Badmash! English wears chuddie

[Guest guest]

NOTE:'Asian' in Britain refers to the people of/from the Indian Subcontinent.

 

LONDON: Badmash, changa, chuddie and desi are the latest Indian-origin words to enter the English language, courtesy the Collins English Dictionary.

 

"This is the second wave of words from Indian languages to hit English," said B K Mahal, the Britain-based Asian author and advisor to a Collins team documenting the new movement towards Hinglish - a linguistic fusion of Hindi and English.

 

"From the time when British and Indian cultures first collided in the 17th century, Indian languages have contributed to English vocabulary," she said.

 

Many words of daily use in English are of Indian origin, including words like shampoo, bangle, bungalow, jungle, mantra, pundit and cot. They have figured in all major English-language dictionaries for many years.

 

However, the latest edition of Collins, to be published Thursday, goes a step further by officially acknowledging the role of Hinglish in the evolution of English.

 

The edition is full of unusual and unexpected Indian words - this time thanks to popular Asian culture rather than colonial collision. Many words have a distinct Punjabi flavour.

 

Hinglish words figuring in the dictionary this year include aunti- ji and uncle- ji , freshie (a new immigrant), gora (White), kutta (dog) and kutti (bitch), haramzada and haramzadi (described as bastards or obnoxious/despicable) and yaar (friend).

 

And quite appropriately, there's machi chips - Hinglish for that quintessential English dish, fish n' chips.

 

"Thanks to British-Asian media, the word chuddie (underwear) is now widely known in Britain," said Mahal, referring to the phrase "kiss my chuddies" made famous by the Asian television comedy show "Goodness Gracious Me".

 

"Desi (authentic) and filmi (dramatic) are also used to some extent outside Indian communities," Mahal said.

 

With other TV shows like "The Kumars at Number 42" and "Silver Street" enjoying unprecedented success among mainstream audiences, the official inclusion of Hinglish words in the Collins English Dictionary "marks an exciting development and a new phase of borrowing by English", Collins said.

 

"The beauty of English is that from the earliest times it has been able to incorporate and adapt words from other languages," said editor-in-chief Jeremy Butterfield.

 

"Already, we probably can't get through the day without using several words derived from Indian languages. In the long run, we can expect Hinglish to influence English in many fields, in the same way that Latin and French have over several centuries."