Will 'boh chap' become 'oo chap' in an Age of Uncertainty?

As I anticipated, the national anguish over the supposed lack of drive of today's young adults is being spotlighted in the various local mainstream media. ST (2 Feb, Special Report, page B4), even came up with this graphic-cum-headline for an ad-free full-page story:

As I had indicated in an earlier blog entry (my preferred phrasing from now on, instead of "posting"), the child is father to the man, so if the said traits exist, we the senior adults helped foster them. But young people are still nimble of mind, and I think the coming Age of Uncertainty may force many to break out of their "comfort zone" and sharpen their survival skills.

---------------------------------------------------

A starting point is a reminder that Singapore remains a small vulnerable geopolitical construct and that as many Singaporeans as possible should keep their ears to the ground to suss out the tectonic rumblings.

A persistent issue is whither the future of Pax Americana and will there be a Pax Sinica instead. The American scholar Zbigniew Brzezski (and national security adviser in the Jimmy Carter administration) has written a sobering article on this theme titled "After America" in Foreign Policy magazine.

Brzezski's piece is not too long, and is quite readable. ST, taking it from the Washington Post, also published it today (2 Feb, page A27) under the headline "A faltering US could signal an unstable world".

Just to set the tone of the article, here is its intro:

"Not so long ago, a high-ranking Chinese official who had obviously concluded that America's decline and China's rise were both inevitable, noted in a burst of candour to a senior United States official: 'But, please, let America not decline too quickly'."

You are intrigued, I hope. Here it is, from the online Foreign Policy magazine:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/03/after_america?page=0,0

----------------------------------

Postscript: Thanks Nick, for bringing up that "Pending Road" example (one of my favourites) of a strange street name. I'll wax further on it at another time.