tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87149482011-10-08T09:49:44.141+05:30Notes on Indian English, Hinglish, slang & pop cultureR Devrajnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-19110870498973270712011-08-08T08:50:00.002+05:302011-08-08T08:53:13.730+05:30

The Indian Express on the codes used by Kashmiri separatist leaders and militants in illegal cross-border financial transactions ('NIA decodes: Chini is hawala money, Re 1 is Rs 1 lakh', The Indian Express, 8 August 2011): ‘Dukaan khol kar rakho’ (open the shop) meant ‘switch on the mobile phone’; ‘dawai le li hai’ (bought the medicine) meant ‘money has been taken’. These were among some of the

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-20966490650134424282011-07-09T11:32:00.001+05:302011-07-09T11:34:12.306+05:30

Singer Shubha Mudgal records the jargon of Mumbai's sessions musicians in a pre-digital era (Musical Shorthand, Mint Lounge, July 9, 2011): ...what would you do if you were asked to play a rhythm pattern called “78”? You or I could just sit there looking completely befuddled, but a sessions musician would know instantly that he had to play a specific rhythm pattern that became exceedingly popular

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-67541578921669213902011-02-27T15:12:00.000+05:302011-02-27T15:20:05.983+05:30

Sohini Chattopadhyay reports in OPEN Magazine (26 February, 2011) that the records of India’s first and only Linguistic Survey, conducted by the British Raj over 1914-29, are now available on the internet, thanks to Shahid Amin, professor of history at Delhi University. The professor is an impatient man, with a penchant for audacious projects. “This is incredible material, I didn’t want it to lie

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-21547124189589990812011-02-27T14:39:00.000+05:302011-02-27T14:39:41.075+05:30

Save the Words is a website from the makers of the Oxford English Dictionary, dedicated to saving underused words from extinction: words such as graviloquence and pigritude and squiriferous, that you are encouraged to adopt and re-introduce to the English language. As the examples I've cited illustrate,  there's a preponderance of leaden, faux-literate words here - these are the lumbering

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-45062813073803936312010-12-31T10:44:00.000+05:302010-12-31T10:46:54.898+05:30

The Hindustan Times provides useful tips for the party season: "A packet of Aishwarya.” That’s what a gram of cocaine is being called by those looking for a stash for their New Year parties. The code words don’t end there. Suppliers are calling hashish ‘Katrina’, while ketamine hydrochloride has been codenamed ‘Rakhi’. Buyers and sellers of narcotics, known to troll the city’s party spots every

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-8013262375121445312010-12-20T00:44:00.000+05:302010-12-20T09:48:35.127+05:30

Anubha Sawhney Joshi defines the quintessential bling word in this ode to upward mobility in Delhi: Your friends from South Delhi (GK-sheekay, Jorbagh-shorbagh) might use it as a jibe to describe your taste in clothes (fake brands, blingy handbags, nail jewellery), food (naan chholey, butter chicken, kulfi) or music (Punjabiyaan da tashan is probably your ringtone), but you brush it all aside

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-10620206728278456322010-11-01T20:12:00.000+05:302010-11-01T20:13:50.333+05:30

Linguist Hugo Cardoso on the last speaker of a unique language formed through contact between Malayalam and Portuguese (OPEN Magazine, October 2010). William Rozario passed away on 20 August 2010, at the age of 87. And with him died the Indo-Portuguese Creole of Cochin.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-14602217842437517782010-08-19T14:17:00.000+05:302010-08-19T14:24:03.393+05:30

'A commendable hot-chase, 007! But it was wasted as we lost the film!' James Bond, licensed to mutilate the English language. Weird Crime Theater's post “Let me taste fish” and the Magic of Amar Chitra Katha has more.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-54530592710145285682010-08-03T12:27:00.000+05:302010-08-03T12:29:48.253+05:30

Anuvab Pal compiles a few current Indian English expressions (Mid-Day, August 1, 2010): Rajeev this side: Usually said on the phone. It literally means the person saying it is on that side, physically. It has nothing to do with taking a side (for that, see stance (n)). Sometimes, it is said in person, across a table, implying the same thing. It can get awkward because you're not sure if you have

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-58638781270068586312010-05-07T12:24:00.000+05:302010-05-07T12:30:32.332+05:30

Just figured out that Google Books allows you to clip and embed passages from out-of-print books. Here's a curious piece of Anglo-Indian slang I found in A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words (1860) by John Camden Hotten: Click on the image if it doesn't show up complete in your browser, that'll take you to the page on Google Books.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-11468160384222332010-05-07T12:10:00.000+05:302010-05-07T12:10:25.447+05:30

Via मराठी शब्द, this plausible explanation for the origin of the word mosambi, from Firminger's Manual Of Gardening For India: ..a tight-skinned Orange of the Malta type, called the Mosambi (a corruption of Mozambique). This is generally called the Sweet Lime by Europeans.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-89928936834562962602010-03-18T12:31:00.000+05:302010-03-18T12:31:50.772+05:30

Via Mint: Sailaja Pingali, author of Indian English (Dialects of English) on the characteristics of Indian English. (Download the podcast here).

