What was yesterday's most-read online ST story? The one on the 92-year-old woman in Florida taking a gun to shoot at her 53-year-old neighbour who declined to give her a kiss!
Meanwhile, a friend alerted me to this strange name that the HDB gave to a Build-to-Order (BTO) project -- Compassvale Ancilla, in Sengkang. What is "Ancilla"? A Google search revealed three possibilities:
1) An aid to achieving or mastering something difficult. What kind of a name is that for a housing project?
2) A maid servant (Latin). Also, a name some nuns call themselves. Again, why did the HDB choose such a name?
3) Ancilla is also the professional name of a Dutch woman who describes herself as a "modern fetish pinup" and "Amsterdam's hottest export". Wow, what a name for a "hot property"!
Actually, the HDB's other BTO project announced yesterday has a strange -- if less puzzling -- name: Boon Lay Fields, in Jurong West. An apartment project with the word "Fields" in it? What was the person who conjured it up thinking of? Was he a Beatles fan (Strawberry Fields Forever)?
What other strange building names are there in Singapore? It's Friday (the usual short posting), so this short list is one that comes right off my head:
Toa Payoh Bloom -- this collection of HDB apartment blocks in a working class area is near my office. If blooms conjure up a lush field or meadow, I don't think so in this case.
Rafflesia -- I suspect the developer of this private condominium in Bishan named it as such because it is near Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College. And I bet the promo ads will want people to pronounce it as "Raffles-sia". But rafflesia is in fact a stinky flowering plant! It is pronounced "raff-fleece-sia". A rose by any other name? Au contraire.
Wing On Life Garden -- this upmarket condo is in Bukit Timah Road (District 10). Why "wing on life"? I know about the expression "on a wing and a prayer" but this? The mystery is solved only if one is aware that the developer is called Wing On Investment Company (you gotta say "Wing On", take a pause, then say the rest).
Singapore Power Training Institute (Upper Serangoon Road) -- hmmm? Is this where politicians get their training in the art of getting into power? With election talk in the air, there must be a hive of activity going on there now.
Singapore Rubber House (Collyer Quay) -- this building has been demolished. Or was it erased?
A-Z Building (Paya Lebar Road) -- pow kar liao, everything under one roof, everything but the kitchen sink, no stones left unturned....
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