More on childhood lessons. Though my family is Cantonese Chinese, my brother and I only talk to each other in English. We can speak to my mum and our friends/ relatives in Cantonese or Mandarin, but when it's between us, we'll naturally spring back to English. It's all my mum's misguided attempt to improve our English. When we were kids, she told us she would deduct from our allowance if we spoke to each other in any language but English. We panicked and spoke English in earnest, so much so that we didn't pick up any Singlish accent. Sigh.

Kids believe anything when it concerns their allowance.