Indian English

This is Indian English

No, I am not talking of the words Indian languages have contributed to English or the ones accepted in the English dictionaries like guru, cot, juggernaut, chutney, pyjama.

I am not talking of khichdi - using English words while speaking regional Indian languages.

I am not talking of Indianising English words like narbhasana i.e. being nervous or roadulu (road in Telugu).

I am not talking of Indian pronunciations iskool, sakul ( for school), sult, sirrt (both for shirt) not am I mentioning the mistakes in tense or grammar.

I am not talking of English translation of words from our regional languages which we confidently pepper our English with, causing furrows on the foreheads of ‘native’ English speakers.

I am not talking of spelling or grammatical errors, often causing much mirth to the reader. 

I am talking of our creativity, the English words we have coined and which are assimilated in our English so well that we do not realize that they do not exist in English language and people who speak English as their mother tongue might not be familiar with them. As soon as you type them on Microsoft word file, they get underlined in red indicating spelling error.

Some of these words can be found in Wiktionary or Urban Dictionary. I am no Grammar Nazi so I am optimistic that some of them might finally find a spot in the English lexicon some day. After all, we are enriching the language, isn’t it?

The list must be very long, I am sure and most of you would recall more such words, but I can only ask for this much of your time and indulgence.

·    Prepone: We found the one word, the opposite of ‘postpone’ to convey that something planned for a certain time will be held earlier than that. It is used in all forms of communication, particularly official ones, in India.

·  Do the needful: This is one instruction those working in Government or company offices are familiar with. Anything that needs to be done, should be done, means this instruction. I am not sure though if it also implies that you should stick to doing only what is required and not go above and beyond this limit.

·     Updation :  “We are sending the file for updation,” has been a common missive to me during my translation and editing work. What they mean is they are sending it for an update, but they have formed another noun from the word update.

·   Upgradation: Similarly, the word upgradation does not find a place in the dictionary, but we have further formed a noun from the noun upgrade. According to Cambridge Dictionary – upgrade, a noun, ‘is a piece of software or equipment that improves the usefulness/quality of a computer or machine or an occasion when someone is given something of a better standard, or newer, for example a better seat 

on a plane, a better room in a hotel, or a new phone.’ Yet we gleefully use it for upgradation of schools/ airports/pay scales.

·      Cousin sister/ brother: According to Oxford Dictionary a 'cousin' is a child of one's uncle or aunt.  Doesn’t that mean son and/or daughter? Or it our deeply embedded gender bias that we mention whether the cousin is male or female.

·    Return back: Return means the act of coming or going back, so how can anyone return back? Those of you who saw English Vinglish  may recall Sridevi’s English teacher pointing out to her in the last scene that it is not return back.

·   Passing out of college: Pass out according to Cambridge English Dictionary means ‘to become unconscious for a short time e.g. when ill, badly hurt or drunk.’ Although the British use it  to mean ‘leaving a   military college after successfully finishing the course,’ too we use it for completing graduation. When did you pass out (of college), is a common question.  

·    Cheatercock: Simply means a cheater or one who cheats. Oxford Dictionary says “cheater is a person who acts dishonestly in order to gain advantage”. In our childhood we have all heard little boys and girls singing in chorus-cheater, cheater for someone who was not completely honest in a game but how did the poor rooster get connected with it, I have no idea.  

·      Wouldbe: I might be wrong but I have noticed that wouldbe is one of the words all those people who take pride in using English words say. The Indian language equivalents are rarely used. Instead wouldbe is the word used for fiancé or fiancée with whom one is engaged to be married. Maybe over the years the husband and wife in would be husband or would be wife were dropped for the sake of ease or shortage of time (Much like typing K for Ok and tks for thanks?)   

·  Myself: Cambridge Dictionary says myself is “used when the subject of the verb is ‘I’ and the object is the same person as in I bought myself a new coat. I myself don't like a heavy meal at lunchtime (used to emphasize ‘I’ as the subject of a sentence). My husband and myself were delighted with the gift, (used instead of ‘I’ or ‘me’). And yet it is very common to hear somebody introduce himself, “Myself Anupama,” Instead of “I am Anupama.”

