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- They'll lose their trend of thought (train)
- You'll upset the teachers, especially the lady teachers who are easily
upset
- Those at the side, can you see the whiteboard? (blackboard)
- Marx toyed (toiled)
- [On the reason for a currency system] butter is inefficient
(barter)
- number A number B (option)
- or the hweet industry (wheat)
- those of you who are leaders, we give you the op'pour'tunity
(opportunity)
- ter'ratically (theoratically)
- the main reform boys down to (boils - still awkward)
- don't be root (rude)
- the russianell for this (rationale)
- rather than to be cutted off (cut)
- no one can fought it (fault)
- 8/3%, we don't know what it is. Let's say it's 2 2/3% (8/3% IS 2 2/3%)
- urshering in a recession (ushering)
- You will buy more sort (salt)
- You won't even cause a ribble (ripple)
- That's also true... that's also wrong
- You sell 1 unit, 2 dollars. You sell 2 units, 4 dollars. You sell 3 units,
6 dollars. Very good ( Very good is ostensibly praise for correctly computing
the revenue earned by selling the goods, but here she appears to be praising
herself)
- There are two phenomenon (phenomena)
- Ten dollars per hate (head)
- A nitch market (niche)
- The total cost that I incurt (incurred)
- [On evaluating market models only when they are in long term equilibrium]
When you're changing, I don't want to look at you. I look at you when you're
fully dressed.
- [On why students should be quiet during lectures] We finish early, you will
be let off early. We finish late, and you will be let off when the bell goes
(If you finish late, you can't be let off when the bell goes)
- a yartstick (yardstick)
- Maybe the notes are a bit crumpled but it's still a Ringitt (Ringitt
note)
- It is uniq (unique)
- Michael Jackson is a Moonwalker
- [Student: Sorry Ma'am, I left something here] You left your brains?
- Make no impack on the market (impact)
- This curve is core the demand curve facing the firm. (called)
- [Student:What is PC?] See? Never pay attention during the last lesson, sit
there and do something else. What is your name? [Student:Wanlin] I'll ask Ms
Leong to pay more attention to you during tutorials. Jeffrey, take note. I don't
want you to sit in that jinxed spot.
- You can charge the rich man more [for the heart surgery] because the rich
man trashes his life more (treasures)
- That's why there's a king here (kink)
- We don't want to look at the short run because it may be a temporarily
situation (temporary)
- Don't turn the page, I told you [there were] 2 diagrams [to be drawn]. The
next page is a blank page, you draw it there. Don't turn the page.
- It tantamounts to (It is tantamount to)
- In the real wurl (world)
- The government can regulate it with the various type of sex (types
of taxes)
- There are very few which fall into this mole (mould)
- as a rationale decision maker (rational)
- It should stick to your head (in)
- Monday, weights room, second period [for your economics remedial]?
(which)
- Hypertits can be spread through sex (hepatitis)
- I'm not a sex expert, I'm just reading from this [handout]
- It's quite vate (vague)
- You have Cindy Craw'ford (Crawford)
- Then why go through the fas of advertising (farce)
- [On seeing a student leave the lecture early] Xiaoshi, where are you going?
[Student: I'm performing] Har? [Student: I'm performing] What? [Student: I'm
performing] Say again? [Student: I'm performing]
- Economies are not saying : ah, we have this type of market in the
world. (Economists)
- sematrical (symmetrical)
- Your lam sum tax (lump)
- can buy a lot of Nicky shoes (Nike)
- seven'teeth worker (seventeenth)
- All the naughty ones, put their heads together and knock
- All of us are stretched for time (pressed)
- Has the bell gone? [Student: No] Then just pretend I'm not here. (NB: The
bell had gone actually)
- Even if I don't look around, I know Clara will be absent
- You must be able to put up a sympathetic look, you must like the colour of
red (on skills needed to be a doctor)
- You want to be a singer, you need to have good looks, don't need to
have a good voice (though you don't need)
- Yesterday, I sat in the computer (at)
- Any at first consequences? (adverse)
- Everybody wants to be... free riders (a free rider)
- We have actually gave you 2 data response. (given, responses)
- [You must know your J1 work well,] It must be at the back of your
mind. (front)
- [On some pupils] These are the inferior versions of the 'Li's [and Lees].
I am the superior version.
- Where's Junxiang? Oh, he's upstairs (the class was at the top level
of the building)
- [On Changge] How can you be [a] rep [subject resentative]? You everyday
never come to school. (You rarely come to school)
- Luther, you bring a cane to school. If they don't bring [money for the class
fund], you cane them.
- It's also compulsory for the gers (girls)
- I can tell when you're doing other things [during Econs lectures] - the face
looks different.
- on where'nesday (wednesday)
- whether APS, MPS rises or fores (falls)
- how can people spend $700,000?
- We're going home already [Cries of jubilation] Oh, no, we're still early
- If any of these assumptions do not hold, then the whole process will be
horted (halted)
- I will let you off [early]... as a token of my friendship to you.
