Impostures. al-Ḥarīrī

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      Sing o’ Rich, Sing o’ Poor

      In this episode, Abū Zayd produces on demand a poem in praise of a gold coin, and then a poem disparaging it. Being directly about money, this Imposture lent itself to translation into the English of Singapore, which despite its diminutive size is regularly ranked as one of the world’s most competitive economies. It is also a place where English has been transformed by contact with local languages, producing a creole called Singlish that is difficult to follow for speakers of other varieties. Because the diction of the Impostures is highly formal and often archaic, they too can be difficult to understand. This was true in the past as well, to judge by the many commentaries on the text and the definitions scribbled in various languages, including Arabic, on the manuscripts. These associations provided a pretext for choosing Singlish—in the style of the comedy routines still practiced by the likes of Selina Tan and Sebastian Tan—as the model English for this episode. One striking feature of this variety is the use of particles like ah and lah at the ends of sentences to convey emphasis, seek clarification, and the like. As these particles have no fixed translation, the notes usually do not provide one, but the meaning in any given case can be guessed from context. The Singlish of this Imposture was corrected by Jeremy Fernando.

      3.1Dat Haris bin Hammam guy tell story:

      Went to Higher Arabic party wit’ kaki, we macam bubbles in bubble tea. No one blur blur over dere, no one talk cock, no one cry father, cry mother. Actually we trade poem, mention rare sequence people transmit historical report. Later da man come, he bad leg one, and wear buruk clothes, like dat. He say, “Ho seh boh! Eh, you very kilat! Make whole family happy like bird! Dis morning you drink, hah? Yuuuuuuuuuuum seng! Eh, don’ be so yaya papaya, lah. Last time I rich, I belanjah everyone, spend everyone, hor. Good luck, had it. Cannot eat finish, ah. Own big property, big estate, always have gues’ gues’ gues’ gues’. But later wah lau eh! Eat salt, fighting, trouble, aiyoh! Evil eye ones cut cabbage head, we go pok kai, gues’ chabut, house go empty, habis, gone case, mati. Arse luck! Children eat grass, even cow die; evil eye oso feel sorry for me. Damn cham one!

      3.2“Later, life chia lat, very har’, lor. No money, no slipper, feet pain! Lapar lah, damn hungry, peng san, wot? No mo eye liner, just bag under eye only; no mo live Bukit Timah, just stay kampung only; forget last time white horse, now just walk thorns only. Si peh siong cannot tahan, can die! Need what? Need so good one be generous, friend-friend, give face. Swear by God in Heaven, my grandmalher Kai La, good family, but now no money, not even place to koon. Can help or not?”

      3.3Dat Haris bin Hammam guy say:

      Old uncle, I say to him, “So sayang, so sayang!” But wan’ test him: zai or not? So I take out gold coin, say, “Uncle, you say poem, praise coin, can meh? You can, you keep coin, promise.”

      He say “Can can,” straight away begin, recite poem he ownself compose:

      Glitter golden farflung glories

      Richly obverse secrets stories

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