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-5881661910902990502010-03-14T15:51:00.000+05:302010-03-14T15:53:14.798+05:30

Some notes on betting jargon, just in time for the IPL season. These are compiled from stray mentions in newspaper articles - if you can add to this list, or suggest a comprehensive guide, let me know. Sauda: A bet Sauda fok: Stop payment. When underworld dons suspect that a match has been fixed without their knowledge, they order a 'sauda fok', cancelling all payments. Fancy sauda: I found

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-3533293784114143042010-03-14T15:13:00.000+05:302010-03-14T15:13:12.288+05:30

The Times of India summarizes recently released census data on bilingualism in India. More Indians speak English than any other language, with the sole exception of Hindi. What's more, English speakers in India outnumber those in all of western Europe, not counting the United Kingdom. And Indian English-speakers are more than twice the UK's population. English was the primary language for

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-19432332175397003472010-02-28T16:35:00.000+05:302010-05-29T12:02:01.519+05:30

Mumbai underworld slang for a police informer, also known as a khabri or 'goodman'. The code name Zero refers to an informer in Dawood Ibrahim's stronghold Dongri and adjoining areas. Goodman is another popular name for an informer. When someone praises an informer, calling him a 'goodman', in typical Indian gesturing, he touches his thumb to his coiled index finger making it look like a

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-69595301544374646152009-09-04T14:34:00.000+05:302009-09-04T15:42:42.587+05:30

Observe a traffic jam on an Indian street, and you will find that it tends to follow a complex process of re-alignment over time. It all begins with vehicles lined up bumper-to-bumper. But as the minutes tick away and more and more vehicles enter the jam, impatience mounts and many drivers try to switch lanes to gain an advantage. Others drift lazily towards visible openings, having nothing

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-52779141958295940542009-06-05T21:27:00.000+05:302009-06-05T23:26:27.468+05:30

Another example of eccentric South Indian English, this one found in Green Well Years, an autobigraphical novel by the artist Manohar Devadoss about growing up in Madurai.She had a 'gun-throat' and explained to the doctor her 'menses problems' in a voice so loud that the entire household came to know what they were.If you want to insult a blowhard, call him a beerangi vaya, or 'cannon mouth' in

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-11464329171290315362009-06-05T19:00:00.000+05:302009-06-05T23:37:25.246+05:30

Rajapart is a piece of Tamil theatre jargon from the 1930s, referring to the lead role in a play. The word mixes Tamil and English: rajapart is the 'king's part', the hero's role in costume dramas staged by the travelling theatre troupes of the time. I found the term in the autobiography of Sivaji Ganesan, the legendary Tamil actor who started out in one such 'boys' company' during this period,

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-54946188863629037492009-05-18T19:56:00.000+05:302009-05-31T19:49:52.988+05:30

Convent, n. In north India, a generic term for an English-medium school, usually a girls' school. The usage derives from the fact that schools run by missionaries were the first to use English as a medium of instruction, and they are still considered by many to be superior in this respect. A convent education is a status symbol, something that improves a girl's chances on the marriage market.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-63117433301979791392009-05-10T19:14:00.000+05:302009-05-10T19:26:51.072+05:30

The Indian Express compiles a lexicon of political jargon for this year's Indian general election. Excerpts:108 kuien kuien kuien: A phrase popularised by Chief Minister YSR Reddy to remind people of his Rajiv Gandhi Arogyasri Scheme, which involves participation by private sector hospitals to bring medical care to the poor. The numbers 108 and 104 (for cities and rural areas) are what you need

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-77707117210039858152009-03-02T16:20:00.000+05:302009-03-02T17:55:44.092+05:30

196 Indian languages are in danger of extinction, according to UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger of Disappearing. Ahom, Aimol, Andro, Chairel, Kolhreng, Rangkas, Sengmai, Tarao, Tolcha are some the languages that are already extinct, according to a report in Outlook, which also provides a map showing the regional distribution of the threatened languages. Essentially, they are

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-41137075607299821162008-12-26T15:31:00.000+05:302008-12-26T15:51:54.533+05:30

Bengalooru Banter is a blog that provides samples of Bean Town bakwas, like these overheard conversations or this list of Kanglish (Kannada + English) slang. A few examples from Bikerdude's slang dictionary: AJM: Short for Akkan Jusht Missu (Lit: Elder Sister just missed) 1. Minor disappointment 2. Narrow escape. "Aye ticket siktheno?" "Illa lo, AJM agoythu." Do not use in polite company!Budding:

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-72371627509453690292008-12-26T14:57:00.000+05:302008-12-26T15:27:14.636+05:30

Indian English: Language & Culture is a Lonely Planet guide to the quirks of English as spoken in India. Essential if you're a visitor mystified by travel agents who want to 'prepone' your ticket: I'm less certain that a phrasebook of this kind can help anyone decipher a conversation in Hinglish, or even your average Mumbai tabloid. Worth a look, nevertheless. (I should add here that I served as

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-10636865187638079652008-08-16T15:40:00.001+05:302008-08-16T16:36:01.822+05:30

Ingenious. Memsaab Story presents Indianisms like 'tight slap', 'shoe-bite' and many more in grabs from sub-titled Bollywood flicks.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-14426368156760724002008-08-16T15:40:00.000+05:302008-08-16T15:56:26.097+05:30

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-38173169541072960452008-08-16T13:21:00.001+05:302008-08-16T14:08:49.251+05:30

