Sylvia Toh Paik Choo ( zh, labels=no, c=杜碧珠; born 1946) is a

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

an newspaper columnist and humour writer.

Early life and education

Toh was born in

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

to a

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

-speaking family. Her family moved to Singapore shortly after her birth. She studied at St Margaret’s Girls School but left the school at 14 after failing school examinations. She then studied at a private school and then Stamford College for her O and A levels respectively.

Career

She is the author of ''Eh Goondu!'' (1982) and ''Lagi Goondu!'' (1986), the first two books on

Singlish Singlish (a portmanteau of ''Singapore'' and '' English''), formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English-based creole language originating in Singapore. Singlish arose out of a situation of prolonged language contact betwe ...

. She previously wrote for ''

The New Paper ''The New Paper'' is a Singaporean newspaper. It was originally published in tabloid format as a "noon paper", then from 2016 as a freesheet in the morning from 7 a.m. onwards. In December 2021 the paper went to digital only. History Firs ...

'' before moving to fashion website Superadrianme. In 2023, Toh was inducted into the Singapore Media Industry Hall of Fame. In 2024, Toh was inducted into the

Singapore Women's Hall of Fame The Singapore Women's Hall of Fame is a virtual hall of fame that honors and documents the lives of historically significant women in Singapore. The hall is the creation of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), and grew out of an ...

Bibliography

* ''Eh Goondu!'' (1982, Eastern Universities Press) * ''The Pick of Paik Choo'' (1982, Times Books International) * ''Friendship, Courtship, Hatred, Love'' (1983, Times Books International) * ''Lagi Goondu!'' (1986, Times Books International) * ''The Original Singapore Sling Book'' (1986, Landmark Books) * ''On the Buses'' (1987, Landmark Books) * ''The Hosomes!'' (1994, Singapore Courtesy Council) *

References

1940s births Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean journalists Singaporean women journalists Women humorists 20th-century Singaporean women writers 20th-century Singaporean writers 21st-century Singaporean women writers 21st-century Singaporean writers Mass media people from Penang {{Singapore-writer-stub