Um, a WHAT occasion?
Location: Macdonald's, Queensway Shopping Centre.
This is from last September. Um, a WHAT occasion? No, wait, I don't think I want to know...
posted by Sprezzatura at 11:21 pm
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Location: Macdonald's, Queensway Shopping Centre.
This is from last September. Um, a WHAT occasion? No, wait, I don't think I want to know...
5 Comments:
What is the error basically? Three words can theoretically be joined into one node, can they not?
'cum' is a Latin preposition with a very specific usage.
Here, as in many places in Singapore, it is used (incorrectly) as an equivalent for 'and' or '&'.
'cum', in colloquial English, has an additional meaning that makes this sign, not to put too fine a point on it, somewhat saucy.
etymonline (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cum):
"...in popular Latin phrases (e.g. cum laude), or as a combining word to indicate a dual nature or function (e.g. slumber party-cum-bloodbath) ..."
Plus, I can see how it can go beyond "and", in the sense of "running concurrently" as opposed to "running consecutively".
The only real potential problem I see is the use of bare infinitive "celebrate" used to modify the phrase, like one would use in Chinese, rather than say, making it into a noun. (lantern festival celebation) But even that is arguably acceptable, just like one can say, "I am going for a run."
'Celebrate' here appears to be an imperative, not an infinitive. 'run' can be both a noun and a verb because the noun and verbal forms are identical. Not so for 'celebrate'.
There is no way around this - the use of 'cum' here is wrong and not only infelicitous, but downright indecent.
When it's used to modify a noun, rather, e.g. as an adjective, verbs can be used in this manner.
Compare "a welcome home party". The idea of "welcome home" has been encapsulated as a phrasal adjective to modify "party".
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