Monday, August 28, 2006

Linguistic Enrichments

M (yours truly) & his roomie are eating curd rice (OK that's the dinner :) ). There is no pickle to go along with it.
R(oomie to M) suddenly remembers something : Hey M, you had some powder ?
M taken aback by this sudden question .. trying to put together what on earth face-powder has to do with curd rice: eh ??
R tries to explain with hand gestures, like he is putting a pinch of salt into his plate.
M (and it cliks): Oh !! you mean chutney ! Yes we have. It's in the fridge :)

What Ms X said : Hey park the car nearly (the visitor centre in Niagara) .
when she actually meant : Park the car close to the visitor centre in Niagara.

Mr X (in the driver's seat): The camera is in the middle.
when he actually meant: The camera is lying in the space between the front seats.
(i really didnt understand it first time i heard it.. i just looked around inside the car and then it clicked)

'Can not be able to' : This is with me for years. I see people around me using it quite frequently completely oblivious to any flaws it might have.
eg. I can not be able to complete the estimate in time if ..
eg. We can not be able to drive if the rain continues this way.
Now someone please confirm if this is correct form of grammar. As far as i know, 'can not' and 'not able to/unable to' should be mutually exclusive. I am open for suggestions. In fact really really open :)


'Curry'
Is there any other word for cooked vegetables, i mean shouldn't there be some distinction in the call names for 'dal, dry sabji, kadhi, sabji with gravy'.
Does anything in liquid or semi-fluid form, other than sambar or rasam that can be taken with rice or chapati, fall in a geralized class of 'curry'.
If 'chapati' is chapati and not tortila neither wheat-bread nor pancake, paratha (or parantha) is paratha, roti is roti then why the heck convert sabji, dal, kadhi (and the rest) into a unified common name of 'curry' :)

Please please please, i m close to desparation to get myself enlightened on this.

'Keep on'
This is another gem. I sincerely wish the 'on' be turned 'off'.
eg. The 'exits' keep on coming.
He keep on talking on the phone all day.
The rain keep on coming.
The exits keep coming, he keeps talking on the phone all day make at least a little more sense to me.


Just some random samples extracted out of my daily dealings. The point here is not to find 'whose is better english'. To be honest, i often fail to interprete what the other person is trying to put across when it's something of the kinds mentioned here.

Thru this post, i m just trying to fill in the communication gap :)

Your opinion?

14 comments:

Id it is said...

If only
words said what they spelt
and
people said what they meant!

GolbGuru said...

Good observation; you do hear this stuff a lot. Personally, I dont mind as long as what needs to be conveyed is conveyed. We r the email generation; words, spellings and grammar and other xtras can b safely 4gotten :)

nku said...

Check out this - http://citymusing.blogspot.com/2006/08/bad-english-contest.html

The Light-House. said...

The best I have heared are.
1.Open the Fan (i.e Switch the fan on)
2.Close the fan (i.e. switch the dam thing off)

Rose said...

lol...

Hmmm..

Wat if ur boss walks up to you and says "I need that business plan yesterday".. How do you interpret that???

;)))

..Me

Keshi said...

U r very observant v000nie. My vocabulary is so messed up and sometimes I use my 'own' words such as 'cutted' the cake...lol!

Curry btw is an annoying word...cos it's too general and everyone here in Aus use that word for any Indian dish - it's irritating!

Keshi.

~*. D E E P A .* ~ said...

lemme see if i can help u here

* cannot be able is absolutely WRONG !

u can use " wont be able " or " cannot " but not " cannot be able "

* abt the powder : the word " powder " comes into the pic mainly because it is a direct translation from the regional language.
in the south :
" pudi ( kannada) "
/
" podi " ( tamil / malayalam )

means dust / tiny grains. hence ,
" chatni pudi ( kanada ) "
" chamanti podi ( malayalam )"
gets translated as chutney powder

~*. D E E P A .* ~ said...

* middle .... that is a way to make urself understood without using too many words.
When you are concentrating on smthg , u dont really pay attention to grammar and linguistics , do you ?

* nearly is totally WRONG.
Close is the apt word , right ?

* Curry
I too make the mistake of calling solid veg preparations curry. maybe because we have no other translation. Curry actually means that has a gravy. In the regional languages , we have definite classifications .. but in English ......

* We also use the " keep on " , dont we ?
remember the song :
" Keep on moving " !



:P

tmww said...

man how could you forget..
"agar mein nozzle ke throat ko poocha ki enthalpy kitni hai toh kya answer milegaa re?"

or the famous one..
"The dryness fraction which is going to be there"

and the greatest one..
when some guy was smiling while Mr. D was teaching, mr. D says.. "Why are you laughing? Is anything coming out from me?" (looking beneath and pointing towards his fly)

:D

GolbGuru said...

Are you vanishing again?

Nupur said...

I totally agree with the curry one! :D i have been explaining it to people here for years... that i dont cook curry-curry all the time... there is more variety to indian food than what these goras are lead to believe!

mortein_bugger said...

Hey Bappa,

I guess it is completely useless to talk about English. I believe it is a very very limited and mal nourished language.

The language even does not have logical spelling rules. I can rite and write and right but if you here or hear it you (u) would not understand what rite(right/write) i am talking about.

I often ridiculed my College professors for pathetic English...But now i ridicule myself that i am a slave to a language which is impure, illogical and inept.

Hope you find solace in your search for correct and proper words...
Do post a post if u get the answers though.

venus said...

I totally agree with you for curry, why can't they distinguish between 100 different kinds of dishes, everything is curry! toor daal - curry, moong daal - curry, rajma - curry, potato subji - curry, mutter paneer - curry!!

has everything need to be called curry?? we do remember other culturs' dishes' names, we don't call all of them hot dogs or hamburgers :)

Sachin R K said...

Since we are trying to be gramatically correct here , how about "Iam open to suggestions" instead of "Iam open for suggestions" .

Sorry , couldnt resist :)).