‘WEIRD’ THINGS SINGAPOREANS DO THAT BRITS DON’T UNDERSTAND 

Usually with the taxi driver is just double confirm like me: “uncle go left here ah” Uncle: “left here ah” Me: “ah yah here”

'One' is Singlish derived from '是这样的' in Mandarin or in short '的' which means 'It's like that'. So you add it into English, it becomes 'He is like that one' and 'She tends to get angry one'. I suspect the older generation taxi drivers are the ones driving like you described because I think they are not used to driving auto-gear cars after many years on manual ones. I don't think sharing food utensils is typical of Singaporeans, maybe just your colleague. As for queueing up, I think it is something I'm quite proud of as Singaporean after having been to China. ;)

You dont question Singlish...its not a language, we don't learn it, we adapt it.

The eye contact part my be because the older generations always taught us not to stare at people as they may take that as an offence and may pick a fight with you

Taxi Drivers: My dad's a taxi driver and he gets nervous picking foreigners up 'cause he's afraid of mis-hearing road names, directions or instructions. I guess the triple-confirming part is to ensure he's getting you right. As to the accelerating-brake - I KNOW RIGHT - not sure why the older drivers tend to do it. Gets onto my nerves as well. Thank goodness my dad doesn't drive this way else I wouldn't take his car lol. Queue: On record, I've queued for 4h ALONE but that's in Tsukiji Market, Tokyo. Last weekend, I queued for 45min for the fish soup at Amoy. Not all time's wasted; typically we are either chatting and catching up with our friend or we're checking our FB, IG or Netflix.

about the sharing spoon thing, in my school the kids would ask if you’re “saliva conscious” if they wanted a drink out of your bottle or try some of your food

I'm Singaporean and I hate queuing for food/attractions/cashiers etc too! I just don't have the patience for it! my thought process: "I'll just settle for something with no queue that might not be as nice . The amount of time I'd be saving is more valuable." I suppose there are quite a few Singaporeans who wouldn't queue too, we're an impatient bunch :P And the sharing of utensils - I think the common practice is that if you're sick, or recovering from a flu etc, you tell anyone who's offering to share their food/utensils with you, and politely decline. So we generally assume that if the other person doesn't say anything, the person shouldn't be sick and it should be fine to share! Many people also also offer to share, but ask at the same time (in a friendly manner) if the other party is sick, like "hey, you wanna try some of this? hey, you're not sick right?". Oh! and we have a hilarious term, "saliva-conscious", for people who aren't comfortable with sharing. So, many people also ask beforehand, "Hey, are you saliva-conscious?" before offering/accepting shared food! so if the other party is saliva-conscious, then one would take a new set of cutlery etc.

Omg Georgia....I am born and bred here BUT NO way am I sharing. Some people are not educated in that aspect if hygiene you see. But to decline sharing the same spoon/cup etc is not offensive. Cheerios!

About the driving style of some older taxi drivers - yes! Finally someone is talking about this. I really dislike the way some older taxi drivers can't seem to hold their foot steady on the accelerator. Makes me car sick.

I grew up here, but I can't remember being asked/ asking to sit with other people at the same restaurant table! And sharing utensils with those I don't know grosses me out. Either it's too much a part of my culture that I wasn't aware when it did happen, or it really hasn't happened to me! 💁🏻‍♀️

Omg samee I also don’t like eating with strangers on the same table find it really awkward

I've lived in Singapore my whole life (23 years) and I've never had a restaurant staff ask me if I could share my table with a stranger! I think the service staff who served you just didn't have common sense HAHAHHAHHA. I think the closest would be at hawker centres, especially when 2 people are sitting at a table meant for 6-8 or something, then we would ask if we can share. But even then I wouldn't ask if the table could only sit 4, that's kinda intruding into their personal space. As for the sharing utensils thing, we only share it if we are close! I think it depends on personal preference too, I personally will share my utensils with an acquaintance if I like the person HAHAH, or know that he/she doesn't have disgusting eating habits. If I don't like the person or if they lick the spoon and leave food residue or something then ew no way. But to share with a stranger is just weird and unhygienic.