A new book on the jargon of bhai-land:It is a world where anaar (pomegranate) is a grenade, “artist” a shooter, atthais (28) an alcoholic, baja (musical instrument) a handgun, blue a Rs. 100 note, “camera” a weapon, “capsule” a bullet, chabbis (26) a young promiscuous girl, “Clinton” fake American dollar bills, “Delhi” is Dubai, “Indian bat” a country-made revolver, jhadu (broom) is an assault

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-89628875122456688282008-08-16T13:21:00.000+05:302008-08-16T13:59:37.696+05:30

A dress dada is not a preening street goon or a transvestite toughie, it's a respectful Bollywood term for a senior dressman. 'Dada' here is the Marathi word for 'elder brother' and is used liberally on Bollywood sets, as explained in this posting to Sarai:As I learnt early on, a production unit has certain unwritten codes such as an established system of address. Everyone calls everyone else '

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-38334594870309754342008-06-03T10:58:00.000+05:302008-06-03T11:03:40.281+05:30

Jug Suraiya discusses the anatomical impossibility of this Indian English phrase:A couple of columns ago I used the typically Indian phrase 'with folded hands', a gesture implying, among many other things, entreaty or surrender. A reader has pointed out that while the phrase is, indeed, in common use, it represents an anatomical impossibility much more so than that suggested by the other choice

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-14726367919626457622008-05-06T10:50:00.000+05:302008-05-06T11:02:28.766+05:30

Google Translate now offers translation from English to Hindi and vice versa. Type in some text and check out the results. Chances are you'll get some garbled nonsense, but with computer-generated translation, that's par for the course. What's surprising is that if you translate from English to Hindi and convert the results back to English, some of the original text is restored. Here's a portion

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-44907938276470818322008-04-22T11:15:00.000+05:302008-04-22T11:30:00.077+05:30

This is off-topic somewhat, but I can't resist linking to this great New Yorker piece on China's 'Elvis of English'. Li Yang, founder and chief teacher at Li Yang Crazy English, trains Chinese tongue muscles with an ESL technique that has been described as 'English as a Shouted Language'. Rapidex, Chinese style:Li stood before the students, his right arm raised in the manner of a tent revivalist,

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-26458124032960827282008-04-17T18:39:00.000+05:302008-04-17T18:40:48.071+05:30

Think I'll take Sidhu's word for it (in this case, he may actually know what he's talking about):The intricate meaning of the word is Chak De Phatte, Nap De Killi. Killi is a small lever that you pull. And when you pull it, the water starts gushing into the fields through a motor. Now that Killi is always invariably hidden under a well. And that well is covered by wooden planks. So you lift the

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-38785844124739685352008-04-17T17:55:00.000+05:302008-04-17T18:27:41.677+05:30

Turn on the car radio, and chances are a bhangra number will come on soon enough, urging you to 'chak de phatte'. All very good and rousing, but uhm, what is one supposed to do beyond the usual one-legged hop with fingers pointing heavenwards (whiskey glass balanced on head, optional)? I know what the phrase means literally, something like 'lift up the planks' in Punjabi, but how exactly does one

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-38874079536496885622007-11-19T15:45:00.000+05:302007-11-19T15:54:44.134+05:30

Via Yahoo News:Extolling what he called the 'splendidly unstoppable' South Asian contributions in Britain, Prince Charles, the heir apparent to the British crown, told a dinner thrown for 200 Asian guests at Windsor Castle that the word 'chuddie' - Punjabi word for underwear - is here to stay in the English language. 'I must say I am constantly struck by the fact the Britons of every origin in

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-23650651769773496842007-11-05T16:23:00.000+05:302007-11-05T16:23:26.585+05:30

A comprehensive site dedicated to the author of All About H. Hatterr. The links under 'Talking Points' will lead you to some interesting articles, including a brief note on a theatrical adaptation of Desani's comic masterpiece titled 'Damme, This is the Oriental Scene for You!'

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-74909268619250738002007-11-05T14:26:00.000+05:302007-11-05T14:35:22.160+05:30

Ketan Tanna reports on the current trend of 'accent neutralization' ( Freedom from mother tongue, The Times of India, 30 September 2007):Most Indians speak English with the peculiar sounds of their mother tongues. 'When' often sounds like 'ven' and 'vine' becomes 'wine'. We also tend to speak fast without stretching the vowel sounds. In Orissa and other parts of eastern India, b is freely used

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-4685024011859762022007-11-05T13:44:00.000+05:302007-11-06T11:09:19.293+05:30

The New York Review of Books will bring G V Desani's All About H Hatterr back into print this month. Please go out and get yourself a copy of this classic immediately. If you need a reason, read the reviews compiled here or this excerpt from Anthony Burgess' introduction:..it is the language that makes the book, a sort of creative chaos that grumbles at the restraining banks. It is what may be

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-40209841480726283142007-09-24T19:15:00.000+05:302007-09-24T19:19:21.902+05:30

Found on Chez Sinjab, this interesting blog post (Ma'alum, my friend?: The Grammarian's Guide to Khaleeji Pidgin) on the 'Indo-Anglo-Urdu-Arabic mix' spoken in the Gulf.Of course, there are certain rules to Khaleeji pidgin.First, certain words must be spoken in certain languages. Greetings, such as sala'am aleykum and sabah al kheir, are always in Arabic. How are you? is usually delievered in

