Comments on: Hinglish of India – Indian idioms and phrases

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:52:29 +0000

Thanks Clara and LA.. both good suggestions. I will keep them in my arsenal.

I really like this article… do you mind me writing a primer with more tips and refer back to you?

By: LA

LA — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 03:36:10 +0000

Really funny post! Love the “Tell me!” expression.. Hahaha!! Straight to the point! WIll start answering my phone like this beginning tomorrow morning…

Personally, I also wouldn’t mind if everyone used “good name” & “ji”… why not? sounds more polite this way..

@Jennifer: I think the word u were looking for was “continental”

By: admin

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:19:19 +0000

Thanks Clara for sharing the UK side.

By: Clara

Clara — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:56:27 +0000

Oh, and I am not sure about in the USA but in Britain we say “give me a ring” for a telephone call, it won’t confuse anyone.

Specs for glasses is common in the UK, more common that “eye-glasses” which is very American.

Referring to another person as boss if they are not your boss is to be particularly avoided, as men in prison in the UK call prison staff and other males in authority “boss” – you don’t want people to think that’s where you learned it!

By: Clara

Clara — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:49:08 +0000

More common way of referring to “mainland” America as in the parts of the USA which are not Alaska & Hawaii is the “lower 48 states”. If you don’t need to make it specifically clear you didn’t go to Alaska and Hawaii then just America is fine.

“Issue” comes from early English, around 1580 in Britain. The word was used a lot in the context of various things being “issued forth” and a child, particularly of royalty, was referred to as an issue. Particularly with matters of inheritance, a first child is more likely to be referred to as an issue as there is now definitely someone to inherit the family estate. You may have as many children and heirs as you want, but only “an issue” is necessary in matters of inheritance. It’s easy to see how that could then go on to mean all of the children.

By: Ashley Alfred

Ashley Alfred — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:41:45 +0000

Amazingly funny article. But it’s true that we have devised a language of our own in India, known as Hinglish.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:21:28 +0000

Thanks Anupam, for clarifying the ‘issue’!
regards.

By: Anupam Malhotra

Anupam Malhotra — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:51:44 +0000

Good article. One clarification though…”issue-less divorce” refers to a divorce where there are no kids involved, i.e., the couple never conceived children. Although, that should reduce the complexities of a divorce, that is really not the reason it’s described as issue-less. I’m not sure why but for some reason Indians (especially of the older generation) refer to children as “issues” and it is not uncommon for an elder being introduced to a new couple to ask whether they have any issues

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:29:51 +0000

Another superb post!

Talking about translating other English into American English, I was offered a challenge from a Japanese… She told me she’s been to ‘mainland’ America.. but this word ‘mainland’ isn’t really used for America – I only heard it in relation to China. Any word in America to say ‘mainland’? I thought of inland (again not really used) or ‘heart land’ but that seems to be only for mid west.. not in from shore in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia…and etc etc. !!!