Hi Georgina, the taxi uncles usually double or triple confirm, because of bad experiences with customer, comfort (blue and yellow taxis uncle/aunties) drivers can lose the ability to rent from taxi company if they have 3 strike from bad customer experience. So by being cautious to check with the customer regarding the route of preference, the pickup and drop off destination, is part of their customer service training, it is a serious component for the taxi driver I guess. As for the sharing for tables, because it happens often enough at the hawker centres, really popular restruants find it acceptable to strangers together if the seats are limited and queuing line are affecting the place of operations I guess.

Accurate! Thanks for pointing all these out! All these are so common to us that we take it for granted and don't really notice it anymore. Now I keep paying attention to the taxi driver's confirmation and his driving style. I must really get this out of my head! LOL. Your channel sure win one!

Oh haha we say "one" because in Chinese, 的 also means one as in "my one" which is 我的 in chinese although it should be "mine".

I'm Singaporean and using the same spoon sounds absolutely disgusting. No it's not common here

Hmm I feel that perhaps it's the younger generation that doesn't mind sharing utensils! It's mainly because we're too lazy to get one of each one of us then having to wash so many utensils after. Sometimes I even share a straw with my friends when one of us gets a drink!

Hey Georgia, enjoyed this video! The reason why I personally avoid the priority seat in the MRT is because I like to just zone out or go on my phone, and not worry or be pressured to look out for an elderly person or whoever needs it more than me, you know? I just hate if someone has to ask me if they can have the seat because I did not notice them standing there, I feel like I was being rude not to offer it even though I didn't even see them. Also, I think it's a Singaporean thing to not mind standing in public transport; whenever I take the bus in the European city I live, if there are some seats free but they are all next to strangers, I don't mind just standing. Also I constantly get called out in my (non-Singaporean) friend group for not wanting to share utensils (because they don't mind and so they get a bit offended), and that's something I feel I adopted from Singaporean culture to be honest. Strange you experienced the opposite, or maybe my situation is strange...

Totally spot on. I'm a Singaporean living overseas and I didn't even realise these until I saw all your youtube videos/ reviews. It makes me LOL instantly coz you are sooo correct and I really enjoy watching all your videos. More pls!

i had an australian friend who was so confused about "one" as well, and how and when to use it and all and my singaporean friend and I tried to so hard to explain it to her in a non-singlish way but we just couldn't explain it at all and just ended up like "aiyaa it's like that one la you'll get it soon"

I think the usage of "one" came from the actual English language of it using to refer things. For example, "They are both nice, but I think I like that one better". So the Singlish usage of it is somewhat similar in that we use "one" to refer to things as well. Like the "one" in "She's like that one" would be referring to the "she", and the "one" in "Confirm one?" would be referring to whatever statement previously made.

Lol we NEVER use *next left or next right* you'll just confuse the poor sod. If it's an upcoming left turn well just say turn left here otherwise he'll assume it's the next one after that.

Ahhh that taxi conversation description - I can 100% relate!!

Hey Georgia, interesting observations! I don’t really like sitting on the same table as strangers but there are a lot of eating places that you have to share tables. It’s worse if you go to Hong Kong. We will get awkward at first but when everyone is in their conversations, it became fine. As for sharing of utensils, I only share it with people I know and of a certain closeness level. It depends on the food we are sharing too. So have you eaten steamboat where everyone shares food from the same big hot pot? I think you get triple confirmation from taxi uncles because you are a foreigner and they might not understand you that well. I’m guessing they just want to make sure they are driving the right route. I don’t like to queue for free things.. but for a very good food stall, depending on my mood and time, I will. As for the addition of ‘one’ behind, I can’t explain too! It’s very broken English and i guess it’s translated from other dialect the way it’s being spoken. But it has become a singlish! Lol!

