student at Jurong Secondary School which is an English-medium school, no? So how come your English is so like that?"

Lee replied: "My first language is Hokkien and I was (in) the last batch of Chinese-educated students in the school. So really, I am really Chinese helicopter."

Wait, does this mean that Lee, 47, is among the last generation of Singaporeans to be schooled in the Chinese medium?

So no new Chinese helicopters have been produced since then?

No wonder many (younger?) Singaporeans have never heard the term.

Chinese helicopters are a dying breed.

So it's good they have now been memorialised in the Oxford English Dictionary.

At least we'll still have Ah Bengs. They will never die out.

I can't wait for "Ah Beng" to get into Oxford.

And maybe "Ah Lian" too.

Then we can all say in unison another new word in the dictionary: "Wah".

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po2wq said:

me 1st heard, rather read, tis term in sbf ...

folks from oxford r surfing sbf ...

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scroobal said:

This term was extensively used in the civil service in the past. It started when Nanyang University Grads could not get employment and some ended up as bus conductors. The Chinese stream schools and Nanyang University was so focused on Chinese culture and was too parochial to focus on the essential subjects that meets the standards at that time. The students suffered. The focus on Arts alone was a mistake. And when it became a political crisis, the Govt began to take in some into the Civil Service. Some of them struggled. Thus the term. Not sure why "helicopter" though.

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GoldenDragon said:

Quite a number joined the SPF. From my observation, two joined as Insp and one retired with same rank. The other is still around as Insp - re-employed. Maybe Insp 2 now, can't tell from his uniform. The one who made it was Seng Liang as SAC. Not sure about Kia Juah but I believe he retired as AC and not SAC. The rest just couldn't make it but many of these chaps were nice buggers who would ask for assistance to put up SOFs and charges. Is Seng Chye also nantah?

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Runifyouhaveto said:

ah RUN never heard of this term until Oxford English Dictionary mentions it.
Such a shame, RUN must be a mountain tortoise.

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scroobal said:

This term was extensively used in the civil service in the past. It started when Nanyang University Grads could not get employment and some ended up as bus conductors. The Chinese stream schools and Nanyang University was so focused on Chinese culture and was too parochial to focus on the essential subjects that meets the standards at that time. The students suffered. The focus on Arts alone was a mistake. And when it became a political crisis, the Govt began to take in some into the Civil Service. Some of them struggled. Thus the term. Not sure why "helicopter" though.

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mojito said:

You must be young. I had a great time jeering at chink losers who had to teach for a living while plum civil service and private sector jobs remain firmly in the hands of RI and ACS. Thanks to the policies of the day, we created an entire generation of entreprenuers. We can do it again.

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scroobal said:

Did not even know that they included this in the latest edition. Now with this petition its usage will probably spread far wider. I wonder if anyone knows how this term came to be.

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kukubird59 said:

hahaha....are u genuinely dumb???
not say i want to say u....
u have attached 2 articles which gave a detailed background of how the term Chinese Helicopter came about and yet you asked if anyone knows how how this term came to be????

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scroobal said:

This term was extensively used in the civil service in the past. It started when Nanyang University Grads could not get employment and some ended up as bus conductors. The Chinese stream schools and Nanyang University was so focused on Chinese culture and was too parochial to focus on the essential subjects that meets the standards at that time. The students suffered. The focus on Arts alone was a mistake. And when it became a political crisis, the Govt began to take in some into the Civil Service. Some of them struggled. Thus the term. Not sure why "helicopter" though.

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