ANG MOH NOT HAPPY BECAUSE SHE WAS TOLD TO “WAIT AWHILE” AT S’PORE CLINIC

TikTok user @alisoninasia shared on her page about how she was offended when she was told to “wait a while” at a Singapore clinic.

She said then when she first moved to Singapore, there was a phrase that really confused her – she was checking in at a clinic when the receptionist told her to “wait a while”.

Unfamiliar with the colloquial lingo, she was offended and thought the receptionist was being rude by telling her to wait a while.

However, she later learned that “wait a while” in Singapore means “wait a minute” or “wait a few seconds,” before adding that Singaporeans are not being rude by telling you to wait a while.

Netizens comments

• Wait how is “wait a while” rude?
  • Because in customer service you don’t order someone to wait, you ask them to politely and apologise for the delay. Also, in US/UK to be waiting a ‘while’ means a long time. So to be ordered to wait a while is pretty rude in UK and US.
    That being said, I’ve been living here for about a year and this woman with her ‘I’m such a special tourist’ attitude is embarrassing to watch
• nothing wrong in what she said, as she explained, the word has different meaning in her country, “awhile” means a long duration in her country thats why she made this video to clarify
• awhile
  /əˈwʌɪl/
  adverb
  for a short time.
  “stand here awhile”
  Similar:
  for a moment
  for a while
  for a short time
  for a little while

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