1: Because a large portion of our eating places are at places like hawker centres or food courts, there's no service provided. You have to get your food first then proceed to find your seats. So if you were to buy your food first instead of using a method to reserve your seats, you might end up stranded with a huge tray in the middle of the crowded lane waiting for a seat. 2: Adding 'one' is actually a derivative from the Chinese language as we tend to mix speaking them together, so as time past, it's unknowingly mixed into our English. Same with Malay/Hindi/various other dialects. Singlish is just a mix pot of languages. 3: Yeah that's very accurate, especially when there's a 'craze'. My guess would be there's really nothing much to offer on this small island, so when there's a sale or new item in town from overseas, people tend to treat it as a form of 'activity', like hey there's something new we should go try it out NOW. It's really boring in Singapore if you've been here, there aren't any getaways locally. I'm not sure if you were in Singapore then but those Hello Kitty queues were crazy. Or the ones where rich ladies get their domestic helper to go queue for a new branded shop's opening. Personally, I wouldn't mind queuing for food if it's worth the wait. 4: There's an online media site called STOMP which is under StraitsTimes(yes our major newspaper). It's a site where people post tons of gossip and stuff too rubbish to be considered journalism. But as we all know, people love reading that shit. So back then when camera phones were becoming the craze, Singaporeans would sneakily take photos of people who were sleeping or people in army uniform taking the priority seat on a seemingly crowded train and shame them online. I remember I was once very ill but I still avoided sitting on the priority seat because the train was crowded and didn't want to have to deal with the stares. 5: I would say that occurs more often with the older generation of taxi uncles? They've had their fair share of miscommunication which resulting in unhappy customers or accusations of detouring for a higher fare so they tend to be more careful. Usually we get 2 confirmations though, lol. 6: Same thing, it's usually with the older generation. Fun fact, the older generation's driving licenses are usually not technically 'legal'. It was really easy to pass back then compared to now. My dad drives like that too and I can't stand it. 7: Yeah, I think it's quite common in Singapore for people to avoid eye contact with strangers. When we were young we were taught it was rude to stare. Also, if you grew up in a neighbourhood with hooligans or bullies you'd know that if you stare at someone who's in a 'gang', even if unintentionally, you'd get in a lot of trouble. 8: I think it's more of an Asian thing, especially in the more congested cities like Toyko, HongKong, Singapore. Space is really expensive. But if it's a restaurant I would think they don't practice that there. 9: Most families in Singapore(Indian, Chinese, Malay), we don't have sharing spoons for dishes. Typically in a Western family, you'd have a few dishes on the table with a sharing spoon to bring food onto your plate where you consume it. But in Singapore, we all just dig our own spoons in the big pot and scoop whatever we want. If you think about it, that big pot probably has traces of our saliva all over. This is especially apparent during festive seasons where your distant relatives would come together. However, I observe that the younger families now are adopting the Western style. Love your videos! Nice to know an expat's POV on Singapore.

