Written By: Inderpreet Uppal
Our
grasp of the English language is uniquely colored by our behavior and phrases
of our native language, we tend to mould it, twist it, bend it and at times
abuse it as per our convenience. Here I share some of the more popular twists
to the language which are hard to miss and do cause errors especially when we
use them on a professional level.
I
am sure most of you would have come across a few and tried to be polite and
overlook them at a social gathering or subtly correct it in case of official
documents or communication. Some very obvious ones I share with you in the hope
that we can spread awareness to overcome these and avoid the confusion and
awkwardness even thought they might be convenient at times.
1. Years back…..
The event occurred years ago and not years back as we tend to often say. We did
not go back to the time of the event just spoke as if we did so.
2. The Backside Entrance
- Definitely not at the backside of a building because it does not have buttocks
but a rear entrance!
3. Out of Station
– This is the old way of telling someone that you are not in town, rather one
should say that “I am out of Gurgaon.” Or “I will be back in town in 4 days.”
Use station only if you are a train or
engine.
4. Your Good Name Please?
– It is the literal translation of the Hindi sentence asking someone “Aap ka
Shubh Naam?” hence the need to say good before the name, it’s not as if we also have an evil alter ego/name to go with
the good one.
5. The Present Continuous Tense
–This is one of the most common errors while speaking and it tells us of
someone doing something, the chances of errors are quite high. For example, “
He is loving this video game” is wrong , the right one will be “He loves this
video game.”
6. Incorrect Questions
– Coming or not? She is here, no? Asking questions and giving answers at the
same time is another common mistake we tend to make. Surely some of us are not
mind readers or someone might know….right?
7. Let us discuss about –
We just need to discuss the topic not ‘add about’ to it because to talk about
is to discuss. “We must discuss about the merger today.” Is wrong, it should be
“Let us discuss the merger today.”
8. Adding OK To All Sentences
– It might be a remnant from the need to say “Theek Hai” in Hindi after giving
instructions to someone. Also to make sure the other guy understands what we
are telling them, still we must check back after every sentence.
9. My Real Brother Or Sister
- It’s our way of explaining that we have immediate siblings as well as
cousins. Everyone else only has brothers and sisters but we have real brothers
and sisters and cousin brother and sisters. Well to be honest, this one I have
used and proudly too.
1. Let Us Order For the
Chicken/Italian/ soft drink – anything we order, it
does not need ‘Order for’ but just ‘order’. We use for just to emphasis exactly what we want to eat.
1. Prepone
– If we can postpone things we can surely prepone them, why should we use a
difficult word like reshedule. This one is exclusively Indian in its origin and
totally incorrect to use. Not that it stops us from using it.
1. Sleep is coming
– No, it is not that our sleep likes to walk but it is the literal translation
of the Hindi sentence “Mujhe neend aarahi hai”. Sometimes it’s just easier for
us to forget that the meaning changes with the change in language.
1. Passing
out – It seems all Indians pass out from their colleges and Institutions.
We do not graduation but a passing out and then our parents wake us up and take
us home.
1. Please / Kindly revert
– Yes by all means let us all go back to the dark ages as revert means to go
back in thought, to return to a former condition or a reversion. Kindly reply
or respond will do quite nicely.
1. Only
– “she is here only” or “you can see the table here only”. It seems that we
have an unknown desire to add only after every sentence so that the sentence is
not alone…..
1. Myself
Geeta - It is the perfect way of getting a good laugh out of your audience
or of failing any interview. Why can we not just say, “my name is geeta”, sure
it will not get you any laughs but we can sacrifice some humor for the
seriousness of our name.
1. Taking my tea - every
time we say this it means that we are taking the item somewhere. Maybe to the
park? “Do take some more laddoos.” We just love to tell people to take things;
does it make us feel like great philanthropists?
1. Danced on –
yep! we might be really hip and funky but we do dance on a groovy number. We
don’t like dancing to a groovy number but on it. It’s as if we stomped on it
hard enough the singer will appear and ask for mercy.
1. Put on the blub or tube and
put the green shirt – the word Put is used in
places it has absolutely no relevance. Well it does fill up some empty spaces
when we are at a loss of words. We just don’t like saying, “Turn on or Switch
on the blub”, put is so much easier and simpler – all of us get it too!
2. Do one thing –
we never mean to do one thing but we just like our sentences to start that way.
“ Do one thing, set the alarm, lock the door and switch off the light.” I am
sure almost everyone of us has either heard it or said it. Stop using the ‘do
one thing’ phrase because we never stop at one thing….dil maange more!
2. I
am having a headache, this make us proud, paying attention, Xerox instead of
photocopy and cent percent instead of a hundred percent the list is endless.
2
. “u want 2 c a movi tmrw… cud u spk 2 ur @”
this is what the present generation and the future of our country writes when
using the smart technology of today. Need I say more?
These
are so thoroughly entrenched in our language, both written and spoken that most
of the time we do not even realize that we are using these in our vocabulary.
The true mark of assimilating a language into a new or different country is
when we have a healthy mix of the words from both countries. We have many words
and phrases in English which have stood the test of time like ashram, bungalow,
yogi, veranda, orange and jungle, etc. This Indianism of Indian English
language can add unique character to the language just as the US English or Australian
English is different from the UK or British English but we must remember to get
our grammar right.
About the author:
Inderpreet Kaur is a
freelance writer, has a Masters Degree in Human Resources Management, was a
lecturer and is a mother. She loves to read, travel, discuss and write. Writing
comes to her naturally as a gift from her parents whose love of the English language
and correct expression has become a way of life for her. You can read some of
her writings of inderpreetkaur.blogspot.in
Tasty . Would share a personal one. love approval for consumed snakes! Bravo keep writing. regards Amitpal
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tip and best wishes.
ReplyDeletesome fine examples..... nicely presented.
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