How Singapore got its name

This is a real history that nobody wants to recognise.

the old name of Singapore was Temasek (Tamasek). The actual spelling is not known as it wasn't spelt with Romanised characters.

But a about 2 -3 hundred years ago, it was changed to "Singapura". for the better educated ones, "Singapore" is the "englished" name during colonial time. "Singapura" is the original name.

Not everything spelt in English is the original, just as "Thailand" is NOT pronounced as "Thai-land". Its pronounced as "Tai-land". and IRAQ is not pronounced as "Ai-Rak", Mr Bush.

Anyway, how did this name came about?

forget about what the history book tells you about a prince from Sumatera who saw a lion on Temasek and hence changed its name to "Singha-pura" which means "lion city" in Sanskrit.

Too many errors in this story.

1. there was never any lions in that part of the south east asia.

2. Prince from Sumatera spoke Sanskrit?

3. there was already natives living on Temasek (thats why it had a name), so s visitor could just declare a new name?

The real story is like this: drum-drum drum

Temasek was a very busy trading port back then. There were a lot of Indian muslims from southen India who sailed there to trade with the native Melayu.

They were close friends.

One fine night, as usual they chilled out at the local pub aka the road side shed, drinking todi (liquor from coconut juice). after a few drinks, they made a bet to see who had a bigger dick.

and well, the Indians won the bet but the Melayu felt insulted.

so they gave the Indians a good beating.

the next day, after sobbering up, they realised that the Indian didn't stop at their port anymore. They all rather stopped at Melaka, a new port further north.

So, every morning, the local Melayu would wave and shouted "OOOi kawan! Singgah lah sini"

The Indians on their ships would give they middle fingers and shouted back "Poorah! Poorah!" (Get lost)

thats how Singapura got its new name and it is used till today.