SINGAPORE — Forget “girl math” and “mom math”. The newest iteration in the series of viral TikTok trends is “Singapore math”, giving the fad a local flair.
The original trending hashtag “girl math”, which currently boasts over 1.2 billion views on TikTok, has spawned multiple successors such as “mom math”, “dog math”, “boy math”, and now our very own “Singapore math”.
A viral TikTok video posted by content creator Amandine Honvault on Saturday (Oct 21) explores a fresh take on how Singapore residents might apply the trademark illogical mathematics of the trend in their daily lives.
“Singapore math is like if you live in Singapore and you go JB (Johor Bahru) every weekend, the money that you spend there doesn’t count,” she begins.
She gives another example of how many would be reluctant to pay for a plastic bag at the checkout, but that they would actually be “making money” by reusing the plastic bag as a trash bag.
“If I go eat at Hai Di Lao but I took the public transport to get there, it’s like getting a 50 per cent discount,” she concludes, referring to the popular hotpot restaurant chain.
Contrary to the name of her TikTok account “new_to_singapore”, Ms Honvault, who is originally from France, is fairly well-versed in local culture, having lived and worked in Singapore for more than four years.
Ms Honvault creates social media content on various platforms, spotlighting local attractions, making guides for others looking to move to Singapore, and even debunking stereotypes about Singaporeans.
She also has a Singaporean boyfriend.
Her 24-second TikTok video on “Singapore math” was an instant hit, attracting more than 348,100 views, 165,100 likes, and 1,157 comments as of Wednesday (Oct 25) afternoon.
Many comments in the video reminded the user that they had left out the price of the car, which conveniently played into the overall concept of “girl math”.
One user quipped: “Really girl math cause (they) forgot about the price of the car. S$140,000 is just the paper cost.”
Another, however, actually seemed to have benefitted from the video, writing: “Still very shocked by the S$140,000 COE. After you divided (it) into seconds, you did make me feel better!”
Although the true measure of “Singapore math” remains up for debate, one Redditor proposed a consensus: “Singapore math is converting everything to plates of chicken rice.”
“Should I buy another dark grey Uniqlo Airism tee? That’s four plates of chicken rice, guess I’ll wait till next week and buy it for 3.9 plates,” they added.