First of all, welcome to Singapore. I've a fondness for people from UK as I have an elder sister and niece living there for a long. long time. Fyi, I am also a part time taxi driver and I happened to pick up a lot of people from the UK who live here and they really like it here. Well, I would like to give my 2 cents thoughts on the many incidents you brought up, if you don't mind. But, beforehand, I would like to add that I have a problem understanding the way my English relatives spoke as compared to say the way the American speak. Now, let's discuss about your comments. 1) As you should know by now, we have a peculiar way of speaking English which is a mixture of English, Chines and Malay and we call it Singlish. Normally people of lower education can only speak SInglish at best while the more educated can switch between Singlish and proper English. So it depends to whom did you converse with. 2) The reservation of seats and queuing is part of our Singapore culture. As for the sharing of table, it happen everyday at the hawker centre and I guess the restaurants carry on the practice so as not to keep the customers waiting too long because they might get impatient and move on to another restaurant as there are too many restaurants in Singapore. 3) I also have a habit of accelerating and slowing while driving my taxi on the highways, the reason being that most Singaporeans are horrible and inconsiderate drivers, especially those who like to road hog on the fast lane. So while I try to drive within the speed limit most of the time, often I have to accelerate when I encountered the road hogs. 4) Most Asian people don't look at strangers in the eyes when talking because it is considered impolite and also a form of aggression. I remember when I was youngster in the 60s' gangsters were very common in Singapore as we were very poor then. And if you happen to look even casually in the direction of a gangster who normally walked in group of 2 or more, then they would ask you what are looking at. Before you can answer them, they would start beating you up. I am telling you the truth because it happened to me once. So much for the free lesson. I too have my gripes with some European taxi customers. Although some are very polite and even generous, there were others who were snobbish and arrogant with a superior mentality. I have a feeling that most Europeans think they are smarter that other races and that they know better hence looking down on them. You know, Bruce Lee once said in an interview that " under the sky, we human beings are one family". Another saying that I think all foreigners should practise is "When in Rome, act like the Romans". Or something like reverse engineering, know what I mean? Well, I hope you enjoy your stay here in Singapore as I met a number of people from UK and France who prefer to live here than go back to their home countries. I remember a story not long ago that an English couple with no children live in Singapore for more that 30 years until they died in their 80s'. After their death they willed all their wealth and property to the charities in Singapore and chose to be buried here. Now that is something even most Singaporeans find hard to follow. God bless you and all your friends and family.

Hey Georgia , moving over next month and your videos have been invaluable :) thanks ! Still bricking it tho 🤣

Missed you Georgia! As always, great video! The reserving of a table is practiced here in the Philippines too. But people usually would leave their bags but removing their valuables first or a hanky. LOL! Sharing a table with strangers make me uncomfortable too the same with sharing utensils. The only time I share utensils is if it is with my significant other and best friends haha.

personally I had quite alot of experience with acquaintances sharing food/utensils containing the food too. When I went for camps, everyone in the orientation camp group took turns to drink from a soft drink bottle as the orientation group leader bought one big bottle to share and I was so shocked when everyone didnt even flinch and drank from the same bottle! We only knew each other for a few hours O_O haha but of course I have some friends who ask if I am saliva conscious before sharing drinks. But generally feel like the people around me arent saliva conscious, friends or not

Yea, as Eva said, “one” originate from Chinese. Most of our daily informal speech are more or less directly translated from the way we speak Chinese, hence our less-than-proper grammar and words like “one”

The sharing utensils thing is funny. I believe it's pretty ok to do that in Brazil too! At least among our friends, definitely not with complete strangers but if you are a little close to the person like a good work fellow, we'd probably have ice cream from the same spoon or drink from the same glass then hahaha. I think it's a weird but nice habit that brings people closer.

With regards to the priority seat, we avoid it like the plague because social stigma is the modern first-world equivalent of the plague.

It's rare to queue in the US. I once saw a REALLY long line when the Cleveland cavaliers wons the NBA finals and there was a gigantic line at the sporting goods store to buy the championship gear and this was because the city of Cleveland hadn't won a championship in something like 50 years 😂 I think were too lazy to wait in lines except for roller coasters

I’m Singaporean and I’ve never had the service staff ask if I would like to be sat with strangers in a restaurant. That’s a first I’ve never heard or experienced that before. Other than in a hawker centre or food courts when it’s crowded and there’s no other choice.

You're great, Geogia!

I f****ing hate sharing tables. It forces me to watch my words and be formal whilst talking to a friend.

Living in London, I think the queueing think it's quite common in big cities like Singapore, Tokyo as well as London. In fact, more and more restaurants in London are opting not to take reservations and requiring patrons to queue.

I hate queueing for food, unless im dying for it, else no no. Sharing of utensils. I cant share too unless we are close. The reasons on why the taxi asked and like a triple confirm is because there are people who would otherwise denied what they have said on routes and accused the taxi drivers. So when that happens, the taxi company will.have the meter, GPS to investigate the alleged complaints. That is why they will always asked your destination and preferred routes and confirm almost everytime. All else, i can say you are meticulous in observing habits.

Finally a new video.

