It's Only Words...
Recently when I used the word "slated" in a press release about a development that was "slated" to take place, numerous marketing types ganged up on me and made me drop it. Their argument was that "slated" had the negative connotations of "slammed"--which, as you and I know, is utter rubbish. But it was just less exhausting to replace it with "set to" than argue with the cretins. And that's not the only time my vocabulary here has met with blank stares. Conveyance, fillip, shot-in-the-arm, are just a few words and phrases that have raised merry hell here everytime I've used them.
I've found it difficult to understand the local lingo here as well. And why not? How often do you come across street English in India? The mainline UK dailies don't use colloquial English--not that I read that many of them in India. Stephen Fry was my gateway to contemporary English, but his vocabulary is self-admittedly uncommon. So I had to rely on my native intelligence to figure out the language of the day.
One of the first incomprehensibles was "bling", used both as "bling-bling" and "bling", to describe the tendency of "Chavs" to wear so many gold-plated baubles. Women here wear "knickers" and not undies or panties. "Prat" is a brat who's also a prick. And if you don't like people you call them "wozzicks" and "wankers".
Similarly, I had to reorient my fashion sense. Burberry has been appropriated by chavs, and social climbers won't be caught dead in it. Jaguar is a hair-dresser's car and nobody driving it can be taken seriously. And without doubt, the best end to your evening at the local pub is to meet afterwards for a "curry".
More on that later but here's a quick chav quiz that'll tell you how chavtastic you are:
http://www.getlippy.com/play/quizzes/chavquiz/
I've found it difficult to understand the local lingo here as well. And why not? How often do you come across street English in India? The mainline UK dailies don't use colloquial English--not that I read that many of them in India. Stephen Fry was my gateway to contemporary English, but his vocabulary is self-admittedly uncommon. So I had to rely on my native intelligence to figure out the language of the day.
One of the first incomprehensibles was "bling", used both as "bling-bling" and "bling", to describe the tendency of "Chavs" to wear so many gold-plated baubles. Women here wear "knickers" and not undies or panties. "Prat" is a brat who's also a prick. And if you don't like people you call them "wozzicks" and "wankers".
Similarly, I had to reorient my fashion sense. Burberry has been appropriated by chavs, and social climbers won't be caught dead in it. Jaguar is a hair-dresser's car and nobody driving it can be taken seriously. And without doubt, the best end to your evening at the local pub is to meet afterwards for a "curry".
More on that later but here's a quick chav quiz that'll tell you how chavtastic you are:
http://www.getlippy.com/play/quizzes/chavquiz/
posted by Sabiha | 10:03 AM
3 Comments:
To be fair to others in this country who do appreciate a varied vocabulary, I think your words might stand a better chance of being understood if your colleagues were more (how to say this without sounding an utter snob?) intellectually active...?
Anyone who reads newspapers, magazines, books, blogs - in fact, anything that is written to a certain level and standard - would understand your meaning and motivation in using those words in that context.
It would be interesting to know these people's educational backgrounds, and the trajectories that brought them to their current positions. Who knows, I might be proved wrong in my assumptions about reading habits... but somehow, I doubt it. ;-)
your post reminded me of a phrase that i've often heard several people use, "last to last week", meaning week before last really. it goes without saying that all of them are educated, however, i'm not sure about their reading habits, for all i know they could be reading signposts. i remember an irritated dio once correcting smelly aruna and ample harshad and they looked genuinely surprised to learn that the phrase was wrong!
What, again?! These guys need a basic refresher and they need it soon!
Oh, ya... heylo.
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