Let’s face it, you may have used or even laughed at the following common expressions:<\/p>\n
1. Kindly do the needful<\/h2>\n
This phrase came so naturally to me that I became aware of its being peculiar to India only when I was given this blog post assignment. \u00a0And why not? \u00a0It was what we are taught to write in schools and it should come as no surprise that the\u00a0phrase even appears in Indian books on letter writing!<\/p>\n Short for native place, which is the Indian version of hometown, or where one’s family is from.<\/p>\n It’s considered polite to ask people what their ‘good’ name is. \u00a0‘What’s your name?’ sounds rude and like an\u00a0interrogation. \u00a0 The phrase is probably a transliteration of the Hindi question, “Aap ka shubh naam kya hai<\/em>?”<\/p>\n This may be the most annoying one on our list if you were to ask young Indian women and how they get propositioned online. \u00a0This expression, like the previous one, derives from a transliteration. \u00a0Blame it on the Hindi expression, “Mujhe dosti karoge<\/em>?” (“Would you do friendship with me?”)<\/p>\n When there is a blackout, you might say, “We’ve lost electricity.” \u00a0Or even, “There is no power.” \u00a0What most Indians say is, “There is no current.” \u00a0They may know “electricity,” but it’s always been “current.”<\/p>\n Even the foreign-returned ones adapt and say, “There is no current,” just to be understood. \u00a0After all, it’s about being pragmatic. \u00a0When you’re literally in the dark, it is not the right time to be giving illuminating English lessons to those in the dark.<\/p>\n Said as a reply to someone thanking them, “No mention”\u00a0is a contraction of “Don’t mention it [thank you].” \u00a0Think of it as a polite, energy-efficient way of saying, “No need to thank me.”<\/p>\n If only I earned a rupee for every time I heard a teacher use that expression, I’d never have needed pocket money. \u00a0 It is one more expression borrowed from an Indian language. \u00a0(Hindi: “Sar kha rahaa hai”)<\/p>\n It may surprise many Indians, but timepass is\u00a0not (yet) an officially recognized English word. \u00a0Nevertheless, the word is deeply\u00a0entrenched in our vocabulary.<\/p>\n Ah, it’s so satisfying thinking how many of us have fallen prey to this usage. \u00a0Our favorite sunglasses from childhood, adoringly called cooling glasses. \u00a0What a creative\u00a0expression, conveying both that the glasses keep your eyes cool and also make you look cool.<\/p>\n Po-tay-to. \u00a0Po-tah-to.<\/p>\n Out of town. \u00a0Out of station.<\/p>\n Same thing. \u00a0Get used to it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now for some food for thought. Many of us have laughed at the usage of the above phrases or have been corrected for using them. What exactly is it that makes them \u201cwrong\u201d? Is it merely that the British don\u2019t use them? Granted that it is their language, but every language over the course of history has had to adapt to the needs of its newest speakers when it spread. Following Darwinian theories, if it didn\u2019t adapt, it would die. Much like the grass that survived the storm that felled the great oak, languages have to bend and go with the flow. They pick up new words and idioms, old words pick up new meanings, and take on a life of their own.\u00a0 While some are simply transliterations, others are instances of the language adapting to the local environment.\u00a0 That isn’t reason for them to be looked down upon or laughed at.<\/p>\n The British, while they have popularized their language everywhere, have surprisingly retained the control over what’s kosher and what’s not. They hold the reins and dictate what’s acceptable and what is not. Words like pukka have found their way into the dictionary because the English adopted it, and not because millions of Indians used it as part of their language everyday. Even more remarkably, they have managed to create a stigma of inferiority about anything that is not accepted as part of the Queen’s English, regardless of how widespread the usage is. It is illogical that scientific and professional communities (often groups of no more than thousands) are allowed to create a whole new vocabulary and have them accepted into the fold, while ethno-cultural groups (of even millions) are not.<\/p>\n Read on for an example of how, after\u00a0decades of use by millions of Indians, one creative word\u00a0was grudgingly\u00a0accepted into the OED.<\/p>\n It’s a shame that it took long for prepone<\/em> to gain legitimacy. Even greater shame that I still can’t type prepone without its getting underlined in red. The next time one of those oh-so-smart English speakers corrects your usage of prepone or, for that matter, any word\/expression from Indian English, forward the following eloquent passage to them.<\/p>\n And even after this minor victory, prepone still carries the stigma of being \u201cimproper\u201d English in India, because it was created locally, and not imported from England. It\u2019s time we shook off our colonial hangover and started respecting our identity. We can take a leaf out of the Americans\u2019 book, who simply created their own spellings, words, and expressions in the same language and don’t look to the Brits for approval. Why, I’d love to see the day when Indians mock the British for their <\/em>quaint, stuffy version of the language.<\/p>\n \u00a0Featured image courtesy of Adam Cohn<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Editor’s note:<\/p>\n Indians also have distinct gestures and hand movements that often confuse westerners and lead to misinterpretations of the gestures. Read about them here: 10 Indian Gestures and Their Meanings<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"Kindly](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/kindly-do-the-needful.png\")
\u00a02. I am going to my native<\/h2>\n
![\"Going](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Going-to-my-native-place.png\")
3. What is your good name?<\/h2>\n
![\"good](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/good-name.png\")
<\/p>\n4. I want to do friendship with you<\/h2>\n
![\"I](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/I-want-to-do-friendship-with-you.png\")
5. There is no current<\/h2>\n
6. No mention<\/h2>\n
![\"No](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/No-Mention-1.png\")
7. Eating my head<\/h2>\n
![\"Eating](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Eating-My-Head-1.png\")
8. Timepass<\/h2>\n
![\"Timepass](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Timepass-Edited.png\")
9. Cooling glasses<\/h2>\n
![\"Cooling](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Cooling-glass-edited.png\")
10. Out of station<\/h2>\n
![\"Out](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Out-of-station-edited.png\")
\nNative English speakers brand anyone who doesn\u2019t speak their version of the language as speaking improper English, and it is often an object of amusement for them.<\/p>\nPrepone<\/h2>\n
![\"Prepone\"](\"https:\/\/www.jodi365.com\/singledout\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/prepone-world-englishes.png\")