Soften Up The New Guy

During my childhood times I got bullied a lot. They called the tradition as, "soften up the new guys", new,infirm and younger students would have to pay utmost respect to the elder and bigger students, and I was once a victim of the system. I was physically smaller than my other friends of my batch in my primary school, made me so much vulnerable to get bullied by those punks with a bigger physical. They took my food, isolated me, and told the others not to befriend with me. So I was alienated, I was always alone.

My father were well aware of this, and were always prudent about how I was doing in school. Whenever he fetched me and I came to him with teary eyes, he would wait for the punk to show up and rebuke him. And that eventually made me a "daddy's son"; whoever try to boss me would have to face my father, and face the music. Sooner as I was approaching 10, now one messed with me anymore. Thanks to my father :)

But time had not been good to me when I first got to my secondary school. During my early times there I met the real bully who assaulted me physically. He was a few years older, and of course physically, I was never in his league. He was much taller, strongly built. Me? I was just a skinny 154 cm tall boy on that time, and with the extremely low self esteem resulting from the awful experience of being bullied in primary school, of course anyone had the dare to toy me around. And my father wasn't around anymore for me to cling on, coz most of the times I went to school by my own. So I was totally on my own. 

And to mention what the bully had done to me, the "brotherhood general" had once strangled me with his strong hands when I accidentally bumped into him on my way to class. What a pathetic loser I was, but there's nothing I could do. No one ever backed me up.

When I was in form 3, the rascal left the school and since then, I never got my ass kicked anymore. And that was the end of me being bullied. 

Yeah maybe you'll just simply say that it was nothing, but if you were in my place, or in anyone's place that got bullied, you'll find it not so funny at all. Even when they already got out of the school where they got bullied, it would always left a long-term effect to them; to the personality, to the confidence, to the way they mannered, to the way they conduct themselves. 


Sincerely I never had a confidence in myself in school, I didn't have the balls to deal with the crowds, or even to do a presentation in front of the class. I would mumble, or trembled like a leaf. I couldn't conduct myself well particularly in crowds. Well I guess that was the effect that lied inside me. I was lucky I was much better now, after a few years. 


Sometimes, when I was moseying around here in my place this time around, I met those punks again. They seemed shocked to look at me being much taller and physically bigger than before, and I am just as tall as them. I had no grudge to hold to them, I still recognize them as one of old friend, so we just greeted each other nicely and exchange stories. Its always nice to see old friends, though they were once wicked old friends >.<

Accents

When you write in English, everybody can grasp the message. But when you speak up, there comes the problems. We Malaysians don't encounter this sort of trouble when we communicate verbally to people in Malaysia using English language, because we don't have that various kinds of English accents. The way we speak, is as what we're being taught in our English classes in schools; to write as a British but to speak like an American. Thats odd, but thats what we've been taught all along. That way.

But in English-speaking countries like U.S.A., Britain, Australia and Canada, though they are communicating using the very same language, not necessarily they will just understand each other. Well, it is all about the accents. American accent and British accent for instance, are distinctively different from each other, and one who are not accustomed with the difference of both accents, can hardly understand them. And we Malaysians, I can say that we're more to American accented, because we're used to their movies, TV programs and whatnot, as they are widely broadcasted on our tubes. 

Have you ever heard a British-accented people speaking? God I can tell you they're like speaking a fair English, but in a classy way. Now I recall one of my friend who used to stay in UK as a kid, he said that British accent is posh, a posh English. Have you ever watched Harry Potter, or Hot Fuzz, or the other British movies? Thats how British accent sounds like. It sounds classy, compared to American-accented English movies. But despite of the differences between the two accents, they're both can still be said to be easily comprehensible. They are still pronouncing words using the correct standard pronunciations of English. An Aussie's accent? Now that one is hard to understand. >.<

Take a look at this video :

Funny as hell, but true anyway. :)