Sylvia’s 1982 book about this local lingo, ‘Eh, Goondu’, was a bestseller, with 3,000 copies snapped up within a week and 11,000 sold within two months. It was a controversial book because it was published at a time when Singaporeans were being exhorted to speak standard English rather than the mishmash of English, Malay, and Chinese dialects that Sylvia described as ‘slanguage’.

Sylvia followed ‘Eh, Goondu’ in 1986 with ‘Lagi Goondu’, establishing herself as the guru or grandmother of Singlish and paving the way for books such as Colin Goh and YY Woo’s The Coxford Singlish Dictionary and Gwee Li Sui’s Spiaking Singlish: A Companion to How Singaporeans Communicate.

Before publishing her Goondu books, Sylvia had already made a name for herself as one of the first local humour writers, and the first female humour writer. She was for several years in the 1970s the editor of the popular teenage magazine Fanfare.

Born in Penang to a Hokkien-speaking family that moved to Singapore soon after her birth, Sylvia went to St Margaret’s Girls School but left when she was 14 after repeatedly failing her examinations. This was because, she said, she never opened a textbook in her life and that was perhaps because she realised, early on, that algebra and the other subjects that were being taught would have no place in her future.

To complete her education, she first went to a private school to get her O levels and then to Stamford College for her A levels after which she tried to find a job. When the job hunt proved futile, she whiled away the hours at the USIS library where she read all the humour books.

It was, she said in her Oral History interview, ‘serendipity’ to discover the works of writers such as Neil Simon and Dorothy Parker. “It just took me into another world.” She was also influenced by the dry humour of her father and grandmother; as a family they tended to laugh at themselves before others laughed at them.

When she was in her teens, Sylvia sent a piece she had written about being a teenager to Her World. It was a year before the magazine responded to say they liked it and asked to see her. When she got to the Her World office, the editor was busy, so she was introduced to his colleague who edited a weekly magazine. He asked her if she watched TV. She said she did, and he told her to go home and review the weekend’s TV. Thus began her career as a humour writer.

She started to freelance for Fanfare, a popular weekly tabloid magazine for teenagers and young adults. Before too long she was offered a fulltime job as a writer at Fanfare. A few months later she was made the news editor, and in 1972 she became the editor of Fanfare.

While she was editing Fanfare, she also wrote a humorous agony aunt column for Her World, a sister publication at Times Periodicals. When the New Nation newspaper was launched in 1974, she was asked to write a humour column for the Sunday Nation.

It was this that started her on the path of documenting the use of Singlish. In 1977, the first Singlish term she wrote about in her Sunday Nation column was ‘chope’, and it was so popular that she continued to write about Singlish words and terms. A publisher then suggested she turn the columns into a book, and Sylvia thus became the grandmother of Singlish.

In 1980, after seven years as Fanfare editor, Sylvia felt the need for a change. She enjoyed travelling and decided to try her hand at being a tour guide. For the next 10 years, she was a part-time tour guide while also working on her Goondu and other books.

She later worked for three years at Television Corporation of Singapore (which has since become Mediacorp) as a dialogue editor, and in 1999 she returned to print journalism as a writer at The New Paper. Retiring from The New Paper in 2012, Sylvia continues to do some occasional freelance writing.

Sylvia’s 1982 book about this local lingo, ‘Eh, Goondu’, was a bestseller, with 3,000 copies snapped up within a week and 11,000 sold within two months. It was a controversial book because it was published at a time when Singaporeans were being exhorted to speak standard English rather than the mishmash of English, Malay, and Chinese dialects that Sylvia described as ‘slanguage’.

Sylvia followed ‘Eh, Goondu’ in 1986 with ‘Lagi Goondu’, establishing herself as the guru or grandmother of Singlish and paving the way for books such as Colin Goh and YY Woo’s The Coxford Singlish Dictionary and Gwee Li Sui’s Spiaking Singlish: A Companion to How Singaporeans Communicate.

Before publishing her Goondu books, Sylvia had already made a name for herself as one of the first local humour writers, and the first female humour writer. She was for several years in the 1970s the editor of the popular teenage magazine Fanfare.

Born in Penang to a Hokkien-speaking family that moved to Singapore soon after her birth, Sylvia went to St Margaret’s Girls School but left when she was 14 after repeatedly failing her examinations. This was because, she said, she never opened a textbook in her life and that was perhaps because she realised, early on, that algebra and the other subjects that were being taught would have no place in her future.

To complete her education, she first went to a private school to get her O levels and then to Stamford College for her A levels after which she tried to find a job. When the job hunt proved futile, she whiled away the hours at the USIS library where she read all the humour books.

It was, she said in her Oral History interview, ‘serendipity’ to discover the works of writers such as Neil Simon and Dorothy Parker. “It just took me into another world.” She was also influenced by the dry humour of her father and grandmother; as a family they tended to laugh at themselves before others laughed at them.

When she was in her teens, Sylvia sent a piece she had written about being a teenager to Her World. It was a year before the magazine responded to say they liked it and asked to see her. When she got to the Her World office, the editor was busy, so she was introduced to his colleague who edited a weekly magazine. He asked her if she watched TV. She said she did, and he told her to go home and review the weekend’s TV. Thus began her career as a humour writer.

She started to freelance for Fanfare, a popular weekly tabloid magazine for teenagers and young adults. Before too long she was offered a fulltime job as a writer at Fanfare. A few months later she was made the news editor, and in 1972 she became the editor of Fanfare.

While she was editing Fanfare, she also wrote a humorous agony aunt column for Her World, a sister publication at Times Periodicals. When the New Nation newspaper was launched in 1974, she was asked to write a humour column for the Sunday Nation.

It was this that started her on the path of documenting the use of Singlish. In 1977, the first Singlish term she wrote about in her Sunday Nation column was ‘chope’, and it was so popular that she continued to write about Singlish words and terms. A publisher then suggested she turn the columns into a book, and Sylvia thus became the grandmother of Singlish.

In 1980, after seven years as Fanfare editor, Sylvia felt the need for a change. She enjoyed travelling and decided to try her hand at being a tour guide. For the next 10 years, she was a part-time tour guide while also working on her Goondu and other books.

She later worked for three years at Television Corporation of Singapore (which has since become Mediacorp) as a dialogue editor, and in 1999 she returned to print journalism as a writer at The New Paper. Retiring from The New Paper in 2012, Sylvia continues to do some occasional freelance writing.