Even if you don't know, just pretend as if you know-lah Mike. You are embarrassing me you know.
2020, Stephanie Street,Dragonflies, Epigram Books,→ISBN, Act 2, scene 2, page110:
Pleaselah, you want to save me, save me the headache.
2024 July 16, Clement Yong, “Theatre review: National Day Charade mimes familiar criticisms of NDP but doles out a lesson or two”, inThe Straits Times, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited:
In a few months that have been both dispiriting and heartening with regard to public art[…] is it any wonder that one of the most earnest things one can say to Singapore right now is: “Stop complaining,lah”?
For more quotations using this term, seeCitations:lah.
Just try your bestlah, and don’t think too much about it.
1990,Pao Kun Kuo, “No Parking On Odd Days”, inThe Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole and Other Plays,→OCLC, page63:
I mean, I didn’t want to break the law, and I honestly went down to find out whether that place was OK to parkor not. Let’s be fairlah, you can’t expect me to see one sign saying something and still go a long way to see if there is another one saying something else.
2016, Junjia Ye, quoting Jayakumar, chapter 5, inClass Inequality in the Global City: Migrants, Workers and Cosmopolitanism in Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan UK,→ISBN, pages139–140:
I had Malay friends who were just turned away like that. It’s quite badlah.
2022, Hunter Ng,As Coarse as Emporium, Jettison Books,→ISBN:
You know that for tattooing, we are supposed to use disposable needles, right? Well, Joseph (Rough Face) will tell us not to throw them away after use. The next morning when I come into the studio, the needle box is always full again but the needles are without their original seal. You know whylah.
2024, Jojo Chia,Afternoon Yuan Yang Club, Epigram Books,→ISBN:
Aiyah, we will always chat or messagewhat... We’ll keep in touchlah,hor?
— I don’t think you should be cutting corners, at least put in some effort and make it look legit. — They won’t careonelah... I don’t have all day...
2011,Robert Yeo,The Adventures of Holden Heng, Epigram Books,→ISBN:
“Nolah,” she had said, almost casually to his proposal. He was flabbergasted.
2011, Siong Chye Sim,Once Bitten, Never Shy: Confessions of a Backpacking Diplomat, Armour,→ISBN, page63:
Don’t bother about himlah. Let’s pack up and get some sleep as we have a long day ahead.
2012 March 25, Maureen Koh, quoting Ha Wai Kay, “Her luck is in the duck”, inThe Straits Times, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited, PEOPLE, pages6–7:
Nolah, they must look at it this way... even though the founder (Colonel Harland Sanders) of KFC has died, his recipe lives on.
“Papa, I’m telling you—the property was immense. It was like theIstana. The driveway itself went on for miles.” “Cannot be! Two or three acres I might believe, but fifty? No such thing,lah.”
“Keretapi Tanah Melayu means railwaylah thanggachi[தங்கச்சி(taṅkacci), term of address for a younger woman],” the man went on. “Means Malay Land Railway. Malay Land that means Malaysialah [Sense 6], thanggachi, that also you don’t knowah?[…]
2019 March 5,Ong Ye Kung, “Committee of Supply – Head K (Ministry of Education)”, inParliamentary Debates: Official Report (Parliament of Singapore), volume94:
He said that in the past,[…] a teacher might admonish a noisy class and say: “4N(T), keep quiet!” Immediately, all the N(T) students felt that they were singled out. Today, the teacher would say: “NCC, keep quiet!” and the Normal stream students feel: “Okaylah.”
2021 December 9, Ilyas Sholihyn, Rainer Cheung, quoting Syed, “20 Years On, What Do Singaporeans Remember About JI’s Failed Bomb Plot?”, inricemedia.co[1], archived fromthe original on9 December 2024:
Different prioritieslah these days.
2022, Bernice Loh, chapter 4, inTween Girls' Dressing and Young Femininity in Singapore: Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast?, Springer Nature Singapore,→ISBN, page94:
Interviewer: But what is expensive to your parents? Like $50 for a dress? Lola: Er ... it’s not that badlah.
Reinforces asuggestion with the implication that it is the morepractical option.
Pitch contour:low-mid[lɑ(ː)˨],mid-falling[lɑː˧˨]
The nearest train station is 15 minutes away. I think we take the buslah,hor?
2019 June 4, Ethel Pang, “As Long As SAP Schools Exist, ‘Chinese Elitism’ in Singapore Will Exist”, inricemedia.co[2], archived fromthe original on10 February 2025:
“Huh?SAP school? Oh, you mean Chinese schoolslah.”
When Richard was going to join Anglo-Chinese School I expected the father to bring him to see the Headmaster, after all he was from ACS himself, but he couldn't be bothered. (Emily imitates Kheong's brusque brush-off) 'You look after it, you arrange itlah!'
(less common)Reinforces the factuality of an assertive statement made to correct an inaccurate, underlyingassumption.
2014, Latha[K. Kanagalatha],The Goddesses in the Living Room, Singapore: Epigram Books,→ISBN, page102:
“Wholah thatPanjali? A real ‘number nine’[FromTamilஒன்பது(oṉpatu), a derogatory term for a transgender person].” “You don’t play a fool you know. He is not a ‘number nine’, not a hermaphrodite, but a man. He is the one who has been cross-dressing and performing the role of Panjali for many years.”
Wong, J. (2004), “The particles of Singapore English: a semantic and cultural interpretation”, inJournal of Pragmatics, volume36, number 4,→DOI, pages739–793
Ler Soon Lay, Vivien (2006), “A relevance-theoretic approach to discourse particles in Singapore English”, in Kerstin Fischer, editor,Approaches to Discourse Particles,→DOI, pages149–166
Lee, Junwen (2022), “An Analysis of Colloquial Singapore Englishlah and Its Interpretation across Speech Acts”, inLanguages, volume 7, number 3,→DOI, page203
