Telephone openings and closings

Telephone openings and closings were the main discussion for our class this week (Lecture 4). It was very funny to find out how informal our telephone openings and closing are nowadays. Especially in Singapore among the younger generation, telephone openings have resorted to going directly into the topic, without much addressing the other party over the phone. In fact, many at times, a lot of Singlish is used. In some cultures, this may seem disrespectful but a possible explanation for this behavior is the mutual understanding between friends who are on the line and the need to make the conversation quick and brief that telephone openings among the younger generation are like that nowadays.

On a side note, some of you may be wondering why I called this blog Hannah’s kaleidoscope. A kaleidoscope is an optical instrument in which bits of glass, held loosely at the end of a rotating tube, are shown in continually changing symmetrical forms by reflection in two or more mirrors set at angles to each other, a continually changing pattern of shapes and colors; a continually shifting pattern, scene, or the like: The 1920s were a kaleidoscope of fads and fashion. I really like looking through a kaleidoscope, and seeing the different shapes and colors change as I look through it against the light and turn it along as I admire the colorful shapes. Similarly, I hope to use this blog as a platform to exercise and expose myself in language and writing on different perspectives of issues regarding cross-cultural communication and discourse in order to achieve greater understanding on these issues.

Hope you’ll have fun reading the next few reflections!((: