SINGAPORE – American Tyler Creasman’s LinkedIn profile notes that he speaks fluent Singlish.
Although the 33-year-old left Singapore 15 years ago, his childhood home made such an indelible mark on him that he penned a set of Singlish wedding vows.
On July 20, he posted an Instagram reel of him pledging his love to Mellanie Creasman, whom he calls his “chio bu” (a Hokkien-derived Singlish term used to describe an attractive woman). The short video went viral, garnering more than 1.3 million views.
Speaking to The Sunday Times via a video call from Phoenix, Arizona, where he is based, Creasman, a general manager at a company specialising in home repairs, says: “You learn how to talk to people the way they are talking. That was my life when I was a young kid. You can take the kid off the island, but you can’t take the island off the kid.”
During the 11 years he spent in Singapore starting in 1999, he would code-switch between speaking American English with his parents at home and using Singlish in daily life.
He went to local schools – Qiaonan Primary School and Yumin Primary School – before attending an international school here. In 2011, he left the Republic at age 18 for university in the United States and later served in the US army for several years.
Tyler Creasman when he was a Qiaonan Primary 3 pupil in the early 2000s.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF TYLER CREASMAN
Before he came to Singapore around age six, his family lived in Kunming, China. He still speaks Mandarin.
While in Singapore, his father worked as a coach and mentor for Christian pastors, while his mother was a freelance actress and vocalist. The couple, now in their 60s, have a younger son, aged 29.
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