I think for majority of younger generation Singaporeans. they will usually ask each other if they're "saliva-conscious" before sharing utensils, if they are comfortable with it. Thanks for the sharing! :)

Wellllll I've never really been sure why that's the case but sustained eye contact tends to come off intense and/or kinda aggressive? It gives off a more serious vibe, and is way more personal than is comfortable in casual lighthearted conversation. Unless you're giving a friend an ultimatum and trying to drive in significance, or having HTHT and trying to show you're invested/sincere etc etc it's just not usually done. The 'glance for a bit, look away, then glance again' happens more often than 'stare at their eyes for the whole convo'. I guess the eye-contact = honesty thing isn't as prevalent here. If a person made eye-contact w me and then just kept looking, depending on the situation I'd be more inclined to think that I've done something wrong/the person finds something wrong with me/something is wrong in general/they're pissed off at me/they're picking a fight. It's way too close to glaring.

The accelerating thing is pretty annoying to me. It makes me feel like puking right after I get off the taxi. Seems like a thing some older driver uncles do. I don't share utensils and I do not share tables unless I have to at the hawker centres. :)

I think the Taxi issue is due to you are a foreigner. Drivers just want to make sure and avoid complaint. Suggestion - Tell the driver your destination and the route end to end clearly you prefer him to take the min you on board. Example, which expressway, exit via where, ave to the etc. Watch out when near destination in case driver miss any turn. Sharing of table in Singapore restaurants is rare. Only very few do that these days.

I agree with the table sharing - hate it. That’s one reason why I don’t eat at hawker centers.

Hi Georgia! I am curious too as to why Eurasians like to stare in the eye whenever they walk pass us. I agree about the confidence part cos we’re told never to look in the eye unless we’re having deep communication with each other. I think its because in the past, if one were to stare at another, especially when it comes to gangsters, they will end up fighting for merely staring at the other group. So as we grow older, we naturally avoid eye contact.

I wouldn’t mind sitting with strangers only at a hawker centre during peak hours because it’s difficult to find empty seats haha

The eye contact is more like diao, if you met with a rude person they will be unhappy if u keep looking at them in the eyes and will probably say stare what stare, it's like your provoking the person to fight with u by starring/looking in the person's eyes if it's a stranger

I feel that the taxi driver thing is because of your accent, which some (older) locals may find harder to understand. Most of the time when us Singaporeans state our destination they would understand immediately, as we are able to converse with the “Singaporean ring” to it

The unending next happens to me all the time. Lol when I arrived to that “next corner” I’ said... here and the driver respond “you said next” hahahaha unending next

Sometimes we singaporeans queue for more than 1 hr! I don’t think I can do that..haha!

I’m a singaporean and indeed aunties and those who are 30+ love to queue for free stuff or anything that you can think of, but what i feel now is that teenagers like me (17 btw) would like to avoid queuing very long queues, just like you, I personally would just find an excuse to go the toilet while my friend(s) is/are queuing HAHA. I’ll just lepak and slowly take my time going back i mean who loves queuing?

1. It is interesting that you mentioned taxi drivers like to pedal up and down the accelerator. My father does that too gently and I have no idea why. I think its more of an older generation kind of thing. 2. I've personally never encountered being seated with strangers in a restaurant. Only in hawker centers and kopitiams. Yes I will feel weird if there are strangers sitting together with me as it will feel intrusive, both ways. 3. It looks like there is a sizable number of Singaporeans who are not really saliva-conscious, myself included. But if it is complete strangers it would be weird, it has to be some sort of acquaintance at the very least. However I still do observe people who are saliva-conscious and that is perfectly understandable.

I've been asked to share a table in a restaurant here in Melbourne, although it was a small tightly packed Malaysian restaurant.

Also reserving with towels and reserving with tissue packs. I knew about both but I never made that link! Genius

We share the food but not the utensils. We use our own spoons to scoop the food from the same bowl. Like sharing the soup.

Hello Georgia i totally agree with u girl.