- In Singapore, its called moral suasion, but it's actually coercion.
- Money supply is the supply of money.
- Or [let's say] I want to starve, so I can use my money to buy some shoes.
- I will return your tess tomorrow (test)
- so your data is not comperable to earlier years (comparable)
- [Quality of life includes] psychic income (???)
- I didn't disregard [the point you made in your essay], I rat it (read)
- So are you happy to go [to the] Ya'kuut [factory]? (Yakult)
- because of the time lacks (lags)
- Behave yourself. I'll probably shame you.
- That's how intervening in the economy can make in'staybility even
worse (instability)
- Is inflation imported? (important)
- What's the problem? [Student: She was talking to herself]
- buy votes by sweetening the hearts of the voters (the pot)
- [On the Hepatitis jabs] We have a teacher, he took it twice, then he forgot
about it. So the doctor said it's not counted, he must do it again. So now his
antibodies [level] is over a 1000 (A level of ~75 confers immunity)
- Firms aim to keep a desired level of inventories (have a desired
level)
- because of some bad guys like Orpec (OPEC)
- While you're waiting for the economy to come back to [point] A, some of us
will die
- [Giving out 'money owed' notices from the admin] This is for Wang Shuo and
Chin Yung. Why are you always in debt?
- [On reminders for overdue library books] The rate that I receive these reminders,
it's as if you're so hardworking.
- Please keep that away (keep that)
- in the process it will boos spending (boost)
- serving the net? (surfing)
- What did I say class? If you do not sleep, you will not grow. Then you will
remain short
- The shirts of Saudi Arabia... Is it 'shirts'? (sheikhs)
- [On the inproriety of using contractionary monetary policy to combat recession]
In 1973, the central banks of the world... didn't know their economics so well.
- Most of you say that, in Singapore, there will be a higher ageing
population (aged)
- but you're just bit'ting around the bush (beating)
- [On GNP statistics] It's to show how well the government has performed...
When things are well... When things are not well... 'the international conditions
are not favourable'
- [Referring to some economic term involving a wing] You have a wing, then you
can fly
- The girls, turn around. [Myo Li sputters] How to discuss if you just show
them your backside?
- Come to clean my house... Community service also.
- the Westminister system (Westminster)
- [On someone's training] 8:30[AM]-1:30[PM]? Just... play badminton?
- Every downturn, I will lose some money. I always guess the market wrong.
- [On why declaring yourself bankrupt is bad] You cannot put down there in your
resume: I'm a bankrupt
- I think if Keynes hears this, he will wake up from his grave.
- I thought Qingru is bad, this is even worse (was)
- That's why you know if interest rates go down, stock prices go up. Everybody
is happy, I'm also happy.
- bracket creep't (creep)
- workshop on enrichment workshop (circular)
- you look at school tax (texts)
- [Looking for files to submit to the HOD] What about Qingru?... Cannot,
sure lose my job (I'll be sure to)
- [On restricting money supply] They don't rob you on the highway
- Sell bonds to Miao Li (the public)
- increase cash reserve ratio for Qingru's bank (banks)
- Part B is a simple question if you know the answer
- The US, during Clinton's time, had a budget surplus. The first time... since
1946.
- [On printing essay outlines] Eh, Wang Shuo, why are you smiling? No need to
write, can sleep now.
- It takes a long time to ill effect (yield - yield results)
- How long will this last? [Student: Indefinitely]
- [Finds out student is to be interviewed] Interview? Really?... Can I come
and say, 'This is my teacher'? (student)
- [Illustrating the Principle of Comparative Advantage] Let's say I'm 3 times
better than you in Maths, 3 times better in Com Science, 3 times better than
you in Physics, but 10 times better than you in Econs.
- Qingru, did you do? [Qingru: Yah] Are you sure or not? Look at me in the
eyes (eye)
- Michael, what were you doing on Saturday? You were holding 2 girls' legs and
taking photographs.
- Twenty savant of April (seventh)
- Have you eaten es'car'gots before? (escargot)
- [On an incident of when transport of snails from Turkey to France was held
up] Stuck at the border, es'car'gots. Live, sent home dead. (escargot)
- [Listing Economics topics] ... Basic concepts... Demand and Supply, elasticities,
production and costs, market structure, wage determination, NIA, Keynesian theory,
Money and Price, International Trade and Mrs Lim's (the role of the Government)
- Z is a substitute of good Y (for)
- Katie, what do you do during your leisure? ... ask the wrong person,
the answer is obvious (I've asked)
- [On Cambridge markers] If they are paid not much more than our garbage collectors,
how can you expect them to spend half an hour on your script?
- If your handwriting is like Indian handwriting, then how can you expect them...
Yes, it's true. One of my students, he writes like Indian script
- monetary and physical restraint (fiscal)
- [Student: You wrote on the OHP] Yah, I know. No space.
