Heppy ChristhuMuhsu! Can I just say that there is something very thrilling in being part of the majority who extends patronizing good wishes to the minority on their holiday. What makes this even better is that I have some Christian friends so that makes me awesome and way better than peeps who don’t have Christian friends. I mean, Christian friend. I used to have one. I think. Anyway, truly, it’s that time of year again where a large number of peeps in my corner of the world wonder why the postman didn’t come and decide it must be some Muslim holiday like Bakrid. Christmas anthems like Do They Know It’s Christmas? were totes made for folks like us. It’s just how we do.
The title of this blog post is taken from the play Death of a Salesman. Is it not very fine? I think it is very fine. Other things which were scrawled in the margins of this sametext include
Walrus is ugly sea animal
Willy failure
No vandi, bus
America consumerist society
M. Kalaivani
And now, I’m going to talk about how white people are just the worst thing ever. Kidding! I’m actually going to do a best of 2010 round up because no other blog or site is doing this at all. KIDDING! However, I thought it worth mentioning that this blog had a birthday sometime last month which I completely forgot and neglected also because I’m an awful person and I neglect and forget everything. This is how you make someone else’s birthday all about yourself. FYI.
Ok seriously peepal, like really. I was listening to some author interview with some author dude and as has come to be an inevitable part of inevitable author interviews, said author dude lamented about how the English language was being corrupted and vandalized by things like LOL and HAY SUP!!1!! and it's just like the worst thing evar because these are very corrupting and vandalizing things. Below, kindly see the proofs of the corruption of the vandalisms.
from www.icanhascheezburger.com
Anyhoo, said writer dude and manymanymany other writerpeepal hast seen these dirty nonstandard, nonconventional English languages and doth proclaim that we are all going to die right now and it’s really going to hurt unless we all repent and reform ourselves unto that one most holy form of Ye Aulde Standardized and Conventional Goode English. It is the only thing that can save us from…whatever we need to be saved from. Because there are so many kinds of Englishes out there, each having its own use and meaning in places that aren’t England or America (gasp! How can that even be possible?!?), it makes complete and utter sense that Ye Aulde Standardized and Conventional Goode English, created by Ye Aulde, Standard, Conventional and Goode English people, rule over all of them. Like the Lord of the Rings but not really.
One Standardized and Conventional English to rule them all
One Standardized and Conventional English to find them,
One Standardized and Conventional English to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them
That’s scawy! But what is Standardized and Conventional and Goode English anyway? I thought about this question for a very long time. Actually I didn’t but anyway, I decided that the answer is how the hell should I know? I’m an alleged Injun allegedly! I’m not even supposed to know English! If there was any good left in this world, this entire blog would be in Hindi, the language of all good Injuns living in the Indias!
So instead, I thought I would fondly recall some of the nonconventional nonstandardized, ebil and horrible Englishs and assorted words I used in my own onenumber Injun youths. I think the meanings of these words and phrases will probably vary from the original or how other people remember using them because my memory is bad and I like to embellish things also, which is also known as lying. I know I have forgotten a lot of them and for this, I am exquisitely sad. Here are the ones I remember.
ZailSingh
Origin- Once upon a time, when we had only one DD channel with such sad and sporadic transmission that one often watched UGC transmissions because not watching them seemed a waste of the television, Zail Singh passed away. Who is Zail Singh? Good question! Anyway, back in them days, when peeps like Zail Singh died, DD went into mourning for about 780 years. The upside was that we got almost constant television. The downside was that it was all mourning music that made you feel really sad, in a I Wish I Was Dead Too kind of way. Zail Singh’s death unfortunately coincided with school quarterly leave, the one thing we had all looked forward to for heppyheppyjoyjoy television viewing purposes. Those were the headyheady days of the Metro channel and Superhit Muqabla apart from the already very exciting Chitrahaar and Oliyum Oliyum and Sunday night movie. AR Rahman was making awesome music, PrabhuDeva was dancing, Salman Khan had hair, the snail was on the thorn, morning was at seven, everything was very exciting with the world. And then Zail Singh died.
What made all this even worse and what ultimately elevated ZailSingh into our slangs was the fact that nobody in my corner of existence knew who he was. The catchphrase of that holiday was (sloppily translated from Tamil) ‘Hey, who ya is this Zail Singh?’ This means we are all the ignorants. But the fact remains that during that entire holiday, all we got to watch was people wailsinging in all the regional languages as the screen dutifully held up a picture of Zail Singh holding a rose, which somehow just made everything worse.
Definitions
1. A ZailSingh is something that causes deep and long-lasting disappointment and sadness.
Ex- I thought there would be one week leave but then Tyooshunsaar put class in the morning and test in the evening and it all is somuch ZailSingh for me.
2. For a time, this word replaced the Tamil word ‘sothapals’ so it also came to mean that which is completely messed-up. ‘Sothapals’ is actually not a Tamil word. Maybe it kinda is, I don’t know. I’m sorry if it’s not and I said it is.
Ex- Namma plan full ZailSingh-ah goinggoing.
This example has more English in it than Tamil but it’s considered Tamil. Actually, maybe it isn’t considered Tamil either. Oh whale.
