Friday December 23, 2005
No need for ‘penjodoh bilangan’
RECENTLY, I heard this advertisement on the radio in which a little girl and her mother are at an electric appliance shop, and the girl points out various objects and says their names. Her mother corrects one of her statements by saying, “No dear, it’s X units of washing machines.”
Isn’t the word “units” completely unnecessary?
I believe native Chinese and BM speakers might think it necessary to put a penjodoh bilangan before a noun, but isn’t it correct and more true to the nature of the English language to just say, “Three washing machines”?
The word “unit” in trade is usually used to indicate the quantity of a certain item in stock, or on a sales docket. I don’t think it is appropriate or necessary to use it in this context.
Another sighting of this encroachment of Chinese/BM grammar into the English language was on the cover of Star Metro on Nov 30, where a local quilt exhibition was profiled.
The standfirst read, “Instead of decorating beds, more than 150 pieces of quilts spent four days ‘hanging around’ at the JW Marriot Kuala Lumpur last week.”
I was sorry to hear that some quilt-hating psychopath had run amok and left someone’s collection in tattered pieces in a public place, but further reading proved me wrong.
Instead, the writer was only trying to say that an exhibition had been held in which 150 quilts – quite whole and intact, thank you – were on display.
In this context, I believe adding “pieces of” is totally wrong. This is not a new trend in messing up English. When I was in primary school, about 13 years ago, one day my teacher asked if anyone in class could spare him “three pieces of rubber bands”.
Sarcastic little brat that I was, I was tempted to cut one into three pieces and give them to him. Oh yes, and he was my English teacher, too.
Fortunately, I’ve since learnt to be less sarcastic, but I do hope you’ll let your readers know about this common error. - Sharon
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