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-79041017302486060442007-09-13T14:53:00.000+05:302007-09-13T15:11:36.812+05:30

शब्‍दों का सफ़र is Ajit Wadnerkar's excellent blog on Hindi word origins. Here's Ajit on the hybrid word lumberdar, formed from the English word ‘number’ with the Persian termination -dar. (For more on the word, see Hobson-Jobson ).उत्तरभारत में इसे नंबरदार और लंबरदार दोनों तरीके से बोला जाता है। दरअसल इस नाम के पीछे अगर देखें तो प्राचीन भारत की संयुक्त परिवार प्रथा नज़र आती है। निकट संबंधियों के

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-85491090097300289802007-09-11T12:58:00.000+05:302007-09-11T12:59:43.367+05:30

Entry from Backside Only: Hazaar Fundas of Indian-English is the title of a new book on Indian English by Binoo K. John.Backsides have a frontal position in Indian-English. In cluttered, crowded alleys there can be seen the notice “Entry from backside”, a usage not exactly meant as a come-hither line to gays.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-42249093548273786012007-09-10T09:46:00.001+05:302007-09-10T10:10:06.600+05:30

The Indian Express reports on the pidgin Hindi that unites tribes living in the North Cachar Hills of Assam. ('In this Assam district, Hindi unites 11 tribes', Indian Express, 10 September, 2007). “We call it Haflong Hindi,” said former Chairman of Haflong Town Committee Gopinath Gorlosa.“A century ago, most of the 11 tribes living in the North Cachar Hills could hardly communicate with each

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-82629743391663254992007-09-10T09:46:00.000+05:302007-09-10T10:00:19.767+05:30

Ketan Tanna updates the underworld lexicon in the Times of India ('Bhais speak differently now', 9 Sep, 2007):A crore, which the underworld famously called "khoka", is now "bada rupiya" while "peti" (one lakh) has become "chota rupiya". Encounter cop Sachin Vaze says that "supari" (contract killing), once the most feared word in the film and real estate circles, is today called "nariyal dena" as

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1165472136980690542006-12-07T11:45:00.000+05:302006-12-07T11:45:37.036+05:30

Slang term used on the Mumbai modelling circuit to describe someone with bad body odour."Mumbai lingo is a bit different. There’s a lot of Hindi slang and it’s mostly abusive, but used a lot in the modeling circuit. [A fairly common term here] is ‘bombay docks’, used when a girl has bad body odour." (Mumbai model Sahil Shroff quoted in The slang bang! by Reshma Arya, DNA, December 4, 2006)

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1164373498606308392006-11-24T18:21:00.000+05:302006-11-24T18:46:21.160+05:30

An exhibition by Meena Kadri of the National Institute of Design, in collaboration with sign painter Yasin Chhipa. Catch it on Flickr. (For the ignorant, here's a basic definition of Roadside Romeo).

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1164369174900779802006-11-24T17:22:00.000+05:302006-11-24T17:49:09.003+05:30

From BBC News:Hinglish - a hybrid of English and south Asian languages, used both in Asia and the UK - now has its own dictionary. A dictionary of the hybrid language has been gathered by Baljinder Mahal, a Derby-based teacher and published this week as The Queen's Hinglish. Much of it comes from banter - the exchanges between the British white population and the Asians," she says. "It's also

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1149169752845729292006-06-09T16:38:00.000+05:302006-06-09T16:42:28.993+05:30

A glossary of street cricket terms from Wikipedia. This one's done the rounds as one of those annoying forwarded emails, but it's worth a read nevertheless. How else would you learn the meaning of this mysterious battle-cry?Upeeeet (Up-it) Etymology partly English - When the batsman, usually the sothai hits the ball in the air, it is a common practice for all the fielders to scream Upeeet

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1149238465857060542006-06-02T14:24:00.000+05:302006-06-03T20:00:09.496+05:30

Mumbaiyya, the patois of Mumbai's streets is taking over the airwaves in Pakistan, reports Hasan Mansoor in Mid-Day ('Tapori India on Pak radio', Mid-Day, April 16, 2006).Pakistani linguists have joined their Indian counterparts in lamenting the way Bambaiyya has defiled spoken language. Panga lena (to invite trouble), phadda dalna (quarrel), jugar (doing something by any means), lash pash (

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1149237759998018612006-06-02T14:12:00.000+05:302006-06-03T20:15:53.070+05:30

BollyWHAT? examines the fractured English of Indian DVD blurbs in a dissertation titled 'Bitten by the Blurb: The DVD Synopsis as Comedy Routine'. Very funny indeed, and I'm waiting for them to turn their attention to DVD subtitles. Meanwhile, here's the ingenious plot of a B-grade movie called Ek Aur Vishpot: Hero of this film is honest muncipal commissioner, who is very strict about his rules &

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1149235517440356162006-06-02T13:35:00.000+05:302006-06-03T20:41:55.236+05:30

I've heard of metre coffee, but what exactly is 'complexion coffee'? I came across this term in an Outlook review:Coffee, a naturalised white man's drink, was introduced by the Portuguese, who also introduced the original version of the rasogolla. The natives, as the imperial mind put it, took to it with alacrity, abandoning their rice gruel for this bittersweet affair. Coffee was called

