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India jugaads Queen's English

Executioner

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For this jugalbandi, desh ka netas invent new meanings for old words

Cor blimey! Or should one now say 'Baap re baap!' to express astonishment in English. For astonishment does need to be expressed, though there may be some ambiguity about the words in which it is to find expression. According to the compilers of the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (OALD) which vets new verbal entrants into its august fold, words from India make for the largest contribution.

Of the over 2,000 new words in the seventh and eighth edition of the OALD, more than 200 are of desi origin. While many of these derive from the everyday world of the common citizenry - such as 'roti', 'thali', 'bhaji', 'dupatta', 'samosa', etc - not a few come from the more rarified realm of official -- or should that be officious? -- India as represented by its literally and metaphorically high-flying politicians and bureaucrats. A prime example of this is airdash, which can be used both as a noun and a verb, and which signifies an urgently made aeroplane journey, or the act of making it. Other OALD recruits from the lexicon of Indian officialese are 'prepone', the opposite of the conventionally accepted 'postpone', 'undertrial', 'lathi charge' and 'bandobust', which is generally prefixed by the words 'VIP security'.

'Jugaad' - that very special characteristic of the Indian ethos - has yet to make it into the OALD, perhaps because it means different things to different people. For some, the innate Indian genius for jugaad is a virtue, representing creative improvisation and a laudable ability to get whatever job needs doing with whatever means and material are at hand. To others, however, jugaad is a vice, and denotes a makeshift attitude which is only too ready to accept the substandard and the imperfect.

In its connotation of creative innovation or improvisation, jugaad is perhaps most evident in the vocabulary of India's poli-tical class. For example, former power minister Sushilkumar Shinde made use of linguistic jugaad when he described as 'excellent' his record as a power minister the day after the country suffered a nationwide blackout.

The routine definition of 'excellent' is 'surpassing others', generally in a positive way. However, using the semantic judo of jugaad, the ex-power minister has shown us that one can also excel in surpassing others in achieving a failure so total and absolute as to earn itself the cachet of perfection. It remains to be seen what new definitions of customary words Shinde will come up with as minister of home, where not only charity but also jugaad are best said to begin.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi might also have had recourse to jugaad when he offered himself for 'hanging' if found guilty of involvement in the post-Godhra riots. NaMo could well be aware that 'hanging' can involve not just the gallows but also the hall of fame where portraits of the great are proudly made to 'hang'.

Jugaad may have to wait awhile to gain admission into the OALD. But it's much in use in the bhasha of our desh ka netas who are gheraoing the Queen's English.

Source


That means the English is also going to be adulterated, like all the Indian regional and national language. May be this is also an effect of globalisation
 
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The best thing about English is the capacity to absorb words (and thoughts) from other language and culture.
What adultration are you talking about, English is full of foreign words.
 
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The best thing about English is the capacity to absorb words (and thoughts) from other language and culture.
What adultration are you talking about, English is full of foreign words.

If one uses a Sanskrit word in hindi it cannot be fathomed as adulteration because hindi has its roots entrenched firmly in Sanskrit, similarly Greek, Latin and, to an extent, French words make the very core of Eng, even Sanskrit . But Hindi can never be deemed as a natural & homogeneous blend for English.
 
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