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Indian English

How many of us keep hearing a lot of familiar but not-so-proper English language usage day-in-day-out? Here, I have jotted down some of the most commonly used or overused words/phrases in India. I'm sure you would have come across these.

1) "Doubt":
A professor asks his class, if they understood everything that was taught today and our bespectacled guy gets up and says "Sir, I have a doubt?"
A what? "doubt"???
Probably the bespectacled guy had a 'Question'. The correct way to frame the sentence is, "Sir, I have a question? or a query?".
When someone says, they have a doubt, it means they are kinda doubting the professor's knowledge in the subject matter. When you have a question, all you need is a little more insight to the subject that was taught.

2) "You do one thing":
When a person asks you a question & your reply begins with "Do one thing", then you are definitely doing it 100% wrong.
There is nothing called as "Do one thing". It is not a proper usage.
Invariably, any person who starts a sentence with "Do one thing" ends up giving you, not just one but a lot more to do.
An example would be,
Domestic Help: Madam ji, should I run to the super market & buy veggies for today?
Madam ji:  You do one thing,  first get me a cup of tea,  fix a sandwich for Amit,  pick Akshata from day-care & then go get veggies.
Do you see the point? So, do not use this in your day to day conversation.

3) "Revert"
We use the word 'revert' expecting a 'reply' or 'response'. As per dictionary, 'revert' means "to return to a former state"
So when you ask your colleague to "Please revert as soon as possible", you are actually asking him to "go back to his seat (or) to go back to whatever he was doing". For an example, he could go back to his desk and continue his dream about 'Sunny Leone' , I'm sure you do not want him to do that. So 'please revert' does not mean "finish your work & update me on the outcome".

4) "Myself"
When asked to introduce ourselves to a new team, some say "Myself Pavithra & I have this many years of experience. I work in this technology and so on.....". This is not cool.
If you want to tell your name, just say "My name is Pavithra ..…" instead of  "Myself Pavithra....."

5) "Basically"
According to me, this is the most overused word in the history of Indian English. I use it too. As per dictionary  "basically" means "fundamentally".
Why do we need the word "basically" in the following sentence?
Rani: I'm going to Hyderabad tonight, basically to see a dentist & fix my teeth.
Pavan: Oh really, I basically fix my teeth myself, LOL.
Get it? So, do not use this word in the above context.

6) "Would be"
How many times have we heard the word "would-be" from a blushing bride-to-be?
Concerned-guy:  Hey Mridula, How is Ankit doing?
Bride-to-be, Mridula:  Ohh, you are asking about my "would-be", he is working in Malaysia & doing just fine.
Instead of saying "would-be", we can very well say fiancé(groom-to-be) or fiancée(bride-to-be).

Hope you had some fun! Do leave a comment, if you have any other over-used Indian words to share.

Image courtesy: somewhere from internet

Comments

  1. JulieMarch 5, 2013 at 6:53 AM

    These are true contexts that u have brought out:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pavithra RMarch 5, 2013 at 7:58 AM

      Thanks Julie, I'm glad you enjoyed reading this!!

      Delete
  2. Sanjay VermaMarch 6, 2013 at 12:14 AM

    Very true :)
    There are many more such wrong usage of English in our day-to-day speaking (me being no exception), and though it is happening all around us, all the time but still its a real (hard)work to list them and to write about them :)

    Though would like to add a point........ we English speaking Indians are too hard (upon ourselves) and always (maybe sometimes only) comparing our speaking / writing with our (real) English counterparts. Lets also think about those nationalities who are very very poor in English. Japan, which is one of the most advanced nation as well as so much globalized, is so poor in English. Only a few Japanese, are just good enough for slow / halting conversation in English and I am talking about well educated technical persons.

    Point is we should not be too harsh on ourselves :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pavithra RMarch 6, 2013 at 1:23 AM

      That is an honest feed back on the blog. Appreciate it, Sanjay!!
      Yes, we should not be too harsh on ourselves. The idea of writing this one in particular is that we do not realize 'ever' that we are making the mistake because they are not grave or fatal mistakes and they are grammatically correct, but the context of usage is incorrect. That is it, I just wanted to pass my observation & make the readers have some fun too.
      Thanks for tumbling on to my blog :-)

      Delete
  3. Sanjay VermaMarch 6, 2013 at 12:22 AM

    Ohh...... I had forgotten to tell you...... You have a nice blog and I am happy that I had tumbled onto it, while roaming onto google +.

    Though only a few ingredient of this Potpourri is of interest to me :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pavithra RMarch 6, 2013 at 1:30 AM

      Thanks Sanjay!! Appreciate your kind & honest words :-)
      I visited your G+ account couple of minutes ago & I can see what intrigues you!!
      Politicians!! yes - they do intrigue me. I will write something about the most unpredictable human breed, when I get a hunch.

      Delete
  4. Beena.stephyMarch 10, 2013 at 10:58 PM

    Hi Pavithra , this is a good read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pavithra RMarch 10, 2013 at 11:19 PM

      Hei thanks Beena!!
      You have a wonderful blog yourself. My goodness you must have too much patience to work on those arts & crafts!! It was lovely seeing the creations!! But I must admit, I'm not as patient as you!!
      Also the food blog was picture perfect.

      Delete

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