[Show all top banners]

ktmpost
Replies to this thread:

More by ktmpost
What people are reading
Subscribers
:: Subscribe
Back to: Kurakani General Refresh page to view new replies
 This post about Indians applies to Nepalis as well
[VIEWED 6101 TIMES]
SAVE! for ease of future access.
Posted on 08-31-16 7:23 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 

We are a unique species, aren’t we? Not humans. Indians, I mean. No other race speaks or spells like we do.

Take greetings for example.

A friendly clerk asking me for my name is apt to start a conversation with, “What is your good name?” As if I hold that sort of information close to my heart and only divulge my evil pseudonym. Bizarre.

I call these Indianisms.

Which got me thinking about a compilation, a greatest hits of the most hilarious Indianisms out there. And here they are. The most common ones, and my favorites among them.

1. 'Passing out'

When you complete your studies at an educational institution, you graduate from that institution.

You do not "pass out" from that institution.

To "pass out" refers to losing consciousness, like after you get too drunk, though I’m not sure how we managed to connect graduating and intoxication.

Oh wait … of course, poor grades throughout the year could lead to a sudden elation on hearingyou’ve passed all of your exams, which could lead to you actually "passing out," but this is rare at best.

2. 'Kindly revert'

One common mistake we make is using the word revert to mean reply or respond.

Revert means "to return to a former state."

I can’t help thinking of a sarcastic answer every time this comes up.

“Please revert at the earliest.”

“Sure, I’ll set my biological clock to regress evolutionarily to my original primitive hydrocarbon state at 1 p.m. today."

3. 'Years back'

If it happened in the past, it happened years ago, not "years back."

Given how common this phrase is, I’m guessing the first person who switched "ago" for "back" probably did it years back. See what I mean?

And speaking of "back," asking someone to use the backside entrance sounds so wrong.

“So when did you buy this car?”

“Oh, years back.”

“Cool, can you open the backside? I’d like to get a load in.”

4. 'Doing the needful'

Try to avoid using the phrase "do the needful." It went out of style decades ago, about the time the British left.

Using it today indicates you are a dinosaur, a dinosaur with bad grammar.

You may use the phrase humorously, to poke fun at such archaic speech, or other dinosaurs.

“Will you do the needful?”

“Of course, and I’ll send you a telegram to let you know it's done too.”

5. 'Discuss about'

“What shall we discuss about today?”

“Let’s discuss about politics. We need a fault-ridden topic to mirror our bad grammar.”

You don't "discuss about" something; you just discuss things.

The word "discuss" means to "talk about". There is no reason to insert the word "about" after "discuss."

That would be like saying "talk about about." Which "brings about" me to my next peeve.

6. 'Order for'

"Hey, let’s order for a pizza."

"Sure, and why not raid a library while we’re about it.”

When you order something, you "order" it, you do not "order for" it.

Who knows when or why we began placing random prepositions after verbs?

Perhaps somewhere in our history someone lost a little faith in the "doing" word and added "for" to make sure their order would reach them. They must have been pretty hungry.

7. 'Do one thing'

When someone approaches you with a query, and your reply begins with the phrase "do one thing," you're doing it wrong.

"Do one thing" is a phrase that does not make sense.

It is an Indianism. It is only understood in India. It is not proper English. It is irritating.

There are better ways to begin a reply. And worst of all, any person who starts a sentence with "do one thing" invariably ends up giving you at least five things to do.

“My computer keeps getting hung.”

“Do one thing. Clear your history. Delete your cookies. Defrag your hardrive. Run a virus check. Restart your computer... .”

8. 'Out of station'

“Sorry I can’t talk right now, I’m out of station.”

“What a coincidence, Vijay, I’m in a station right now.”

Another blast from the past, this one, and also, extremely outdated.

What's wrong with "out of town" or "not in Mumbai" or my favorite "I'm not here"?

9. The big sleep

"I’m going to bed now, sleep is coming."

"OK, say hi to it for me."

While a fan of anthropomorphism, I do have my limits. "Sleep is coming" is taking things a bit too far.

Your life isn’t a poem. You don’t have to give body cycles their own personalities.

10. 'Prepone'

“Let’s prepone the meeting from 11 a.m. to 10 a.m.”

Because the opposite of postpone just has to be prepone, right?

"Prepone" is probably the most famous Indianism of all time; one that I’m proud of, and that I actually support as a new entry to all English dictionaries.

Because it makes sense. Because it fills a gap. Because we need it. We’re Indians, damn it. Students of chaos theory.

We don’t have the time to say silly things like "could you please bring the meeting forward."

Prepone it is.

There are many more pure grammatical "gems" in what we call Indian English. Perhaps in time I’ll list some more. And perhaps in the near future, we’ll get better at English.

Till then, kindly adjust.

http://travel.cnn.com/mumbai/life/10-indianisms-652344/


 
Posted on 08-31-16 7:55 AM     [Snapshot: 64]     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 

Ktmpost सर, हो यसरी नई काम न बिकाम को कूराहरू copy paste गरी राखौ।
 
Posted on 08-31-16 8:42 AM     [Snapshot: 140]     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 

ktmpost,
You are jerk and jealous about Indians. Do your own progress.
Can you compete with them? You are portraying some kind of ego and jealousness.


 
Posted on 08-31-16 9:16 AM     [Snapshot: 188]     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     1       ?     Liked by
 

Some of these phrases, i've never heard people use. As for Ktmpost, making fun of indians, lol. You sir should know that indians are miles ahead in english compared to us. You are a tool.
 


Please Log in! to be able to reply! If you don't have a login, please register here.

YOU CAN ALSO



IN ORDER TO POST!




Within last 90 days
Recommended Popular Threads Controvertial Threads
डीभी परेन भने खुसि हुनु होस् ! अमेरिकामाधेरै का श्रीमती अर्कैसँग पोइला गएका छन् !
शीर्षक जे पनि हुन सक्छ।
What are your first memories of when Nepal Television Began?
Sajha Poll: नेपालका सबैभन्दा आकर्षक महिला को हुन्?
NRN card pros and cons?
Basnet or Basnyat ??
निगुरो थाहा छ ??
Nas and The Bokas: Coming to a Night Club near you
TPS Re-registration
अमेरिकामा छोरा हराएको सूचना
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Drawback for applying NRN card
nrn citizenship
Democrats are so sure Trump will win
My facebook archive (for sale)
Top 10 Anti-vaxxers Who Got Owned by COVID
Doctors dying suddenly or unexpectedly since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines
ढ्याउ गर्दा दसैँको खसी गनाउच
Sajha has turned into MAGATs nest
Send Parcels from USA to Nepal & Worldwide.
Nas and The Bokas: Coming to a Night Club near you
NOTE: The opinions here represent the opinions of the individual posters, and not of Sajha.com. It is not possible for sajha.com to monitor all the postings, since sajha.com merely seeks to provide a cyber location for discussing ideas and concerns related to Nepal and the Nepalis. Please send an email to admin@sajha.com using a valid email address if you want any posting to be considered for deletion. Your request will be handled on a one to one basis. Sajha.com is a service please don't abuse it. - Thanks.

Sajha.com Privacy Policy

Like us in Facebook!

↑ Back to Top
free counters