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1149024490542104722006-05-31T02:58:00.000+05:302006-06-03T19:22:59.483+05:30

'The use of below in Indian English is well worth a study', writes K S Yadurajan in the Deccan Herald.Several railway officers have assured me that a standard opening in railway official correspondence is: ‘Dear Sir, with reference to your above see my below’.Below can be used as a adverb: go below the deck; we saw the blue waters spread below us. But in IE we see the use of below as an

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1149015847018131432006-05-31T00:34:00.000+05:302006-05-31T01:01:03.153+05:30

Mid-Day ('Takla Hatela ya Lamba Khamba?', Mid-day, May 20, 2006) reports that the Mumbai underworld has coined new slang names for Bollywood actors and actresses. This list was extracted from a conversation between video pirates in Karachi and Mumbai, recorded by an anti-piracy cell. The men- Chyawanprash: Amitabh Bachchan (after the brand he endorses) - Takla Hatela: Salman Khan (recently went

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1130273944613516682005-10-26T02:29:00.000+05:302005-10-26T02:29:04.696+05:30

Got the T-shirt.

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First it was low-slung chaddi-revealing jeans. Now there's another mention of unmentionables in the current issue of Time Out Mumbai:Cha-braA compound noun formed by joining the syllables cha and bra. Rhymes with sir. Shorthand for chaddi-bra, it's a Marathi synonym for lingerie.Usage: Chee. All you see on page 3 is skinny models going to parties wearing only cha-bra. Who writes this stuff anyway

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1126557429359461972005-09-13T02:07:00.000+05:302005-09-15T00:03:41.383+05:30

The September 2005 issue of the OED Newsletter contains an article by Richard Boyle, one of the OED's consultants, which looks at the history of Sri Lankan English. A useful overview of the subject from the author of Knox's Words, a study of words of Sri Lankan origin recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1125857657869721442005-09-04T23:44:00.000+05:302010-05-29T12:02:51.398+05:30

Dedfutia was the name of Sanjay Narvekar's character in Vaastav, the Mahesh Manjrekar film about Mumbai's underworld. The word is Marathi slang for a midget ('one-and-a-half-footer' is the literal translation) and is currently Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's favoured epithet for State Revenue Minister Narayan Rane.While addressing Sainiks from Rane's Sindhudurg district, Thackeray used what he

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1125084517245503032005-08-27T00:51:00.000+05:302010-05-29T12:02:51.398+05:30

Illiterate, uneducated. A reference to the Hindi idiom 'angootha chhaap', which describes illiterate individuals who place thumb impressions on documents in lieu of signatures."Most of these people including me are 'thumbs up' (uneducated)," said a 37-year-old Gujarati trader. (Hindustan Times, August 26, 2005)

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1124863497393628402005-08-24T11:34:00.000+05:302005-08-25T16:35:11.103+05:30

Voices is an ambitious BBC project that maps changes in regional accents and dialects in the UK. There's a wealth of material on the website, which includes over a thousand clips, links to many radio shows based on the BBC surveys, and a mini-site on the Asian Network, which deals with the languages of the Asian community. Here, you can contribute words to a Desi Dictionary or listen to Southall

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1123769179178068892005-08-11T19:36:00.000+05:302005-08-11T21:33:44.566+05:30

I've been experimenting with Indic IMEs, software that allows you to use the English QWERT keyboard to enter text in Indian languages. I thought I'd try my hand at an unfamilar script, so I downloaded the Gujarati IME and typed up an excerpt from Sujata Bhatt's bilingual poem, 'Search For My Tongue', which mixes Gujarati lines with English transliterations. The task was surprisingly easy, though

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1123663093119037912005-08-10T14:08:00.000+05:302005-08-10T15:10:24.396+05:30

That's the question asked in the press release for the revised second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English, published today in the United Kingdom. The new edition includes several common words of South Asian origin, like desi, lehnga, Lollywood, masala, mehndi, tamasha, and of course, Hinglish, defined as 'a blend of Hindi and English, in particular a variety of English used by speakers of

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1123618892116591432005-08-10T01:51:00.000+05:302005-08-10T02:14:28.966+05:30

'Indian English has got this gorgeous dignity still, and the rhythms of the language and the correctness, the structure is still there,' says the creator of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in the Hindu Literary Review .

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Today is the last day of the month in the Hindu calendar, from tomorrow begins the month of Shravan, during which many Hindus abstain from alcohol and non-vegetarian food. It's a day of indulgence for many people, a last chance to drink yourself silly till you fall into a gutter. That's why it's called Gutteri Amavas, the night of the gutters. Happy drinking!

