Wow, what a name for a home

Similarly, property developers in Singapore are catching up with unique names for their development.

Gone are the days when you can easily associate a condo’s name with its location and built-up — two words usually beginning with the area or street name, and ending with the word Apartment, Condominium, Court, Garden, Height, Lodge, Mansion, Park, Residence, Terrace, Tower, View or Villa.

These days we have a lot more innovative names in the market, say, 8M Residences (yes, not 3M), UP @ Robertson Quay (nothing to do with the 2009 animated film), V on Shenton (no guarantee of a V-shaped face), etc.

Sometimes I really feel that I have to take a modern English course before stepping into showflats.

Oops, it’s not limited to English, the names can come from another foreign language — French, German, Spanish, Italian, Finnish … you name it.

I am trying to show you some ‘unique names’ from the developers’ latest collections. It’s not a secret that I can’t do so without referring to an online dictionary to look up the correct meaning.

I don’t know about you. But I must admit that I have difficulties pronouncing the double consonants in Italian.

And there are some names that I can’t even confirm the meaning and pronunciation from the dictionary, for instance, Coralis, Cradels, etc.

Please, could somebody kindly enlighten me if you know those words?

You know if I buy one of the units, I have to show others how to pronounce the name correctly, whenever I get the question “where do you stay?”.

Is it too much if I also request, say, a taxi driver, to hear and repeat the name after me with the right pronunciation, while knowing exactly where the place is?

I can’t help but imagining some situations that might happen.

Foreigner: Where’re you staying?
Owner: The Boathouse
Foreigner: Are you storing rowing boats or motor boats?

Foreigner: Where do you stay?
Owner: The Rainforest
Foreigner: Oh, you still have tribes in Singapore?

Foreigner: What’s next?
Owner: Go Mi Casa.
Foreigner: 卖叻沙? You sell laksa for a living?

Foreigner: Is Bukit Timah hill the only hill in Singapore?
1st owner: No, I stay at the Seahill.
2nd owner: My place is higher. It’s the Hillsta.
3rd owner: No, yours is Hillsta. Mine is Hillier.