New desi words make their mark in English lexicon

GLOBAL LEXICON: Words like makhani, badmash, etc can be found in latest editions of Oxford and Macmillan dictionaries.

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Keywords: Oxford, Macmillan

New Delhi: The Queen’s English isn't all that 'proper' anymore. After Bollywood and food, Indian-English could well become our most popular export; and that's because increasingly more number of Indian words are finding a place for themselves in English dictionaries.

For Uma Mani, Senior Publisher with Macmillan India, a typical day at work quite often means shopping for books, scanning though newsprint and catching up on all the latest Bollywood flicks. Not many in India have her kind of work profile. Mani's job is to find Indian words that will finally make it to the English dictionary.

“Being a part of a team which is constantly on the lookout for these words, we are very alert. Just the other day at the airport, I ran into a group of waitlisted American tourists. When their tickets got confirmed, they said in unison ‘Chak de!’” says Mani.

It may be a while before chak de finds favour with international lexicographers, but badmash, tamasha, shabash, karela and chapati can all be found in the latest editions of the Oxford and Macmillan complete with their angrezi pronunciations.

So are the videshis ready to accept a world filled with corporators, history-sheeters and under trials?

“Corporator? I've never heard of that before?” says an amused US Embassy official Charles Sellers.

Ok how about badmash, bandh...?

“You won’t find many people on double-decker buses in the middle of London using words like badmash or bandh,” says British entrepreneur Richard McCallum.

But not all Indian words draw a blank. Try films and food — India's most popular export to the West.

“When i go to the US I'll look for a chaat place. I'll miss all the bhelpuri, sev and aloo!” says Sellers.

The trend may have started with the vocabulary of the Anglo-Indians during the British raj, but today Indian & Hinglish words are truly going places.

So if desi is being used liberally in international dailies like The Guardian, you’ll find Canadian cooks talking about pucca spices. Thanks to British comedy, The Kumar's at Number 42: every Englishman now understands the meaning of a pair of chaddies.