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In Mumbai street talk, things don't happen by chance, they happen 'luck by chance'. And now in Bandra, the locals have a new spin on this colloquial expression: over here, things happen 'luck by fuck'.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1123054996631736712005-08-03T13:13:00.000+05:302005-08-03T13:28:35.356+05:30

Libran Lover warns outsiders off this supposedly quintessential Bangalore phrase, which means 'Please adjust a little'.You are using that phrase because you have either already done something that requires you to apologize to a Bangalorean or you are about to impose on him/her. Don't make it worse for the poor Bangalorean by throwing in that phrase in your pathetic accent. Hearing that phrase

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1122725673343464122005-07-30T17:44:00.000+05:302005-07-30T22:49:53.430+05:30

Recently, I've been intrigued by mentions of Benglish in the UK press. It sounds quite unlike anything an Indian would call Benglish or Bonglish: this new variety has been described as a London vernacular that crosses West Indian patois with the Sylheti dialect spoken by East End Bangladeshis. That's about all the information I've found, apart from a review of Tony White's Foxy-T which quotes the

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Baboo Jabberjee, BA, was a character created by the English humorist F. Anstey for Punch, an Indian law-student in England who has learnt his English from books and speaks in absurdly inflated phrases. (He describes himself as 'saturated to the skin of his teeth in best English masterpieces of immaculate and moderately good prose extracts'). Anstey's Punch sketches were compiled into a book in

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1122111813976128332005-07-23T14:59:00.000+05:302005-07-23T15:13:34.173+05:30

Nitin Karani's pointed out that an earlier post seems to be missing - I must have deleted it while I was clearing out some unused drafts. Here's an excerpt I found in my notes:Tariq Rahman, speculating about Akbar’s proficiency in Indian dialects in Language, Ideology and Power, notes that the great Mughal used a Hindustani obscenity on at least one occasion. On Abul Fazl’s testimony, when Akbar

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1121866101421993122005-07-20T18:58:00.000+05:302005-07-20T20:08:09.333+05:30

Bollywood's Hall of Shame should have a room reserved for all the veteran Urdu poets who have attempted songs in Hinglish. Your average Bollywood hack can write songs like 'Meri pant bhi sexy' and get away with it, but mixing English with literary Urdu is like pouring Coke on caviar (not to mention that it's downright embarrassing when a Javed Akhtar or a Gulzar tries to get jiggy). You can't but

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1121793907669414622005-07-19T22:55:00.000+05:302005-07-20T20:11:51.356+05:30

Joie De Vivre asks: 'So much babada bibada over this thing called Hinglish... how come no one is mentioning Tinglish?'

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One of the wonderful things about English as it is spoken in south India is the way it acquires an alien music. I once asked a stranger in the street for directions and was told to keep going straiiiighta. It was the most remarkable pronunciation of the word I’d ever heard: the tongue curled back on the t to stretch the diphthong as far as it would go and then moved forward swiftly to tap on the

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1121412761525344902005-07-15T13:02:00.000+05:302005-07-15T15:29:35.680+05:30

Jamyang Norbu, author of The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes has a five-part essay in the Times of Tibet which attempts to refute propaganda myths about the Chinese 'modernization' of the Tibetan language. In response to the claim that the language lacked a scientific vocabulary prior to Chinese intervention, Norbu methodically lists every neologism adopted in the early 20th century, demonstrating

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1121346643498479952005-07-14T18:40:00.000+05:302005-07-14T20:24:17.930+05:30

ABCD normally stands for American Born Confused Desi, but this month's Time Out Mumbai provides an alternative Marathi expansion of the acronym.ABCD Acronym used by senior Maharashtrian women to describe women in low-slung jeans: Aga Bai Chaddi Diste. Example: I'm sure she's the one who plays that loud disco-shisko when I'm doing pooja in the morning. She's the only ABCD in the society.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1121243430290732852005-07-13T14:00:00.000+05:302005-07-13T14:36:03.593+05:30

Bangalore slang, mixing Kannada and English. One tharah types are one of a kind, eccentric, idiosyncratic, 'like that only'.Cosmopolitan people, you think? Yeah, they're a mixed bag. Different, one-tharah types. Not so hard-and-fast. A chill crowd, like. Doing ultra-cool things chumma, simply, for no reason other than to do it. (Lavanya Sankaran, The Red Carpet)Sankaran has a good ear for

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1121092604945047792005-07-12T20:06:00.000+05:302005-07-11T21:04:29.353+05:30

Manmohan Singh, distinguished economist, politician, Prime Minister... and now, stand-up comedian?Dr Singh, who received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater Oxford University, had an audience of professors and students in splits when he said that Indians had experimented with the Queen's English, which is now 'just another Indian language'. The choice of prepositions may not always be the

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1121069861486197232005-07-12T13:47:00.000+05:302005-07-11T14:59:14.233+05:30

'Kidnap Aunty' is what the Indian media is calling Amishi Vaish, conspirator in the Vaibhav Agarwal ransom case. "The Amishi mess-up", comments Bachi Karkaria, "endorses my theory that 'Aunty' suffers from a permanent bad-hair day, unlike the always coiffed 'Aunt'."Only colonial hangovers such as the Parsis and some Christian communities have 'Aunts'; all the rest only have 'Aunties'. But it's

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1121031975977761812005-07-11T03:16:00.000+05:302005-07-11T14:55:19.513+05:30

The ever excellent Double-Tongued Word Wrester examines thulp, a slang word that must be part of every IIT-M guy's vocabulary. I've heard it used most often to describe the act of consuming vast quantities of food: for some reason I always associate it with eating thair sadam with the hands. Need I add that this usage is almost exclusively South Indian? Thalpu : Eat rather, Gobble. eg. 'Thalp it

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1120744531586043032005-07-07T19:23:00.000+05:302005-07-07T19:45:57.900+05:30