- na'fa test (NAPFA)
- [On donations to charity] Don't put the 2 cents in, donate the 2 cents to
me, I need the 2 cents.
- You go to SMU, get your Masters, cover up your SMU [degree], people only look
at your Masters
- Eh, this sort of thing I tell you is within the wall (not to be repeated
outside these walls)
- It's no longer a threat, it's a re'are'lity (reality)
- [Going through data response, with dismal figures for OECD] OECD is a rich
man's club [Me: Then why are they so poor?]
- [On a data response] I noticed a lot of similarities in your answers... obviously
you all work very well together as a team
- My husband told me, until a few years ago, they used the 'bucket system' in
Japan... for the toilets... I said I'd tell it to my students... This is an
example of forgoing current consumption for... [capital consumption] [Julian:
Tradition]
- [Clara is not in school] Can you call Clara and ask her what is wrong, we
are waiting for her to start our lesson
- pharma'syo'tical (pharmaceutical)
- this price is irrelevant anymore (no longer relevant)
- Do you know the word anna'ree'sic. I'm not that. (anorexic)
- Sing Pou, how would you have reacted to a person like that [skin and bones
and anorexic]? [Sing Pou: I'm like that too]
- [On essays] If you have a good introduction, you do not need to conclude
- When I peck it here (peg)
- This is perhaps the most important exam of your life. When you go to the U,
first year, second year, you can just continue to scrape by.
- rear (real)
- and Qingru, like to give one cent [coins]. I'll put it in your testimonial,
like to give 1 cents (likes, cent coins)
- Option 'E' is the definition of non-excludable. Get your definitions right.
[Students: 'E' is excludable]
- that depends on how you draw the curves, whether it's pair'ler'rell or
not (parallel)
- [On cost-benefit analysis of hanging baskets] How many baskets must you hang,
so you can stare at them and feel great?
- [To a Malaysian scholar who can't speak Chinese] Your Chinese name, do you
know whether it's correct?
- I might be wrong. Please don't curse and swear at me when you are doing your
exam.
- Can you think of a good that society thinks is good, but has no positive externalities?
Milk.
- For religious reasons or for ever (whatever)
- society may have rules like monogamy, protect you from having too many
wives, protect you from yourself (to protect, to protect)
- everyone wants to be freeriders (a freerider)
- [Door is knocked] [Yining: Mr Lee. Mrs Lee...]... I'm not Mr Lee. Isn't that
obvious?
- [On the Commander] She likes to give hints
- [On Customs Unions] We all agreed that we will fight the Malaysians
- [On common currencies in Europe] Can Jurong have a different interest rate
from Toa Payoh?
- the Eiffel Tower, ah? I climbed one flight up, then waited for my daughter.
- [On the Eiffel Tower] You can also take the escalator all the way up
(elevator)
- Universities charging foreign students higher tyu'tion fees compared
to local students (tuition)
- [On essay marking] He gave one boy 17[/25]... and he gave another boy 13...
I read through it. It was clearer
- [On red herrings] not all the concepts in your MCQ are actual concepts
- Just getting 3As, it seems, will not get you into Arts and Social Sciences
(3 A passes)
- Who is The Commander?
--- Economics Lecturer
- You can open any book and inside you'll find a section on
National Income Accounting (textbook)
- You consume up your capital ((consume)
- [On why capital is used to produce goods and services and not bought for its
sake] It's not that you like it so much, you make the machine and look at it.
- [On the economic concept of flow as oppposed to stock] Every year you check the pail
- Maybe technology has gone down> (the technology used in the van is no long cutting edge)
- billions of investment (investmments worth billions of dollars)
- Mozambique - very large agricultural ssector, very rampant black market.
(Perceived racist slur)
- This is a summary of what I will elaboorate on in class (she doesn't teach
everyone in the lecture group)
- swapping paper assets (swoppingg)
- inorganised markets (unorganiseed)
- Don't be afraid of the bloody red coloour
- Bloody is descriptive, it's not a fourr letter word
- Like Sim Wang Hwee (Wong Hoo)<
- Developing is a very nice name for lesss developed.
