Commonly found variants; note these may range from acceptable alternatives to
non-standard forms or incorrect spellings*.
* Singlish is a largely spoken creole, and as such descriptivism (recording forms that reflect actual pronunciation in spoken language, or as appearing in the linguistic corpus) is more pertinent than strict prescriptivism. Nevertheless, the use of more standard forms (or for words originating in languages with Latin script, such as Malay, accurate to the original spelling) is recommended and encouraged.
* Singlish is a largely spoken creole, and as such descriptivism (recording forms that reflect actual pronunciation in spoken language, or as appearing in the linguistic corpus) is more pertinent than strict prescriptivism. Nevertheless, the use of more standard forms (or for words originating in languages with Latin script, such as Malay, accurate to the original spelling) is recommended and encouraged.
also can:
black or white black-and-white
black and white
简
繁
→
English:
black
+
and
+
white
↻
Hokkien:
乌抑白抑
烏抑白抑
poj:
o͘-iah-pe̍h-iah
Detailed etymology
definitions
noun
- a children's game where players stand in a circle, each holding out one hand with the palm either facing up or down. They then begin chanting a set phrase in unison while flipping their hand rhythmically on each syllable (or at random if they so please). On the final syllable of the chant, all players stop flipping their hands, leaving a random distribution of players having their palms either facing down ("black") or up ("white"). This may then be used for any required purpose, most commonly for randomly splitting the group into two teams according to "black" and "white".
expression
- a chant used in the aforementioned game