Vishy's Indian English Dictionary covers the vocabulary of Indian matrimonial advertisements - including a word that is usually reserved for household pets.DomesticatedNot used in the 'When were dogs domesticated?' sense, domesticated is a term applied in particular to prospective brides that indicates a good sense for maintaining a home and cooking good food for her prospective husband.It's a

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1120588354321520002005-07-06T00:02:00.000+05:302005-07-06T02:37:34.333+05:30

Shri S.C. Malhotra, Chief Parliamentary Reporter, and Shri P. Kulasekharan, Supervisory Sr. Parliamentary Reporter, have unenviable jobs: according to the Lok Sabha website, they are 'officers responsible for supply of the information for Wit and Humour, Poetry and Couplets'. They take their work seriously, trawling through transcripts of parliamentary proceedings for the anecdotes compiled on

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1120554244022805162005-07-05T14:34:00.000+05:302005-07-06T01:36:08.340+05:30

The variety of Tamil spoken on dubbed television shows, named after the serial Junoon which used to air on Doordarshan's Metro channel. Typically, the original Hindi dialogue is translated by hacks who tend to translate idioms literally. The exigencies of dubbing impose awkward constructions, resulting in a language which bears little resemblance to colloquial Tamil. The term also seems to be

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1119824307618407922005-06-27T03:48:00.000+05:302005-06-27T03:55:22.303+05:30

This is my secret ambition: I want to write photo-stories for Crime & Detective magazine. (This panel is from a story in the July issue called 'Being Wife of a Gigolo'. The wanton seductress goes on to seal his heart with her burning lips, so that the fish of desire sleeping inside his body becomes alive and fluttering and starts dancing in frenzy. He jumps into the battlefield of passion. She

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1119503246585234682005-06-23T10:37:00.000+05:302005-06-24T12:21:44.116+05:30

An Indian English contraction of the idiom 'to learn by heart' used as a verb, e.g. ‘Miss told us to by-heart the lesson by tomorrow’. If you know something by heart, you understand and remember it perfectly. 'By-hearting', on the other hand, implies learning by rote. It's what you do when you when you’ve bunked classes all year and exams are coming up. It’s cramming, it’s memorizing entire

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1119211748929007942005-06-20T01:39:00.000+05:302005-07-03T21:58:58.536+05:30

The Dick & Garlick Award for the Most Innovative Use of Multiple Languages in a Single Line goes to lyricist Kaviraj for this song from the Upendra movie Omkara: Goli maro ee society-geGoli maro rowdyism-igeGoli maro duniya-geTake a closer look at that second line, goli maro rowdyism-ige. That's three words, three languages: Kannada, Hindi slang and Babu English living together in perfect harmony

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1119172864404997002005-06-19T14:46:00.000+05:302005-06-19T14:51:04.410+05:30

Double-Tongued Word Wrester has a piece on the Nigerian term for a street thug, area boy. Reminds me of our very own area ke heroes.

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Life is hard in Mumbai's underworld, what with all those encounter killings and all. So when insult is added to injury, even the toughest gangster may throw up his hands.Dreaded gangster Anil Parab ‘Vangya’ filed an application in court stating that he should be strictly called by name, without the ‘demeaning’ suffix, Vangya. (In Marathi, vangya means a brinjal). Said Parab’s lawyer Vivek Sudade.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1118905534056323222005-06-16T12:35:00.000+05:302005-06-17T10:53:02.556+05:30

The BBC and the Oxford English Dictionary are asking logophiles to help rewrite the 'greatest book in the English Language'. Armchair word-detectives have been invited by the BBC Wordhunt to find proof of the origin of fifty mysterious words. Balti and tikka masala are both on the list: if you feel like disputing the claim that these items were concocted in some Bangladeshi restaurant in

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1118645213726579142005-06-13T12:16:00.000+05:302010-05-29T12:03:24.228+05:30

The Maharashtra government has framed new rules for dance bars in the city which prohibit the serving of alcohol. Today's Mid-Day reports that the state's restrictions have given birth to a new kind of pick-up joint.With thousands of bargirls desperate for survival, the state could see a huge boom in sleazy pick-up joints, known as pakdu (silent) bars.. They are dimly-lit places with blaring

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1118321411221267872005-06-09T18:20:00.000+05:302005-06-09T18:29:52.456+05:30

is Sify's blunt headline for the Collins story.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1118260433048007162005-06-09T01:23:00.000+05:302005-06-10T03:26:53.330+05:30

The Bezels of Wisdom has an interesting post on the hybrid Urdu-English that is becoming popular in Pakistan. Of course, Urdish or Engdu, or whatever you choose to call it has much in common with Hinglish, but the slang words are uniquely Pakistani.Some English words have totally localised meanings. Take 'burger' for example. A TV show of the 80s assumed that a burger was the apogee of western

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1118248858184404302005-06-08T22:10:00.000+05:302005-06-09T00:06:40.956+05:30

Yes, it's time to balle balle all the way from Amritsar to LA - a whole new bunch of Indian words like filmi, desi and chuddie have entered the English language, via the Collins English Dictionary. Yahoo India News reports that the latest edition of Collins, to be published Thursday, is 'full of unusual and unexpected Indian words, thanks to popular Asian culture'. Many of the new words have a

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1118177325863232272005-06-08T02:18:00.000+05:302010-05-29T12:00:33.540+05:30