About the sharing utensil part, I find that some people could be too shy to decline.. also spot on about the other observation.. apart from the taxi driver triple confirm. They probably do that to foreigners fearing of going the wrong way and getting a complaint or some sort. Cheers!

I apologise for my multiple comments. But these types of videos are really interesting, and I think us viewers will be willing to share more, and know more about your experiences here. Love your videos!

I’m Singaporean and I wouldn’t want to share a table with a complete stranger at a restaurant. I think it would be fine at a hawker centre but not at a restaurant. And definitely NO SHARING OF UTENSILS. Ew...

For the "next left" experience with taxi drivers, it is mostly because using the word "next" is often understood as the second left and not the immediate left. I had the same problem when I was giving directions to my dad when we were driving overseas. I meant next as the upcoming junction, but he thought i meant the one after. So it just difference in interpretation. I have never had the situation where we were asked to share a table with other patrons. I would definitely not be up for that. It does usually happen at overcrowded hawker centres or food court, but not at restaurants or cafes. But damn, I miss wagamama now. Love the food there. And i am definitely not one for sharing utensils with people, let alone strangers. Total no-no.

every time you wear those glasses I think you've got a tarantula on your face

Ending sentence with "one " is actually chinese language grammar . If you speak Chinese, ending a sentence with "de的" pretty common , substitute de with one, everything makes sense now

To save fuel, to accelerate and use momentum as free rolling for a distance, repeat.

I work part-time at a restaurant and I never really know any of my colleagues asking if the customer wouldn't mind seating with a stranger. As far as I know, if there is not really any seats available, we will respectfully ask the customer to wait awhile so that we can arrange a seat for them as fast as possible. while asking them to take a look at the menu to decide on their meals to quicken up the pace of which we could get their orders through to the kitchen. Honestly, I can only say how my outlet operates. I cannot say for all. I am working part-time at Swensens Plaza Singapura by the way. Therefore, if any of you ever been there, you would know what I mean. For the sharing of cutleries as many had mentioned, we Singaporeans always ask first nicely if the other party is silva conscious or not before sharing. About taxi drivers: I always take the taxi last time and I kind of agree that the drivers just want to confirm the location of which the passenger wants to go. There was once I wanted to go to a place and I couldn't pronounce it right so the uncle was asking me to repeat again to make sure he got listen to it correctly as to where I want to go to. On the train about the reserved seat, I also will just seat down. Unless I see people who need it more than me, I will give it up. There are some contradictions as to what you think about the reserve seats. Despite having it reserved, there are those who will just seat even though there are elderly standing in front of them. In my honest opinion and from what I can infer, it is actually meant to be the whole bench. Seat when there is no one else on board and all the people who need it more have taken their seats, offer the seat if there is no other for them (those who need it more). This is my opinion anyway, I mean no offence or disrespect to those who read it.

i think the driving this is because they don't wanna like get fined for driving too fast like,, LTA is kinda strict on safety and speed limits and they're especially harsh on taxi drivers and yeah the taxi directions thing might be because you're a foreigner and the thing about sharing utensils is like a chinese thing i guess?? like we use our chopsticks to take food from the main dish and and put it into our mouths or onto someone's plate so we don't really get affected by like saliva sharing(??) which restaurant did you go to that made you share table?? i've never encountered that before omg cute earrings btw!!

The taxi driver accelerating thing makes me feel really car sick

about the table thing, i think it's more about population density than culture. In Asia it's way more crowded so I guess we have to adapt to smaller personal bubbles? And vice versa in Europe and North America. Even when we share table, we don't have the pressure to make small talks with the strangers sitting next to us so we don't mind it.

I feel the utensil sharing comes from our childhood teaching. In Singapore as kids we are taught in school that sharing is caring. And as this habit rolls, kids playing together are sometimes no so conscientious on hygiene e.g. sharing snacks at the playground. Come adulthood, they are naturally not so particular like say on the cost or hygiene as the main focus will be on the actual "sharing". You will generally notice that among peers, Singaporeans will mostly "offer" a bit/portion as it is courteous to offer and rude to be enjoying alone. This is a water down version of the "kampung spirit".