- You save up for a car to invest yoour girlfriend. (invest for a
girlfriend (?) )
- Now they get hanked for it (haanged)
- For this lectual, I'll start first (lecture)
- Because of that, we are mislet (misled)
- you will uncovel biasness (uncover bias)
- and therefel (therefore)
- Are you a critical thinkel? (thinker)
- define a set of criterial (criteria)
- are you able to reject inflammation that is incorrect or
irrelevant? (information)
- Straits Tarms newspapel (Times. newspaper)
- like the sleaming centels (slimming centres)
- don't listen to gorsip (gossip)
- the recipe is a heat (hit)
- The aim is to ensual the optimal use of resources (ensure)
- you go in for half an owl (hour)
- They do not give rise to exer'nalities (externalities)
- You need the help of a turd party (third)
- The government must intervin (intervene)
- I hope the bad people can hear me (back)
- jewelleries (jewellry)
- our social infrastructual (infrastructure)
- I'll go on to explait (explain)
- It's the racial (ratio)
- Some are better farmels (farmers)
- They are unlimited in numbel, the more the merriel
(number, merrier)
- The neet to make a choice (need)
- from the producer's point of veal (view)
- What I dool is (do)
- It is bribery and consumption (rivalry)
- tele-tubies (written)
- What happens if they spend the money on cigarettes, toh'bair'coal
(tobacco)
- before I continue the lac'chel (lecture)
- but we're not touching that (on that)
- in MCQ they give you the fee'gel (figure)
- McDonalds has an offal (offer)
- a lot of golf clarks (clubs)
- You change it so that even if it is the same, it is not the same
- Rubbel is used for hose (rubber hoses)
- mutton and bull (wool)
- it's only half a mark...3...0.75 percent
- it is a gentle curve (line)
- price elacity (elasticity)
- the Hello Keaty (Kitty)
- virgin is a very important concept (merging)
- I employ you on a field to grow weeds (wheat)
- let's put our hands together to thank you them (thank)
- all your peals (peers)
- [On lecture notes] It used to be 59 pages. I reduced it to 39... by reducing
the font
- very good supplement of them (to)
- Are you able to connect yourself with this knowledge (connect with)
- Vovo (Volvo)
- Yaoxian, what are you doing with a calculator? You need a calculator to understand?...
Weird.
- 100 middles of cloth (metres)
- They're going on a learning journey. To Yakut right? (Yakult)
- [Confiscates book] I already told you, I don't invest in contact lens
for nothing (lenses)
- You know that one of the teachers, when she was lecturing, she fainted in
front of everybody... I admire her
- Did they come over to sell their heart... (hardcover book?)
- the sauce (source)
- conflicts (conflakes)
- one katie of wheat (kati)
- oy (oil)
- [On a spoilt clock] Look at that clock. I thought that we have, what, 1 hour
to go. I can't take it. [Someone: She can't take it?]
- negative adverse conditions
- the coss of your wages (cost)
- You can see there's still a increase innel export revenue
(an, in the)
- Analyse the implications on the Singapore economy (for)
- beside that (besides)
- How about our secret tax?... You know? Our tax on secrets
(cigarette, cigarettes)
- When the government buy cars, do they pay the same price as us? Traffic
[police] cars... all BMWs (buys)
- I don't like to teach in the first period, I'm not awake yet.
- It becomes on (turns)
- This is another way of protectionism (method)
- produce'siss (producers)
- are they etchelly (actually)
- profit provides fun for investment (funds)
- beggel-thy-neighbel (beggar-thy-neighbour)
- We have to find the rood of the problem (root)
- Is there anyone reading other things? All the guilty look... (looks)
- I just confiscated a book... a chinese love story. Chiong Yao... I've never
read a chinese love story.
- the components are actually exo'genius (exogenous)
- datas (data)
- overseas aids (aid)
- Okay people, you can go and buy some buns
- Who has not heard of this before? Big Mac? (Big Mac Index)
- [On the A Levels] It would be good, at the end of the your essay, to write
"Tank you and Merry Christmas" (Thank)
- elasity (elasticity)
--- More Economics Lecturers
- The Polish zloty, my favourite currency of all - Z-L-O-T-Y
- There are three exams : multiple guess, data response and the last
one (choice, essays)
- You all know what NAFTA is? [Students: No] Shame on you. Actually, I don't
know either.
- If I may be rude to you, and of course I may...
- Bill Gates is then left to mourn his loss, and continue his life with only
several million dollars.
- [To people in the back seats] Okay, people in the cheap seats, can you hear
me, or do I need to use the mic?
- I didn't go to church during the holidays, and I probably won't be going to
church for the rest of the year, so you're on your own.
- [On his laxness on working on his doctorate and students' taking after him]
You do as I say, not as I do.
- I thought I'd show you this. It's a house. You can write it down if you want.
- You have students who want to do something interesting like ramraiding or
sniffing glue.
- Martin Yan's recipe for growth. If Yan can grow, so can you. Because of him,
I went out to buy one of those choppers.
- Remember that your Cambridge examiners are not all young, trendy and cool,
like me.
- I love the POSB. I hate the DBS, and one day when I am free, I will start
a friends of the POSB action group.
- I wish I could lose weight as fast as my portfolio lost value.
- After I finish this lecture series, the next one will be conducted by Mrs
Lee Soon Bee. [Cries of consternation from audience] My wife accuses me of going
deaf. I think she must be right, so I didn't hear that. I also didn't hear that
in this morning's lecture group.
- [On an economic school] It's associated with that awful woman, what's her
name? Thatcher.
- Mr Reeves will now do his post-mortem, which will be funnier than mine.
