4 ms·

When it's bad, you want a VERY quick way of saying "shoot it again." The "repeat" vs "say again" distinction is so ingrained that I've been out of the military

When it's bad, you want a VERY quick way of saying "shoot it again." The "repeat" vs "say again" distinction is so ingrained that I've been out of the military for a decade and I still always, only say "say again." I don't do it on purpose, it's just part of me now.

chacha102 6y ago
Fantastic. I was just telling the commentor before you that I do not have a military background. I'm glad you could weigh in. That makes complete sense.
JackFr 6y ago
My father, fifty years out of the navy, would still always say “Say again” if he didn’t hear you.
- Arnavion 6y ago
  I also use "say again" in regular conversation, and I've never been in the military. I picked it up from living in Singapore for a few years. Some of the short, simplified, not-always-grammatical phrases used in Singlish work great for communication - distinct enough to be understood despite the speaker's accent, few fluff words so that they can be parsed easily and spoken easily. Very close to the goals of the military and NATO in that regard.
  - eru 6y ago
    Some Singlish vocabularly actually derives from nautical English. The port has been important for a long time. See eg https://www.angmohdan.com/origins-of-gostan/ https://www.angmohdan.com/origins-of-gostan/ (and also http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/jacklee/singlish_G.htm http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/jacklee/singlish_G.htm) I lament that most people speaking to an ang moh like me code-switch to the Queen's English instead of sticking to proper Singlish.
- pm3003 6y ago
  We often forbid operators the use of "repeat", and we find ourselves using only "say again" on the phone, especially when the link is bad or the other speaker difficult to understand. Imagine speaking to a Pakistani or a Portuguese over a satellite phone.
inamberclad 6y ago
When I'm stressed, I go back to saying affirmative/negative instead of yes/no.
toyg 6y ago
That actually explains why quite a few people I know tend to use that form in a way that, to me, sounds pretty rude - it's probably just natural for them.

chacha102 6y ago

Fantastic. I was just telling the commentor before you that I do not have a military background. I'm glad you could weigh in. That makes complete sense.

JackFr 6y ago

My father, fifty years out of the navy, would still always say “Say again” if he didn’t hear you.

Arnavion 6y ago
I also use "say again" in regular conversation, and I've never been in the military. I picked it up from living in Singapore for a few years. Some of the short, simplified, not-always-grammatical phrases used in Singlish work great for communication - distinct enough to be understood despite the speaker's accent, few fluff words so that they can be parsed easily and spoken easily. Very close to the goals of the military and NATO in that regard.
- eru 6y ago
  Some Singlish vocabularly actually derives from nautical English. The port has been important for a long time. See eg https://www.angmohdan.com/origins-of-gostan/ https://www.angmohdan.com/origins-of-gostan/ (and also http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/jacklee/singlish_G.htm http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/jacklee/singlish_G.htm) I lament that most people speaking to an ang moh like me code-switch to the Queen's English instead of sticking to proper Singlish.
pm3003 6y ago
We often forbid operators the use of "repeat", and we find ourselves using only "say again" on the phone, especially when the link is bad or the other speaker difficult to understand. Imagine speaking to a Pakistani or a Portuguese over a satellite phone.

inamberclad 6y ago

When I'm stressed, I go back to saying affirmative/negative instead of yes/no.

toyg 6y ago

That actually explains why quite a few people I know tend to use that form in a way that, to me, sounds pretty rude - it's probably just natural for them.