Hello, I think I can say I am a typical Singaporean. And these are based on my exp. And pardon for my singlish 1) the extension 'one'. The only logical explanation i can give u as a singaporen is that we use 'one' to replace 'is'. Eg, 'she just gossiped about you' 'really ah? Why she like that one ah?' or 'why she so mean one ah?' or 'why like that one ah?' when its suppose to be 'why is she like that?' etc. For the 'can one' in proper english is 'i can guarantee you i can do it' 2) apparantly the accelerating and decelerating thing is usually common with the older generations. My dad drives the same way. And i totally hate it. I get motion sickness easily. 3) repeating the destination couple of times is normal. But usually not more than that for me. Maybe its because of your accent the uncle had a hard time to comprehend and had to ask you multiple times just to be sure. 4) i rarely share my utensils. Even with my close friends that ive known for 15years, i'll think twice bout sharing it. *Shudders* 5) i hate crowds, therefore i wont queue if it exceeds more than 4 people 😂 6) if there is another couple sit at the same table as i am with a friend, i wouldnt mind and continue to talk as per normal. Anyway thanks for reading! Love your videos!

the sharing spoons thingy is super normal like i can share drinks and food with like the same utensils with both guy and girl friends so yeap

Its more so especially since u r a foreigner. a lot of cab drivers kena hantam or scolded by passenger or accused of conning more fares if they make a wrong turn

We wait in a que cause OUR FOOD IS AWESOMEEEE!

The acceleration and slowing down in taxis is a method to save petrol lol.

It has happened to me more than once here in Switzerland (in small cities) that people just came up and asked to sit at our table if the place was full. I find it really odd, but it does happen in Europe as well!

Hi Georgia, about sharing tables with strangers, my personal experience is that I would expect it to happen 99.9% of the time if I were having a meal at a Hong Kong cafe in Hong Kong.

I personally don't mind being seated with strangers at a restaurant. If it's crowded & one is hungry..... Coincidentally, this only happens in a Chinese restaurant for me/us. To the point that when we arrive and ask to be put on the wait list, we will let them know we don't mind being placed at a table already occupied.

about the restaurant part, i have never heard of it XD but about the taxi drivers, i guess it is more of them using every opportunity that they have to accelerate and quickly drive through traffic so that the driver can drop you off and pick another passenger up. it is more common among the older generation coz they are making a living out of this. for the youngsters, i assume that it is in a Grab car? they are not too calculative with travel timings so you dont see them drive that way. just my 2cents. love your videos btw=)

Definitely uncomfortable if sharing tables. But yeah we do share food in Singapore. When i went UK for exchange, one of my friends kope a student volunteer's food just to try. He was shocked AF! ahaha

*Looking forward to your UK Vlog* 🇸🇬🇬🇧

The problem with "Next left" is I might not think it's the IMMEDIATE next left. I might think it's the one AFTER the current one.

XD The sharing of food part is quite true only and only if I'm close to that person. Also, it's okay to just say you're saliva concious and they won't offer to share with their utensils or drinks XD

I always avoid the priority seat lmaoo. I think it should be totally fine if there's no one sitting there (esp. if you might feel unwell, tired etc.), and then if you're able to, you give your seat up to elderly, etc when they board the train. Again, there always is that one group of people who judge and shame any chance they get. Eye contact... I keep eye contact with people whenever I'm speaking or the other person is speaking. I agree that we are quite aloof and cold. Sometimes hostile, which can be unpleasant... Sharing tables/utensils... Like viewers before me have said, it isn't a Singaporean/cultural thing. Sharing utensils is fine if you're sure you're safe or if you don't mind, I guess, but it's rather risky to share it with someone you don't know. As for tables, I haven't been asked to sit with other people by staff, but in hawker centres if people can't find a table for themselves they'll approach someone who's finishing up, and if possible, we'll sit at least one seat apart haha. I'm sure other viewers have explained the "one" situation by now, and tbh it annoys even me sometimes.

