Indian English or ‘Indish’ is a particularly fruitful, charismatic and expressive form of English, which still shows its roots in the Seventeenth Century discourse of the colonisers, fused with a chutney (to paraphrase Salman Rushdie) of different linguistic influences. Possibly as a consequence of the subcontinent’s cultural richness and diversity, Indian languages including Indish seem to be rather porous and welcoming of new vocabulary.
Here are some examples:
Eve teasing – verbal sexual harassment of women
Acting pricey – playing hard to get
Kitty party – a gathering of housewives
Item girl – an It girl
Non-veg joke – a raunchy or obscene joke which would not be shared in mixed company
To take the eleven number bus – to walk
To prepone – to bring something forward in time (back formation from postpone)
Long cut – a circuituous or rambling path (back formation from short cut)
French beard – a goattee
Eggetarian – a vegetarian who eats eggs and egg products
Departmental store – any self service shop
Annexure – appendix
Upgradation – process of applying an upgrade
History sheeter – someone with an extensive criminal record
When it comes to translation, Indish is an interesting case. What do you do with a word which, in a sense, IS English, but would confuse a British or American English speaker? Likewise, if you are proofreading or editing a text which uses Indish words, do you let them stand? I’d love to hear people’s experiences of this issue…