Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Ladies Pleej

In my five years in Jharkhand I have come across a lot of english terms used as hindi. The speaker and the listener use it in their conversation often to mean something not originally intended. I have collected a few of these gems. Here goes...

"Pleej akele Ladies hai na" is to refer to a single lady and has been frequently overheard in relation to travel.

"Bahut riks hai" . No I haven't spelled it wrong. This distorted form of risk is used for risk as if it were a hindi word.

"Acha healthy bacha hai ji". Before reach the conclusion that healthy has been incorporated into the hindi language I would like to submit that healthy means fat. Instead of saying "mota ho gaya"the polite way is to say, healthy ho gaye hai. When used in the negative, "health aaj kal kam gaya hai" means you have lost weight!!

"Harassment ho gaya".Dont confuse this with harassment by a person or regime. In Bihari terminology it is a generic term to denote fatigue. Shaadi karane mein harassment ho gaya. Dhoop me itna harassment etc. etc.

Gate. This again is used to describe doors of all kinds. The door of the house, car are all gates!!

Marketing. No, not the degree or the specialisation. The simple act of shopping is called marketing!

"Family ko nahi laye lekin bacchwa aya hai" When I heard this for the first time didn't know what the person was saying. Later I realised family in this lingo is wife!!