"Boomz??!"

The controversy surrounding Miss Singapore World Winner, Ris Low, 19, is a perfect example of the relationship between perception and verbal communication. She was criticised by the public after winning the Miss Singapore because of her poor English. When Youtube videos of her interviews in the contest spread in the Internet, she was made into a laughing stock because of laughable mispronounced words like "rad" instead "red" and "preens" instead of "prints". Her famous made-up word, "boomz" was soon becoming her trademark which she defended herself by saying she usually said when she "could not find the right word" to add "a comic book effect". People were saying she was a bad representation of Singapore. She was perceived to be a shame to Singapore. What do you think? (Taken from The Sunday Times, 27th September 2009, HOME pages 8 and 9)

The way we perceive our environment provide insights into the way we make sense of the world around us. In this case, probably because of fundamental attribution errors, she was perceived to be a shame to Singapore. In fundamental attribution errors, people assume that the cause of behaviour is the person, not the situation. The public may had assume that the reason for her poor English was because she did not study hard enough when she was in school. However, she scored a B3 in her O Level English. Perhaps, she was nervous and was put on the spot during the stressful interview and as result, she said the first words that came to mind which unfortunately, turned out to be nonsensical. In self-serving bias, we judge ourselves more tolerantly than we judge others by over-emphasising situational explanations for own negative actions. This is exactly what happened in this case; people are judging Ris Low less tolerantly than they judge themselves. Imagine if this situation happens to you. Would you blame the situation you are in or yourself?

In verbal communication, language influences our cognition, the words we use influence the way we think. Probably, she used the word, "boomz" to tell us how she felt at that point of time. One of a language-based barriers to communication is slang. Ris Low actually defended herself by saying that "rad" was an American way of saying "red". "Red" was a British pronounciation. I guess that was the reason why she was perceived to be a disgrace to Singapore. She was probably alienated by the masses as most people pronounced "red" as "red".

Perception and verbal communication goes hand in hand. Verbal communication creates the first impression. When you cannot speak well, you are perceived to be a disgrace to Singapore whose first language among its people is English. However, it also depends on the situation you are in or context. If you are some random person on the streets, you will not be criticised as badly as Ris Low who is going to represent Singapore in South Africa in the Miss Singapore World 2009 pageant.