Front page news on today's newpapers - S'pore's Terminal 3 to open on Jan 9, 2008, wah so nice right, but wait, they have come up with a new name for the airport skytrain system - People Mover System (PMS) !
Excerpt:
"The Changi Airport People Mover System (PMS) is part of the new Terminal 3 expansion project that will accommodate substantial growth in air passenger traffic at the Changi airport in the coming decades. The PMS project is scheduled for passenger service in June 2006, coincident with the opening of Terminal 3. The PMS represents a firm commitment by Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore to assure that the Singapore Changi airport continues to be among the world's best airports."
What crap name is that? Ok maybe they can't call it ASS (airport skytrain system) so next option is PMS, hmm, how creative right! It's another classic smart aleck example of naming exercise. Why do they need to name the system anyway? Those who are familiar with Changi Airport will know there is a train/rail for you to commute between T1 and T2, and I think it is simply called Skytrain, quite nice what, why go and rename it and worst, call it PMS!
I can just picture these scenes at the airport information counter:
Scene 1
Tourist: May I know how can I get to T3 from T1 ?
Information counter staff: Skytrain. You can take the skytrain at lobby 1.
Scene 2
Tourist: May I know how can I get to T3 from T1 ?
Information counter staff: PMS. You can take PMS ...
Angry Tourist: Wait, what did you just say! You said I got PMS?! How rude! I want to complain!
Confused Tourist: What is PMS?
Corny Tourist: Haha PMS!
That's not all. Imagine next time u step into the train and what greets you will be something like "Ding Dong, welcome to PMS. You are in PMS right now, hope you enjoy the PMS ride." We will be the laughing stock of tourists and our overseas friends, they will probably laugh at how "creative" we are at coming out with acronyms and churning out stupid sounding ones too.
Whats with the authorities with these acronyms and lame attempts at coming out with fanciful names ? This is something which I don't understand. They have shown, in the past few years, that they have failed to be creative but yet many times bitten but still not shy. Here are some classic examples:
Marina Bay - Authorities wanted a more glamorous name for the marina bay area since it will be the site for integrated resorts and other high class developments. They hired some branding consultants, spent lots of money and in the end, they can't find a better name and eventually stick to Marina Bay.
Budget Terminal - A contest was held and the public submit the desired names they want for our new budget terminal. In the end, among the many entries, they chose "Budget Terminal" as the winning entry.
This last example simply takes the cake! Recently, I was flipping through some communities newsletter/magazine at a cafe and read that, in the government's bid to turn Singapore into a city of gardens and waters, they have come out with yet another acronym, a no brainer one someone, called ABC Waters Programme.
Excerpt of the meaning behind it:
"
This is what we aim to achieve with the ABC Waters programme. There are three broad elements in the programme.
- First, “A” for Active, so that Singaporeans can enjoy a wide range of water-based activities, from canoeing and sailing to dragon-boat racing.
- Second, ‘B’ for Beautiful, because we want to transform our waterways into beautiful streams, rivers and lakes that enhance our living environment.
- Third, ‘C’ for Clean, so that whatever we do with our water bodies, they will continue to be kept litter- and pollution-free.
"
Call me cynical, but I seriously think we can do without all these. At the end of the day, if people understand what is a budget terminal, what is a skytrain, monorail or whatever then let it be. What for go and draw snake with legs. As you can see, those attempts to beautify it simply falls flat!
This beautiful quote comes in handy again and to the authorities "If you want to do something, do it nicely else do not do it at all" :)
1 comment:
very interesting. lol. but i got to point out the PMS thingy, the right acronym for it is PMSSG (people mover system stations & guideways). then again, we got to cut the people who come up with names such as budget terminals and the ABC simi simi stuff some slack, they're usually old-er than many of us flowing with creative juices. nice post by the way.
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