Mug Mug Mug

Haven't blogged for quite some time and I just found out that my latest blog post has been spammed with comments from anonymous users. So I decided to repost it as the some of the content of the comments are undesirable. This is the effect of leaving your blog dead for a long time!

Coming back to the topic, this post is not to promote the initiative of the Ortus Council (selling teachers' mug) or to advertise for Ms Lim's personally designed mug (although it had been sold already). I will be looking into the another (singaporean) meaning of "mug" which is what we, HC students like to use to connote studying, revising, doing homework, looking at notes, flipping through notes and even taking out your files, books, etc.

From wiki, it says that the term "mugging" is a Singapore colloquial term for intensive studying; a person who is studying intensively - derived from British colloquial term to mug up. The real meaning of the word "mugger" is someone who robs and attacks another in a public place. In HC, the term "mugging" when used on others seems to be a form of discrimination and people detests muggers. We often hear phrases such as "Can you stop mugging?!"

Everything time I am online on MSN, people would be telling me to go and "mug", and the way he puts it seems to be a stereotype that I am a mugger and I should go and mug. I hates it, especially when I was just playing the computer or not mugging.

I also think that the term "mugging" is similiar to that of a "nerd" and it actually shows that one is only capable of studying and do not know how to enjoy life. It is as if that if you mug, you will for sure get the highest grades but less likely to do well in other aspects, showing that you are not an all-rounder.

However, I do agree that there might some positive things about being labeled as a mugger. You can treat it as a compliment to show that you are hardworking and do not slack. It also shows that you are preparing for test and that gives you some kind of confidence that you can ace your test. Furthermore, when you are playing a computer and your friend expects you to mug, it could be a reminder for you to mug and stop playing.

Or is it that I am just thinking too much and that mugging is simply a plain word used to describe someone who is studying and does not carry any negative elements in it?