Just when did ‘Bollywood’ become a synonym for the Hindi film industry? The word entered common parlance sometime in the 90s, though of course it was in use earlier than that. The standard explanation of the word's origins attributes its creation to an apocryphal film journalist who is said to have coined the term in the late 70s: many people assume this refers to Shobha De, then editor of

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1117805940229968802005-06-03T18:46:00.000+05:302005-06-09T14:26:04.756+05:30

To the Google user who landed up here searching for a definition of 'gandu': I'm sorry you didn't find what you were looking for, but allow me to make amends. This is what my Hindi dictionary (Brihat Hindi Kosh, Gyan Mandal) has to offer:Gandu, adj. One who is addicted to being sodomized (the original reads 'jise gudabhanjan karane ki lat ho'); weak-hearted; good-for-nothing; cowardly.By the way,

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1117802375558084322005-06-03T18:06:00.000+05:302005-06-03T18:09:35.566+05:30

Eunice De’Souza provides an example of mack talk (Chapel Road is located in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra):We speak a khichdi English. Just how khichdish it can get can be seen in this example which a friend’s brother gave me of what he called Chapel Road English. It’s a line expressing admiration for a young woman, Peter’s sister. The first word is an abbreviation of a Marathi obscenity, the rest

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1117644194598881792005-06-01T22:13:00.000+05:302005-06-09T14:27:56.140+05:30

An Indian English colloquialism in which the M stands for money. It can be used as a nudge-nudge-hint-hint euphemism for bribes and speed money, or to cynically acknowledge the factor that makes the world go round. A phrase for greasy babus and elderly Uncles.Every political leader needs Vitamin M (money) to run a party. If they refuse bribes, where will they raise party funds from! said a

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1117627723819545882005-06-01T17:38:00.000+05:302005-06-01T17:59:48.423+05:30

Beware of the Blog (May 25, 2005) finds a reason to sit through 'Bride and Prejudice':The film's sole claim to fame is in affording mainstream exposure to a word that has long languished in the realm of domestic slang, when Nadira Babbar admonishes Lakhi about her revealing outfit saying 'We want Balraj to look into Jaya's eyes not your mammes'.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1117587340730858472005-06-01T06:25:00.000+05:302005-06-01T16:50:30.886+05:30

'Bonjour maa' is a hybrid French-Tamil expression that translates as 'Good day, dear lady'. It is 'one of the most frequently heard greetings in Pondichery' and also the title of a linguistic study by Leena Kelkar-Stephan that describes the results of the encounter between French and Tamil in the erstwhile colony.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1117542555551547662005-05-31T17:59:00.000+05:302005-06-09T14:54:48.160+05:30

I was looking through a list of referring sites when I realized that most of the people who've viewed this blog were searching on Google for pesarattu recipes, or the best way to make lentil soup, or a nice Gujarati vegetarian dish with papdi on top... in short, it's all those references to Indian food that brought them here. Well, if that's what it's going to take to get some hits..You are my

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1117540411407397502005-05-31T17:23:00.000+05:302005-06-13T23:48:40.740+05:30

Mumbai's new tabloid, the Mumbai Mirror, provides updates on current city slang. This is from today's issue (May 31, 2005):Matlab ki ulti kar (get to the point): Ok, now that you have done with the polite chit-chat, matlab ki ulti kar.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1116834539013149572005-05-23T13:18:00.000+05:302005-06-09T14:31:10.100+05:30

'Vernac' is Bombay college lingo for a student schooled in an Indian regional language, a slang abbreviation of the word ‘vernacular’, which my dictionary defines as the native language or dialect of a country (the word’s roots lie in the Latin word for a home-born slave, verna). In the administrative jargon of the Raj, all modern Indian languages were classified as vernaculars to distinguish

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1100863924043094062004-11-19T17:02:00.000+05:302004-11-20T11:49:31.853+05:30

Just what is nylon sev? I assume it’s a regional speciality and not a pair of stockings from the Harrods lingerie department. (Review of The Oberoi-Penguin Celebrity Cookbook, Hindustan Times, 24 February, 2000)Sev is the familiar crunch fried snack made from gram flour. It can be thick as noodles, or more commonly, thin as vermicelli. These days, with the use of modern sev extruders (yes, these

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1100807140204737382004-11-19T01:15:00.000+05:302004-11-19T01:17:18.616+05:30

Interesting essay by Ramachandra Guha on bilingualism in the pre-Hinglish generation.

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1100551128910342922004-11-16T01:32:00.000+05:302005-06-09T14:33:58.570+05:30

'Something black in the lentils' is a facetiously literal translation of the Hindi idiom 'daal mein kuchh kaala hai', which is the Indian way of saying there's something fishy going on. The earliest use of the phrase I remember is from the 1975 film Prem Kahani, which featured an Anglicized character (did he play Mumtaz's father?) who was fond of pointing out that there was 'something black in

R Devrajnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714948.post-1099515796323169342004-11-04T02:23:00.000+05:302005-06-09T14:38:06.056+05:30

One of the characteristics of Indian English that sets it apart from British or American English is the manner in which it mixes registers of language. We are ruled by babus, and their jargon has made its way into our everyday speech. For instance, issueless would be considered legalese in most varieties of English, but in India you will find it used rather casually in matrimonial advertisements.

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