Friday, February 18, 2011

Genesis of a word

Global Language Monitor, a Web site that uses a math formula to estimate how often words are created, claims more than 14 words are added to English every day, at the current rate.

Change is a sign of life & for any language to survive, it needs to evolve over generations if not @ what Global Language Monitor says.

Many English words have taken a permanent place in our vocabulary.
Take "time". I don't remember when i have heard "waqt" or "somay" or in any other language.

I have heard an interesting story of 1 English word whose genesis can be traced back to India among many others.
The British settled in India around the then Koli-kata(Kolkata/Calcutta), Sutinati & Gobindopur.
Imagine yourself as an 1800 East India Company official or family staying in or around the place around the British settlement
You wake up one late in the night with people (or natives as they were referred to), screaming "Bollo - Hori - Hori - Boll"
Next day you get to know that when there is death in a Hindu family the dead-body is cremated. And while carrying the dead-body to the river bank for cremation the natives would be screaming that.
For you who have stood in deaths wearing black at the crematorium, the whole concept would be .... Horri-ble


Now that i have completed a lot of random introduction, let me put in some updates as well. I recently came back from a marriage at Hospet.
Congratulations Vijayndra & Samyuktha.

It was one of the best trips i had in recent times.
Thank you Sangeetha for organizing the trip to the finest detail. I believe that everyone enjoyed so much because you ensured that the trip went as per the finest detail.
Any trips i plan or act to organize are messy. I am confident that those are messy because of me.

The best part for me was as always the nights, especially the last night in the train. The following is inspired from it

Hospet railway. A train is at the platform. 1 compartment is nearly filled with the relatives of the groom. Among them travelling is brides’ room-mate of college. Geet.
Shahid the closest cousin of the groom had visited the college & hence knew Geet.
Somewhere near mid night the train stops at a railway station. Shahid gets off the train to buy some water. Geet follows him in search for some tea.
Shahid passes on the water bottles & joins Geet. They are standing at the door of the train & enjoying the steaming hot tea when
Geet : Main aaj tak koi train miss nahi kari
Shahid: Wow
The train blows a whistle
Geet: This is the first time main train main ja rahi hu
The train blows another whistle
Shahid: get in the train
Geet: Mujhe chalti hui train main charna hain
The train blows another whistle & begins to move
The tensed relatives find Geet walking into the coupe with a tea cup & giggling. Concerned they ask where Shahid is.
Geet: Uske upar chay gir gayi
Shahid enters all furious & starts explaining: Geet gave the cup to me to hold & got on the train. Then she took the cup & door "mooch" di
What?!!
Before & after all possible interpretations of "mooch" it dawns upon them that "mooch" is the kannad for close.

Readers please join me in trying to list all places where we can use "mooch". Like... This project needs to be mooched or Post mooch

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Geet: Uske upar chay gir gayi
Geet:Actually--uske upar chay-e giraake main Saif ke saath bhaag gaayi..

Sukumar said...

Looking to hear from you.