- Consumption and Investment. These are, by and large, private sector phenomenon.
(phenomena)
- I believe that computers contain evil lifeforms.
- I used this data because I found it.
- I had to go back to my original disc, my office 2000 original disc - 6 ringitt
in JB.
- One of the happiest days in my life was walking out of my A Level Maths exam
and waving goodbye with 2 fingers.
- For the 82 increase in Personal Income, Disposable Income is 85 (?)
- As a vegetarian, I can't respect anyone named "Bacon" (...)
- bludget making machine (???)
- [Pager sounds to the tune of the school song] I never understood pagers. They
seem the worst of both worlds. People can nag the daylights out of you, but
you don't get to talk back.
- Now, lovely assistant Pamela. [Dangles 2 $50 notes]
- lovely assistant Zhengkun...
- You can come and get it when you get a break from your army training.
- Now, isn't that interesting. You are all perfectly irrational.
- If you take these 2 [$50 notes], and put it in the charred carcass
of what was the POSB, and now is the evil DBS. (them)
- I want to set up a drink with a snappy name like Dave's Cola (create)
- Titanic - sunk costs (...)
- [On being educated by private tutors] And then you'd have to employ a NE [National
Education - propaganda] tutor
- [On some rubbish] If you wrote this, then for God's sake don't tell anyone
it was you
- I doubt if anywhere, in darkened rooms which smell of stale tobacco, people
are plotting to undermine MRP theory
- For a start, I hated Geography as well as Maths when I was in school, but
I know Africa is a continent
- Can we have a volunteer to help preserve the wonderful resource we call 'air-con'
please? (Close The Door)
- [On 'the grass is always greener on the other side' and 'better the devil
you know than the one you don't] Infuriating pieces of homely advice. Whatever
you do, someone can come up and tell you what you did wrong
- And then you have schools like Chatsworth, which allow their teachers to go
to Orchard Road to busk to make up for what they aren't paid
- I don't know whether it's true or not, but it's a nice story which I like
telling
- 'iso' is Greek, meaning 'the same', and 'profit' is English, meaning 'profit'.
- and I have replaced the College logo [on the intranets.com startup
page]... with a cartoon (crest)
- not that it matters, but when I was 4, in infant school... that was 20 years
ago
- nothing is obvious in economics, that should be obvious
- satanic rituals, cabalism, as the consumer is sacrificed... the lifeblood
of the consumer, flowing over the trade barriers
- [On Cosmopolitan being banned in Singapore] I don't scour the net for it,
looking for subversive 50 ways to chat up a guy
- Europe banned British beef, and Singapore banned British beef, because of
Margaret Thatcher Disease... Mad Cow Disease
- Santa is a misallocation of resources, because Santa prices below marginal
cost. It is free, so it is below marginal cost
- Only Stephen Hawkings understands Cosmology. He might be bluffing.
- [On Moulin Rogue] It took 5 years in the making (was)
- GPS, Global Positioning Satellite System (System)
- it seems to me... that seems to me... that seems to me to be... that seems
to me... that seems to me to be... it seems to me...
- Mr Reeves tells me that 'Pigou' sounds like something rude in Cantonese or
something.
- I was reading a piece in the Straits Times over the weekend which talked about
'proper values'. I went [makes disgusted sound and wiggles fingers]
- [On his brother turning 47 and buying a Harley Davidson] So, the poor git...
going through a mid-life crisis, trying to regain his youth [mimes mean biker
position and revving of the engine]... He claimed it was my sister-in-law's
idea.
- When I was 7 years old... That was 20 years ago... I wanted to join the army...
In Singapore, the ads, navy boys chatting up girls... sun, sand, sea, [pause]
swimming
- [On upsetting his wife] If I make some stupid male mistake, not notice a new
blouse
- [On college selection in Oxford] then you go into a big room and you put on
a sorting hat... or is that something else
- [Drinks water. Chokes] I'm sorry about that. I'm not choking, I'm having a
heart attack.
- In 1971, there were only 500 heroin addicts in the United Kingdom, and they
were all Jazz Musicians, so who cares about them?
- [On drugs being illegal but tobacco being legal] Here's a question for you.
Who would you rather sit next to on the MRT? Someone smoking a cigarette, or
someone injecting themselves with heroin.
- Here's an interesting idea, something to think about. The Economist is not
infallible.
- I tell jokes to [2]S06B, but only Farrah gets it. Thank you for making
my life meaningful. (them)
- I'm sure if you search into your consuming heart (search)
- So, when the election comes, the Brigadier will come up... people of Singapore,
vote for the PAP. We will ensure that we are here. On the bliss point... Unlike
the opposition, which will drive all the MNCs away.
- [On his Social Welfare Function] I have drawn, purely at random, to achieve
the result that I want...
- Price signals all necessary information If this were true, George Bush would
know that his policies are basically bogus.
- Stop thinking, just copy.
