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AT THE Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in South Bridge Road, American tourist Laura Usisken pointed to a poster and chuckled.
'It's hilarious,' the 26-year-old told her travelling companions.
Her amusement was centred solely on the contents of the poster, which was meant to explain to visitors what a 'drum tower' was used for.
It read: 'The drum is pound both in the morning and evening for the purpose of Sangha gathering.'
The temple's poster is an example of bad English displayed around Singapore's religious institutions.
A check by The Straits Times last month at 15 places of worship - temples, mosques and churches - found that many had at least one sign or poster that had an error.
Some were typographical or spelling mistakes, such as this one at St Andrew's Cathedral: 'Viewers can view exhibits...at out new Welcome Centre', but many were grammatical errors.
A sign outside the Hindu Sri Mariamman Temple downtown, for example, warned devotees: 'No footwears beyond this point.' Another, at Masjid Jamae in Mosque Street, read: 'All these robes are for visitor's use only.'
Devotees told The Straits Times that the poorly written signs did not bother them.
Mr Halim Hafiz, 51, said: 'As long as I understand what the sign says, it's okay.'
Mr Poh Chok Leng, a visitor at Buddhist temple Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, said he did not realise that a sign there was ungrammatical. It read: 'Naked flame is strictly prohibited.'
A few, however, wondered if it may leave visitors with a bad impression of the nation's standard of English as many places of worship are popular tourist attractions.
Ms Usisken, for one, did not think so: 'These mistakes happen everywhere. I mean, it's not intentional. Just be more careful next time.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
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