·   Byheart: Now this is how today’s exercise had started. An old friend and colleague from my days in Hyderabad rang up. During our conversation the topic cropped up how because of saving phone numbers on mobiles, we remember very few numbers these days. What gladdened my heart was that she remembered my number i.e. she had ‘by-hearted’ it. The word brought back memories of my good times in that city and also how I never had the guts to point out that you remember something by heart, but you cannot use it as a verb. This also takes me to the next word on my list.

·   Wantedly: A very common word I heard in the days mentioned above was wantedly which was to convey the meaning of ‘deliberately’ e.g. a colleague wantedly  not helping in a project so hat you dd not succeed

·  Out of station: In Indian English it simply means one is out of town. According to ‘TechWelkin’, “the East India Company used to post its officers to particular ‘stations’. When they used to be out from their duty stations –the officers used to be referred to as “out of station”.

·    Foreign-return (or returned): is the adjective used for somebody who has lived in a foreign country for some time and returned to India. Before the term NRI came in use, some people preferred ‘foreign-return’ boys as grooms.

·      Felicitate/felicitation: According to Cambridge Dictionary to felicitate means “to praise someone and say that you approve of or are pleased about a special or unusual achievement: The entire organisation should be felicitated. While felicitation is ‘an expression used to wish someone happiness, or to praise or show approval.’ May I offer my felicitations on your engagement?' But don’t we use it in the sense of honouring by presenting mementoes and flowers?

·    Marriage anniversary: Marriage is a relationship, wedding is the function in which this relation is solemnized. So it is the anniversary of the wedding i.e. the day the function took place. Come to think of it, a marriage starts with the wedding.

·      Mention not: The reply to ‘Thank you’ is ‘Don’t mention it’. But I have no idea how and why we have shortened it to mention not. 

·   Take leave:  To say goodbye to (someone) and depart. (Merriam Webster Dictionary). It was late when they finally took leave of their friends and headed home. Yet we use it to ask for leave from work. E.g. He took leave for four days.

·      Saloon: Saloon (US) is a bar or pub where people go for drinks. Alternatively in UK English it is a car with seats for four or five people two or four doors and a separate area at the back for bags, boxes and suitcases. But we often confuse it with salon which a room or a shop where you can get a particular service, especially connected with beauty or fashion (a beauty/hair/hairdressing salon).

·     Himalayan blunder: Blunder means a serious mistake and a Himalayan one on that, it must be worse than serious, after all. We Indians are proud of our sentry, the Himalayas, and comparing a serious mistake to the Himalayas perhaps expresses its magnitude and ramifications. Maybe the word came into being because of John Dalvi’s controversial book Himalayan Blunder, about the Indo-Sino War of 1962. Mahatma Gandhi is said to have used the expression Himalayan Miscalculation in his article of April 14, 1919 while writing about the civil disobedience movement and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. http://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/eduresources/article4.html 

We are still in the process of coining new expression like ‘the below lines’ for the lines below or the following lines.

          

  Yes, as in it is Mr Sharma's period now. / I missed my chemistry period (not     lecture or class).  

                 ·     She is very proudy (a vain girl).

·    This is only for time pass (for whiling away time).

·      He does daily up-down (for commuting).

·      Indians don’t move to a new house, they shift.

·    We are so impressed with Xerox having monopoly in the business of photocopying that we have made Xerox a verb as in ‘Get the letter Xeroxed.’

·    Besides someone 'who is in  charge of an organisation and who tells others what to do” if we address somebody as boss merely because he is older or senior in age, we do not invite frowns in India.

·  Similarly, to give respect to somebody we add  ‘ji’ . Mr Modi is not respectful enough, so it has to be Modiji. I believe that  POTUS would merrily be addressed as Trumpji in  a public meeting in our country and nobody would raise an eyebrow.

·   The topper is Sirji. If somebody from Haryana/Punjab/Rajasthan calls you Sirji, you are sure he genuinely respects you, but otherwise I am confused. Do you think this form of address came into use after the movie Kaho Na Pyar Hai came in which Anupam Kher was addressed as Sirji? 

That should be enough angrezi  gyan (knowledge of English) for today. Bye till next Saturday when I plan to dig out English translation of Indian words we use in our English and which I believe should be more fun to read than this one.