Single-pore? No, actually there were two Pores, a big one and a little one. Whatever on earth am I talking about? It’s not a dermatological term – Big ‘Pore’ and Little ‘Pore’ are translations of two old Chinese terms to refer to two areas of Singapore. Laokokok has the story!

Big Pore? Little Pore? In Singapore? Laokokok explains:

“Big Pore and Small Pore of Singapore”, don’t quite make sense but if I will to say it in Chinese “新加坡的大坡, 小坡” and “going down town” in Chinese or Cantonese “下坡 or 落坡” – it means a lot to the older generation. Maybe I should rephrase it as “Big Town and Small Town of Singapore”. I remember in the 60s and 70s, my godmother would always got her daugthers to 落坡 or to 大坡, 小坡 to buy something. We are Cantonese so we said “落坡” instead of in Mandarin “下坡”, but both means the same. Chinese New Year is coming soon, most elderly generation will usually 落坡 (go down town) to buy some Chinese New Year’s goodies. So where exactly are ”大坡, 小坡” and “落坡” means going to where?

The answers go as far back as to the time of Raffles himself – find out in Time of My Life.