The Correctness of Flavour

ARTHUR YAP
• Arthur Yap was born in Singapore as the sixth child of a

carpenter and a housewife. Yap published 4 major collections
of poetry: Only lines (1971), Commonplace (1977), Down the
line (1980) and man snake apple and other poems(1986). He
also contributed a section of his poetry in the anthology Five
Takes (1974). The collected poems of Arthur Yap gathers the
entire corpus of Arthur Yap’s poems, including his “Vignettes”
and other poems in a single volume for the first time. His work is
notable for word play, original use of Singlish and commentary
on the values and priorities expressed by ordinary people in
everyday situations. To this day Yap’s influence continues to
impact the local literary and arts scene.
Arthur Yap is a Singapore writer. He was known for his
use of lower-case letters. This particular poet belonged
to the generation of Singaporeans whose carrier
coincide with the development of that modern state. He
belonged to a generation which had witnessed a drastic
change in the state of Singapore. At Leeds Arthur earned
a Masters degree in Linguistics and English language
teaching. He was very much interested in language. Most
of his writings display his characteristic intelligence and
interest for language.
Arthur Yap is famous for his poems about
Singapore. In the poems “The correctness of flavour”
and “An afternoon nap”, he focuses on Singaporean
mothers and allows us to truly understand the poem as
many of us are able to relate. His poems can even be
quite humorous at time as he stereotypes Singaporean
mothers so well.
The Correctness Of Flavour
Waiting for the lime sherbert to arrive

Mother turned around to her vacuous child:
Boy, you heard what I said earlier?
Nowadays, they emphasise english.
Boy rolled his squinty eyes to the ceiling.

Waitress returned, flustered, and started
On her own emphases:
Lime sherbert today don’t have.
Mango got, strawberry also don’t have.
Mother, upset and acutely strident:
Today DOESN’T have
Today DOES NOT have.
Boy, beyond any mitigation of flavour:

Mango can, anything can,
Any anything also can.
The glass of the shop amber- tinted;
Boy, facing a tall window, looked malarial
Mango and, it being a sunny day,
Didn’t help the spectrum of quiet light.
Strawberry- faced waitress went on mouthing
And serving, mother glared and glowered
Over whatever else needed emphasised.
Courtesy- nowadays, they emphasise courtesy.
Eat healthy- nowadays, they emphasise it healthy.
So mother continued to be trenchant,
Boy’s squint refused to concede acceptance –
An impasse in an ice-cream café
in which one would endure no let- up
And the other for which immediate realia
Hold no truth.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
➢ The Correctness of Flavour is a poem which greatly
stereotypes Singaporean mothers.
➢ We are depicted a story of a boy and his mother
ordering ice-cream.
➢ The main ideas shown in this poem are authority and
the strictness of a Singaporean mother.
➢ The first line itself already shows one stereotype. In the
line “ waiting for the lime sherbert to arrive”, the
phrase lime sherbert stands out. This is not any random
flavour.
➢ The poet is trying to show how specific even the flavour
of ice-cream should be. This could represent the
pickiness of a Singaporean mother.
➢ In this poem the word mother is used instead of mom.
The formality of the word could how the strictness and
authority.
➢ The “mother” also refers to her child as “boy” and this
could possibly make him feel small and brings him down
to a raw state as she uses the word boy instead of son.
➢ In this poem we also see different points of view.
➢ The line, “boy rolled his squinty eyes to the ceiling”
allows us to relate with the boy very well as this is the way
many of us would react to our mothers. This also shows
us that his mother acting this way is probably a usual
thing. This line also show defiance which is a minor theme
in the poem.
➢ The last stanza sums up the authority strictness and
pickiness of the mother. The phrase “acutely strident”
means harsh.
➢ As the mother corrects the waiter for her English, we can
see how she needs the waiters English to be right. This
may also show how Singaporean mothers may often step
out of line, and though the waiter is not her child, she still
has the audacity to speak her mind and correct her.

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ARTHUR YAP

• Arthur Yap was born in Singapore as the sixth child of a

Waiting for the lime sherbert to arrive

Boy rolled his squinty eyes to the ceiling.

Boy, beyond any mitigation of flavour:

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