Once Broken

The sign shown above should be familiar to perhaps some Singaporeans in its other more familiar permutation:

"Once broken, considered sold"

In what appears to be a playful version of a warning, we now have a poem (of sorts). Though I have no idea what the writer of this poem intended to signify with the literary treatment, its effect upon me was such that it made me chuckle.

In a world where money rules, capitalism teaches us that most relationships formed between strangers are monetary or commercial ones. Consider the world of merchandising and sales, these relations last for all of the short 5 minutes of a sales transaction. So yes, the comings and goings in a shop makes for little time to afford any lightheartedness. Coupled with the infamously snooty attitude of Singaporean sales staff, we are often pretty tired out by sales assistants and just want to get it (the buying process) over and done with.

As such, this sign was a deft touch in an attempt to make a drab and dire warning something of an art form, and a literary one at that. (try saying it out.)

Perhaps it's the linguist in me that was drawn to the use of such a 4-liner, but the technical poet in me, albeit a very amateurish one, came to the fore.

I couldn't help but notice that the first 3 lines consist of this particular metrical feet structure: H - L - H

Nice (H) to (L) see (H)

Good (H) to (L) hold (H)

Once (H) bro- (L) -ken (H)

, and of course, the last line was a form of 4-syllabic concluding line of a 4-line poem. I tried saying it out aloud, and hey, there's a singing ring and particularly interesting rhythmic flow to it.

And so we have a warning that sings itself and its effect upon us could be seen in 2 ways:

1) hey, this is a warning, but fear not, you can still handle the items, just be careful!

2) we are fun people and this sign says it all.

What struck me as also particularly interesting was how there was a use of the verb "hold" rather than "handle". In my opinion, if I were to write a similar warning to prospective butter-fingers, I would try to reflect all possibilities that one could do with his/her hands. In my mind then, "holding" alone isn't really all that I would do in a watch shop. I would want to fiddle with the dials, test the stopwatch, hear the alarm chimes/signals, and feel the tactile effect of the buttons - I would want to do more than "hold" the item, I would want to "handle" the metal hardware. Oh yeah.

But then, I thought that I was thinking too far. Anyway, most people would get it immediately. And I am very much a part of the masses as well. So yes, I do accept that "good to hold" is fine as well, although that niggling bit of me that wondered whether other English speakers would have such phrasal constructions.

Ok. Enough ramblings.

Well, it did help that the shop assistant was really friendly, causing me to part with my money. Boohoo.