I am Singaporean and I dun like to seat with strangers in restaurants and would not like to share table with them. But in hawker centers or food courts, with free seating, I guess I am okay with that if there are limited seats available. It will be rude to deny people to share the table with you in that situation. I will only share food on the same utensils with my close ones, like my wife. No way It's hygienic to share food with anyway else. Being born and bred here for over 40 years, I have never "chope" seats with tissue packs in my life. But I would always put my bag at the seat as a form of reservation. As for the reserved seat, I usually will seat on it if there is no needy people around. But I would always be on the look out for any needy people who board the train later. That means I can't relax and fall asleep in that seat cos that will be inconsiderate. Even though I would have given up seat for the needy even if I am not siting on the reserved seat, but occupying a non reserved seat allows me to relax and probably have a nap without the fear of being judged for inconsideration.

Once I was at my friends birthday party and we went to the playground to hang out for awhile and after playing for about an hour or so then we were thirsty so we had to share salvia

The eye contact one i can totally relate too. Duno why but like a scary leh

Some taxi drivers do that to me. Triple confirm. It's like they are thinking about how best to get there and subconsciously asking where many times. There is absolutely no linkage to the Chinese or Malay language as to how the word one came about.

Eye contact in SG.... Some people don't like it. They feel they you maybe staring at them, so people feel very threatened. Even worst, people might just come and scold you. THEY WILL SAY... WHAT THE FU*K ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME FOR. or So is advised not to looked at any one. This is very common in SG. Especially in MRT.

With regard to taxi drivers, there have been several incidents in which customers have gotten into an altercation with the driver due to some misunderstanding, and the unreasonable ones refuse to pay. So the drivers tend to ask you several times to be absolutely sure to avoid such incidents.

Not resturant but hawker/food court. If u r alone its easier to find seats sharing.

Hey georgia, nice observations... i also have noticed the older generation taxi uncles driving in the peculiar way... really don't understand

The sharing of spoon for ice-cream thing is seriously a no, no!

Hi Georgia, the taxi uncle ask you multiple times is to "double" confirm since 1) they are not used to your accent and want to make sure they got the address right. 2) there are road names that sound alike and so it is better get it right in the beginning. 3) to avoid complaints since if they were to take you the wrong way, you can always complain about him to the taxi co. 4) if he were to drive the wrong way, then when he brings you to the right place, he will have to (most likely) have to not charge you for the extra distance he traveled (even thought he used up gas and time to get you home) 5) maybe the taxi uncle find you cute and wanted to flirt with you

Oh urgh! I don’t share spoons / utensils with strangers! With family / close friends / gf I wouldn’t mind of course, but definitely not for strangers or mere colleagues.

The accelerating habit is from anecdotal evidence that it saves fuel...

Since I don't see anyone here providing this answer, allow me to hypothesize the reason why local taxi drivers pump on the accelerator. Most likely, they thought this would save fuel; they probably naively thought that if their foot is off the accelerator, they are not using fuel and hence saving petrol, which is of course NOT true since when you lift the foot off the accelerator, the vehicle starts to de-accelerate and you will probably be using more fuel to bring it up to speed again, which means burning more fuel to accelerate up to speed. Only place that idea works is if the car is on a downhill. Probably better to be smooth in application of the gas pedal, which would actually save you more fuel than pumping it like trying to do CPR.

the 'one' used at the end of the sentence might be due to mandarin? in mandarin Zhe Ge, means 'this one' in direct translation. hahaha!

Hmmm...sitting with strangers to eat? That's a first! No, we don't, unless maybe it's in a hawker centre :) And the sharing of utensils...well, maybe back in the 70s, but I haven't seen that too often these days.

I dont mind sharing table if crowded rush hour lunch time but not leisure time.

Saving Private Ryan, which one, Captain Miller ? Triple Confirming is Taxi handshaking Protocol.

the accelerating thing is probably because they used to drive manual cars or somethings