fineleg Posted December 20, 2008 Posted December 20, 2008 Your Good Name? is very Indian as well, it seems like an insult here. What can I do you for :haha: You know British Airways ( back in 90's ) had a little pocket book of Americanism for students heading over there. It had everything from "what's up to hiya " Dunno abt British Airways - but there was an email or a "Guide" that kept floating from students in America (some ex-IIT folkz had written it) - it was equivalent to an "All you wanted to know but were afraid to ask" - Introduction to US and Campus life for Indian students. I had a print out of that, and it was written in a witty manner. Wonder if there is an online electronic version available now? Will go try and dig through papers to see if that can be found, or maybe I just threw it away. It had some real witty remarks and anecdotes, much like what shewatabh has written above.
fineleg Posted December 20, 2008 Posted December 20, 2008 My VERY first time in the grocery store: "Paper or Bag"? me: huh? "Paper or Bag"? me: :hmmmm: (is she asking me if I want a newspaper? in a bag? or a bag? Blah!) Later I understood: Paper - the brown paper bag they use to bag your grocery and "bag" is plastic bag, and its a choice we need to make till this very day even today when I enter a grocery store.
Rajiv Posted December 20, 2008 Posted December 20, 2008 Doggy Bag - I remember seeing an Indian taking offense to it, the restaurant owner ( Indian as well ) threw him out
coffee_rules Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 For here or to go ? In fast food joints. It took me a while to understand she is asking if I wanted to eat in the joint or take it home. petrol bunk might be "Indian" alone. How about "By the By"?
fineleg Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 For here or to go ? In fast food joints. It took me a while to understand she is asking if I wanted to eat in the joint or take it home. petrol bunk might be "Indian" alone. How about "By the By"? :hysterical:
ludhianvi Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Man' date=' you all are really fresh[/quote'] is that a compliment or what? fresh==> cool? another one .... this one I saw in a movie called American Desi. The guy asks for a rubber in class. It supposedly means something else.... What he meant was an eraser to erase something that he wrote in his book. I'll admit I have done that :hysterical:
fineleg Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 is that a compliment or what? fresh==> cool? another one .... this one I saw in a movie called American Desi. The guy asks for a rubber in class. It supposedly means something else.... What he meant was an eraser to erase something that he wrote in his book. I'll admit I have done that :hysterical: :haha:
DomainK Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Yes. After some Googling, now I am convinced that prepone indeed originated from India and is used widely in India only. Just as I typed, my spell checker red-underlined the word "prepone" indicating a spelling mistake. My bloody spell checker has so much to learn. I just added a word to my spell checker's vocabulary.
fineleg Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Yes. After some Googling' date=' now I am convinced that prepone indeed originated from India and is used widely in India only. Just as I typed, my spell checker red-underlined the word "prepone" indicating a spelling mistake. My bloody spell checker has so much to learn. I just added a word to my spell checker's vocabulary.[/quote'] prepone is not part of the English language - it is an Indian creation. I had a teacher who used to underline it in Red if any of us wrote an essay with that word in it (long before the software spellcheckers underlined it in Red) Also - the way some Indians pronounce tortoise is fun - its tortis - but in india some say it as Tor-Taais
Cricketics Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Calling "ZEE" as "Zed" was some experience for me. there was this multiple choice practice assignment. the answers were labeled with alphabets. kept saying the professor "The Answer is Zed" and he kept asking me "Whatz that?"
Predator_05 Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Indian english is retarded. I had a fair bit of trouble understanding people in my first few months of Indian school. The class nerd (although there were more of him) would ask me something like, "Zo, are you reddy to tekk the paper tomurrow" and he would be met with a confused reaction from me. I had no clue that the word 'paper' meant 'exam' or 'test'. This is why i failed my first ever exam (in Social Studies, i think it was). On the day of the exam, I brought some paper handed out in class thinking it was going to be discussed or something. Smooth, eh.
ludhianvi Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Indian english is retarded. I had a fair bit of trouble understanding people in my first few months of Indian school. The class nerd (although there were more of him) would ask me something like, "Zo, are you reddy to tekk the paper tomurrow" and he would be met with a confused reaction from me. I had no clue that the word 'paper' meant 'exam' or 'test'. This is why i failed my first ever exam (in Social Studies, i think it was). On the day of the exam, I brought some paper handed out in class thinking it was going to be discussed or something. Smooth, eh. :hysterical::hysterical: that was total noobness on your part
flamy Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Also - the way some Indians pronounce tortoise is fun - its tortis - but in india some say it as Tor-Taais It is tawr-taw-eez :finger:
Rajiv Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 is that a compliment or what? fresh==> cool? another one .... this one I saw in a movie called American Desi. The guy asks for a rubber in class. It supposedly means something else.... What he meant was an eraser to erase something that he wrote in his book. I'll admit I have done that :hysterical: fresh = fresh of the boat If you have done your schooling in US or traveled a lot then this "Americanism" is not uncommon, that's why u see the catch phrase in many movies where a guy enters Mcdonalds in a Kurta and gets confused with words like "Cash Back" ( no pun intended for Shwetabh ) Predz is Naturalized American AFAIK, not born there
DomainK Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Remember that bengali joke: You phacked our mather land phor 300 eeers. Ve vill phak your mather tongue phar ebhar.
zubinpepsi Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 Remember that bengali joke: You phacked our mather land phor 300 eeers. Ve vill phak your mather tongue phar ebhar. :hysterical::hysterical:
coffee_rules Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 The thread was about phrases, not accents.
gs Posted December 21, 2008 Posted December 21, 2008 How about words in the south like "hisself", "skeered", "git her done", "y'all" ?
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