Picking up English during my time at Thurstan College

George E de Silva was the Member for Kandy in the State Legislative Assembly before Ceylon gained Independence. He was famously known as "Our" or "Apey George", mainly for his alleged amusing malapropisms. Many of these stories were mostly made up by the British, to ridicule a person who stood up to them, not taking a backward step.

- BY NIHAL KODITUWAKKU

After Independence in 1948, Ceylon had two Houses in the Parliament, House of Representatives and the Senate. The former had elected members and the latter nominated members. A Bill before being enacted by legislation had to be passed by both Houses. The Ceylonese model of government was based on the British Parliament, which has two houses, House of Representatives and the House of Lords.

During WWII, Japan bombed Colombo. This was in 1944. In the State Assembly, according to folklore, "Our George" allegedly took umbrage at this outrage and on the floor of the Assembly, made a statement with too much emphasis on the letter "B". He went on to say that "Bomb-ers are Bomb-ing" Ceylon. (Hyphenation being for clarity and to reflect the tone.) NM Perera, seated in the adjoining seat in the Assembly, whispered "George, George, B silent", where upon George entered future folklore immortality when he allegedly said; "Sorry, Ombers are Ombing Ceylon!!"

There was no internet or social media to contradict or deny these versions at the times. By word of mouth these jokes or stories spread through the English educated elite, especially the Britishers in power at the time, who wanted to downplay and embarrass locals. Burghers being collective name given to descendants of the Portuguese, Dutch or British Colonial masters plus the upper echelon locals gladly joined to spread the message.