poe-TAY-toe, poe-TAH-toe; toe-MAY-toe, toe-MAH-toe...?

Ahh, I missed the garbage truck this morning! I'd been busy with my daily ritual, convincing Marrakesh that today will be another great day in school, while trying to give Damascus the same amount of attention. Everyday, Marrakesh would wake up whining "tak nak pegi skolah, tak nak pegi skolah,", and Damascus would respond with "Kekesh baby la, nanti takkan besar sampai bila-bila...", then they'd both start screaming at each other and would refuse to shower and this would go on for at least another half hour...

I remember when my mornings used to be settling in nicely in my cosy little office in a modern skyscraper in the middle of KL's Golden Triangle, sipping my hot brew that the tea lady had so courteously brought in for me, flipping through the day's headlines while my staff screened through my incoming calls, calculating at the back of my mind how much I'd want to propose spending on advertising next year and preparing myself to present this to the man in the penthouse office in the next hour...

Which do you think is more demanding, the former or the latter? And do bear in mind, in the former, I don't get paid.

Hehehe...but my ultimate reward comes in the former, after my boys see the bright light of brotherly love, and they jump at me with snuggles, hugs and kisses and say, "mommy best la, Kekesh saaaayang mommy!" Then Damascus would quickly jump in and say "Acus sayang mommy jugak," and plants kisses on my left cheek, right cheek and forehead. :)...

Anyway, about speaking English. That's one thing I'm trying hard to get Marrakesh to do. All he says now is "I speak English", then he gives his cheeky smile and runs off carrying on in Malay. Well, he's 4, so I guess he'll come around soon lah ha? Now, something about what Esfahan asked me yesterday.

Esfahan had had his Bahasa Inggeris exam yesterday, it was the centralised exam, where the questions are set by a centralised committee. As he was digging into his Mamak Fried Chicken (ya, mommy made mamak fried chicken for lunch...! haha!) that I had packed on my way back from meeting the fab ladies of KerepekLa, he suddenly asked me, "Mommy, how do you spell racket?" I quickly replied, "r-a-c-k-e-t". Then he asked, "Can it be spelled r-a-c-q-u-e-t?" I said, "Ya, can, it's a matter of choice and preference. Why?" He said, "Well, after our English exam today, my teacher asked how to spell the word." Inside my head, while munching on mamak fried chicken, I was thinking, "Heh? Your teacher is asking you how to spell the word? Heh?". Then Esfahan continued, "You see mommy, (yes, this is how Esfahan speaks, those who know him will understand) one of our exam questions just now, there was a picture of a racket, and the question asked us to choose the right spelling for name of the item in the picture. It was multiple choice, 2 of them were definitely wrong, but the other 2 were either r-a-c-k-e-t or r-a-c-q-u-e-t. Many of us answered r-a-c-k-e-t and some answered r-a-c-q-u-e-t. So, after the exam we asked the teacher about this because we felt it was funny. That was when the teacher asked us back." I continued to be bewildered, until Esfahan continued again, "Then the teacher says she will check with the exam committee about this matter."

Hmmm, what do you think? You say poe-TAY-toe, I say poe-TAH-toe?

My command of English is not ultra excellent, it's pretty good, sometimes a bit rough and clumsy and jumbled up, but basically it's good. I always get annoyed when people don't use English properly (I admit that I can get freakily touchy when it comes to bad English, yes, me crazy woman!). And I for sure wouldn't have prepared an exam question like that. Right? It's very confusing for the children. It already is burdening enough that we are still exam oriented, and to let the children be all boggled up with something like this, I think is very inconsiderate, not to mention unprofessional. Hehe, suddenly the word "incredible" comes in mind - credible, not credible, can we say in-credible in this context? Hehehe...

And I had time to tell Esfahan that r-a-c-k-e-t is also what he and his brothers always create when they're all playing together in their den, and in this context he couldn't use r-a-c-q-u-e-t. Let's not explain to him the other type of racket just yet la ha...