- There is no Arrow Social Welfare Function that satisfies the conditions of
Universality, Pareto Consistency and Non-Dictatorship. I suppose you want me
to explain that.
- The Tuesday group didn't agree with me. Outrageous.
- [At a talk] I am going to say almost nothing, and I am sure you will greet
that with 1, disbelief and 2, relief.
- [On the dentist] Mr Reeves will be a little bit late because he's, at this
moment, consuming a merit good
- What time is it? It's Tiger Time... Time to exploit women... rising from a
swimming pool.
- People who are drunk tend to be extremely boring conversationalists. They
claim to have found the meaning of life. They go on a golden run, every 10 minutes.
- Can drinkers make rational decisions, can drug users make rational decisions,
can Manchester United fans make...
- people who take drugs fall asleep... [On English fans] they go to Holland,
they give them marijuana... we lost? [mimes stoned looks]... Belgium... half-strength
lager. This is ridiculous. The English fans just drink twice as much.
- [On people who burn forests] the farmers, not the poor peasant farmers in
Sumatra and Kalimantan. The nasty, evil logging companies (logging companies
do not farm land)
- [On the Prelim S paper] We'll put the finishing touches on them after we put
the starting touches.
- [On the labour essay] The top mark went to somebody who wrote something different.
He wrote an essay on what he did during his holidays.
- [On essays] You define MRP, you define MR, you define the multiplier, you
define 'the'
- I was treated to the worst diagram I've ever seen in 25 years. You may be
saying... It's a bit scruffy [but it's okay]... This is the worst diagram. [Pulls
paper covering OHT to reveal a one line tall diagram]
- Your examiner will not be a young cool dude like me.
- [On technology improving productivity] Instead of a green and [a] red button,
I have a touch screen with a red and green button.
- I only buy genetically friendly tofu
- S level bloopers. I want to propose it as a TV show
- I'm pretty sure it was Galbraith. Nobody attributed it to Bin Laden.
- [On loopholes] Anyone who paid 83% tax in the UK in 1979 ought to have sacked
their accountant
- Hobbes said that life was short, brutish and hard. And then he died.
- [To someone who cuddled her bag in her lap instead of putting in on the floor]
The bag cuddler, what about you?
- Honestly, it will get you through life. It's called bullshitting.
- I always read the obituaries [in 'The Economist']. I love their obituaries...
All people I don't know of... I don't know how they manage to arrange for one
of them to die every week.
- They enjoy reading it [S Level Essays]? So what? They're paid for reading
them. (them)
- [Grand voice] There is a common body of Economics knowledge required for A
Level. Moses received it...
- Mr Sowden does the reading, I crack the jokes.
- I think it's a dysfunctional choice [of subjects to study at A Level], Double
Maths, Physics...
- [On culprits of small handwriting] One of them is Nicole Mok. She's the original
spider crawling out of the inkwell.
- [To the bag cuddler, who had put the bag back into her lap] You're very fond
of that bag, aren't you?
- My friend over there who has the unpronounceable name, I think we'll call
you "George"
- [on the difference between vodka and methylated spirits for alcoholics' consumption]
They'll both get you drunk, but the difference is mets will do all sorts of
other things to you as well
- Cinema admissions. This being Singapore, I can't think of anything else people
do socially.
- Under no circumstances do boy bands get mentioned in our classes. Never ever
ever ever. Or girl bands for that matter. Spice Girls [cringes]... Unless we're
talking about demerit goods.
- [The expression :] The Marginal Utility of Ignoring Marginal Utility. I love
it.
- If economists have funny names, then you know they're Americans.
- I know I come across as Dre'go'nian (Draconian)
- A union which allows wages to be cut, "fwah". What sort of union is that?
Sounds like a Singaporean union to me.
- exploitive (exploitative)
- [Student: Can you repeat it again?] I can't repeat it again because I haven't
repeated it yet.
- The person who marks your S paper doesn't know these quotes. So corrupt them.
- I always say : If you don't know any quotes, make them up. Attribute them
to an eminent economist at NUS. Make up some Chinese name.
- J.K Galbraith. Always the sceptic. Stands on the sidelines and pokes fun at
everybody.
- He's famous for being famous.
- I corrupt that [quote] even more. "80 percent of what I teach is wasted. But
which 80 percent?"
- Lyndon Johnson is famous for 2 things. His wife was called "ladybird".
- [On Lyndon Johnson] He used to pick dogs up by the ears... Really. He said
it didn't hurt them.
- So you teach a man to fish... or make electric components (referring to retraining
in Singpoare with reference to the adage "Give a man a fish...")
- [Female Student: Can I go to the toilet?] Yes. (Mutters) Weak bladdered girls...
- If you do get a chance to read Stigler, do yourself a favour and read it.
(him)
- I think the Singapore Government has done a good job. Really. I'm not being
sarcastic.
- THE Karthik came in last year, not lousy Karthik.
- [On the C5 car] It was a license to kill yourself.
- If you don't know who said it, either make it up...
- Rhetorical questions (do I need so many?) (written)
- spending is fun, saving is boring
- [On S'pore's message to foreign firms] "We've no problems with the unions,
because we castrated them, we speak a form of English..."
- Have you been on the Second Link? If you have, you're the only ones.
- I love the part where it says the NWC is a tripartite body, comprising representatives
of the government, the government and the government.
- [On why foreign "talent" is needed] "You people without O Levels, go procreate.
We need more grasscutters."
- You're very smart people, and you're very well taught.
- It's probably a good idea to get something better than an 'unclassified' in
the prelims.
- 2 distinctions and 1 merit, from a Geography class for God's sake.
- [On a 'piece the essay' contest] I cut it up, photocopied it, sliced it up
again, and photocopied it. That shows how sad I am.
- "Singapore has been one of the most successful economies to date"... Are you
even sure that Singapore is an economy? ... Chicago has a higher GDP than Singapore.
- "Singapore has no natural resources other than its labour force"... It's the
sort of thing the Straits Times says. Therefore it is wrong. Sorry.
- [On Singapore's labour force] bends over and dies if you ask it to
(rolls)
- [On Singapore's labour force] Does that naturally happen? No! It's been castrated.
- "Develope" It's actually in the title [of the essay], he got it wrong.
- Rename this girl Jenny
- "...Chicago has a higher GDP than Singapore..."
- [On Singapore's location being natural] "Oh look, here's a good place to put
Singapore"
- bee'cos (because)
- [On graphaphobes] ... giving us that weird look... 'Why is Mr Reeves teaching
us in Latin today?'
- [On graphs] I never insult the chaps... 'Graphs are the manly thing to to'
- Mor'deling (Magdelene)
- Do you think we're masochistic? Come on, beat me with your essay! 10, 12 pages...
- Who taught you National Income Accounting? [Me: Mrs Seak] [Blank look] [Me:
The one who's in PJ now] Oh right.
- I read this [quirky english] out to Mr Purvis. That's the kind of sad thing
we do.
- "Singapore has a healthy balance of payments surplus, so she's in the first
league of nations" The US's got a healthy... balance... of... payments... deficit.
- If I had to write these [type of essays], I would rather slash my wrists than
write them.
- What about all those fatcats who belong to the Tanglin Club... [names more]
and all the clubs I can't afford to belong to?
- There's no other way I'd rather spend my [25th] wedding anniversary than writing
notes for you guys.
- Everyone's very tired... I'm not tired because I just had a nap in the staffroom,
which was excellent.
- [On not telling the public if you deduct 1 % from official inflation figures
to account for measurement errors] Don't tell them? Ooo... That's sneaky.
- I think Krugman's a poser. He's like, I hate to mention this, Galbraith...
became famous for criticising everybody.
- Why do Economists disagree? Because it sells more books.
- Whereas nobody believes the Indonesian government is ever going to do [accomplish]
anything, so they never do.
- [Many students come to the examination venue] I'm not sure if I have enough
question papers now [Chris: I can come back another day]
- He won $125,000 on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire', he was a former 'S' paper
economist, that's what you can put it all down to
- [On a handout given after the Common Tests] It will take you 1 1/2 hrs, couple
of hours... no problem, because no one else is setting you homework at this
point of time
- [On Moderate Keynesians] I don't like the wimpy, middle-of-the-road ones.
If you're going to be a Keynesian, be an extreme Keynesian
- take a look at my *new* car... How much did I miss the $101 COE by? 1 month...
How much did I pay for my COE? 35 thousand.
- [To Chris] At one time, pop musicians... Davie Bowie... Dylan on occasion,
wrote down lines on pieces of paper and threw them down... They picked them
up in any old order... The songs sounded weird and cryptic... Your essay's a
little like down
- I've reached the stage where I'm no longer sure how to spell almost every
word, and the reason is you! And your predecessors... [Mr S: And the Straits
Times]
- Apart from Keynes, and 'In the long run we're all dead', I'm no longer certain
who said what. I've seen every possible quote attributed to every possible person.
- Don't think that all of the time we sit down over beer and chat about Econs
S Level... Most of the time we do.
- [On comparative advantage] designed to keep developing countries providing
raw materials so we get richer and richer
- [On comparative advantage] and I like... Mahathir... Your theory says we go
on growing pineapples forever... We don't want to grow pineapples! We want to
get rich! You don't get rich growing pineapples.
- What do I do? While I'm sitting on a desert paradise... I mark 10 S Paper
essays. I have 'loser' written all over my forehead.
- 'buisness'... You didn't do it just once, you did it again and again, you
obviously think it's spelled that way. It's in the title, 'they misspelled it'...
'busyness'
- 'wielding their crystal balls'. Here come the economists, wielding their crystal
balls!'
- [On a theory proposed by the economist need not be a photogenic replication
of the situation ] 'Photogenic' is like Mr Sowden, he looks good in pictures.
- To read proper writing, read 'the Economist', read books. Don't read the Straits
Times.
- Mr Reeves, do you ever stop thinking about economics? When you're on holiday,
you think of stuff to use in lecture[s]
- The word 'sad' is very prominent in my wife's vocabulary.
- [On a talk by a alumnus] He's also going to talk about taking a PSC scholarship
and selling your soul to the devil for the next 6 years...
- a country like Indonesia... which has screwed things up big time
- Okay... The organisational front... the running track. [Sees the loose chairs
have been replaced with 'lecture chairs' which come in 2s] It's the tradition.
I'm going to complain to the administration.
- [On Mr S] He comes from the north of England, where they still live on chips
and beer and keep ferrets... And I come from the wealthy, opulent... successful...
decadent
- Or you do what most of us do. If you can't find the data? [Students: Make
it up]
- [On his IS-LM analysis diagram] I know what I've done... What have I done?
- and the road to nowhere, the Kranji Expressway. It helped demand... [don't
know about] supply. I haven't met anyone who's been on it.
- [On incomes policies] Galbraith, was a big fan, still is, really, but he hasn't
said anything new for 30 years.
- [On import controls leading to Government spending being self-financing] This
is so neat it must be wrong.
- If anyone can do number 7 correctly, you can put everything down... Fill in
the forms for Harvard... the most brilliant student I've taught in 12 years
of S-Paper.
- [On IS-LM analysis in 2nd Year University Economics] You'll go, I remember
that, Mr Reeves taught us that. Or more likely, that chap who taught us S Paper...
Snowden or something
- [On the Full Monty] That was a great piece of Economics, that film... Retraining,
retraining to become a stripper.
- [Me on his disagreement with the other S Econs teacher over why cutting government
spending in the 1980s stopped inflation, where he thinks it works through the
money supply and the other thinks it's true the inflationary gap: Why not both?]
Because then we'd have to agree. Where's the fun in that?
- [On our supposed thoughts on the S Econs course] It's been quite fun, quite
entertaining... I haven't learnt much...
- I admire your, your... What's the word? I admire it anyway.
- [On his dental visit] Why is it that in State Of The Art, super sophisticated...
Singapore... did I not get an injection? This was in the Dark Ages, when we
were kids... I must have lost 3 kg in sweat.
- [On the word 'definitely' in essays] It doesn't make it any more convincing,
it just makes it more irritating.
- [On antonyms of antonyms] We have the irregardless, the disregardless, the
disirregardless
- [On everything learnt in school being of merit] You must be crazy. Have you
ever done the 'active civics' programme? Did you learn anything?
- Kelvin Ang. Which one's Kelvin Ang? I've got to tease you. [scurries up stairs]
- You didn't enjoy that as much as I hoped. Nevemind. [Mr S: I did] Great guy...
love him...
- [On English mistakes] as luck would have it... I've got one from Peggy
- [On Peggy's use of 'ambitiousness'] It's middle English, so you just about
got away with it, but you must be 400 years old.
- Mr S does a lot more content than I, that's because he knows much more than
I do.
- I don't mind you making up other things, provided you make sense.
- Young, long haired youths, which we were in our youth.
- [On university recommendations] It's not like, please give me, please give
me, please!
- if the pecks are going to come and kill you, then go down gloriously
(?)
- Don't go for the easy essay. *pppt* Go for the hard one.
- It's so nice teaching here. I'll never shout again.
- Groping for profit? Is that some aspect of the sex trade in Thailand?
- [On the mix-up on shading your A level index number or your class index number
for the prelim OMR] when there's a cock-up of this nature, the best thing to
do is to run far far away. [Runs to the back of the hall]
- [To Mr S who mistakenly collected his row's scripts] Nyah! get your own exam
scripts!
- If you come out of the exam and someone asks you, 'Did you do 4 conclusions?'
and you say, 'No, I forgot', then you're a moron.
- 'Protectionist' is pertaining to protection. 'Protectionistic', presumably,
is pertaining to pertaining to protect
- I know you see 'protectionistic' in the Straits Times, that's how you know
its wrong
- [During Prelims Post-mortem] Is this the S paper people? Go away, this is
still A level stuff, go away!
- I'm giving you everything I know in 5 minutes, which shows I don't know very
much.
- Our problem is the girl there. We need to kill her. We get a sniper... it's
done. Fiscal policy... is like Big Bertha... 25 miles [range]...
- I can show Mr Sowden how to kick a football, but I can't give him the natural
co-ordination required to kick it
- Out of 177 essays, only 54 questions were on essays I set... Why is it nobody
does my essays at all?
- My favourite is Stigler's Theorem... Stigler did a study and found that the
demand for everything is inelastic except cranberry sauce.
- Do you prefer chickens that have had a happy life, or chickens that were miserable
before they died?
--- S Economics Lecturers
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