Demise- This phrase disappeared when we forgot about ZailSingh which was rather quickly and I guess it isn’t a big deal anyway since we didn’t know who he was in the first place.
Soozerland
Origin- Corruption of the word ‘Switzerland’. Once upon a time, in the hills of Kotagiri, a certain someone who we will refer to as WaterBottle, sat outside in that sharp sunlight and marveled at the blue sky and the green trees and thought so THIS is why the British hung out here all the time and so on and so forth. Everyone who passed WaterBottle said ‘You keep sitting in the sun like that and your face will burn off’ and WaterBottle said, ‘But the sky is so blue! The trees are so green! It’s like a Soozerland!’ WaterBottle sat in that Soozerland sunlight for so long that WaterBottle’s face did indeed burn off and can I just say that the only thing more ridiculous than a sunburn on a white person is a sunburn on a brown person.
Definitions
1. That which is clearly not Switzerland is Soozerland.
Ex- See this Cooum river so much it is like a Soozerland, no?
2. The result of looking at something very beautiful that also causes great physical pain later on is Soozerland.
Ex- Your burnt face is so beauty looking like a Soozerland.
3. That which is wtf is Soozerland.
Ex. This blog post is like a Soozerland.
Demise- This phrase experiences periodic revivals because sometimes all you can say is 'oh it is like a Soozerland, no?'
Bouse
Origin- Once upon a time there was a girl who just sat there. Seriously. She just sat there and her face never bore any kind of expression at any time. And her claim to fame was that she very good-naturedly let people make fun of her Zen state of being. On a very hot and sour and tiring afternoon when nothing was happening, she was christened ‘Bouse’ and it was the best thing evar and it saved that entire day from being utterly useless. There was also this movie that had Revathi and Aravind Swamy which was flop only but it had this one song which was also flop but it went, ‘Azhagana veedu, something something something.’. Someone changed the words to ‘Azhagana veedu, athukulla Bouse’ and it was really funny. Maybe you had to be there.
Definitions- Because the word proved to be so popular, people attached many different meanings to it so they could use it as often as possible. Some examples (all sloppily translated from Tamil)
Why Bouse you are like a Bouse?
Bouse you are really doing so much Bouse antics, yes I am saying. (can I just say that Bouse antics is the improper translation of the word we used in Tamil, which was Bousethanam, which is awesome. Also, that’s probably not Tamil either.)
Bouse, how did you become such a Bouse like this?
Demise- I like to think this word never died.
You Ain’t Got No Pancake Mix Cries of the Martyred Proletariat
There were a lot of these and it breaks my heart that I can only recall two. These are in fact English phrases, where the meaning is of absolutely no consequence whatsoever and it’s really all about where you use them. Like, what I can say is, maybe you are using them like
- Two people are having an argument and you randomly walk up to them and shout it at both of them with somuch feelings
- While having a serious conversation with someone about something, you suddenly say it for no good reason, thus derailing the conversation completely
- When there is some kind of large gathering and there is a lot of anger or indignation going around mainly because people want to be angry and indignant, you stand up and say ‘MyFraands, what I can say is-‘ and then say one of these phrases and possibly get beaten or cheered as a charismatic leader of the masses.
All Are Paying Equal Fees
Once upon a time, in a hostel, two girls were fighting over a bathroom stall. I understand this is a very porno premise but in real life, it’s tedious, everyone wishes they were somewhere else and feels bad they live in a hostel in like a larger sense, like 'this is what my life has become. i live in a hostel with people i don't know and don't like and this will never change'. Anyhoo, during the course of this particular argument, one girl decided to take a very strong stand indeed and began yelling in English, because while yelling in Tamil is bad enough, yelling in English is for some reason much worse, even if whatever you yelled is weird. So anyway, said girl said ‘all are paying equal fees!’ and we all were like yeah we ARE paying equal fees! It’s a true! And for a split second, we thought how life was supposed to be like that or something. But that lasted only for split second and also, this probably did not help her win the bathroom war either.
Give The Respect And Take The Respect
Once upon a time, a girl (who we will call Haterade) took it upon herself to come up to a certain person (who we will call WaterBottle) at regular intervals for no apparent reason in a very sudden manner also. This of course is distressing enough. But Haterade would also hold up her gold Hero pen in a very menacing way and say (in English, because it’s just way worse that way) ‘give the respect and take the respect’. Why? Nobody knows. Also, haterz gonna hate, you know? Anyhoo, this phrase doesn’t sound so bad in an “English” milieu but in that milieu, it was like epic disrespect and shame like how ‘rascal’ and ‘I say you get out’ are like epic disrespect and shame. So I’m guessing WaterBottle did something really bad like maybe killing off Haterade's entire family or something. Maybe it happened in the Soozerland. Anyway, every time this happened, a conversation like the following would occur (again, sloppily translated from Tamil)
A- Hey, what ya?
WaterBottle- I don’t know, ya.
A- What, I don’t know? You must have done something. Why else would she say that to you?
WaterBottle- Because she’s a crack.
A- You called her a crack?
WaterBottle- Chee, why all that for me?
A- Then?
WaterBottle- Then nothing! I didn’t say anything to her!
A- Then why she said like that to you?
WaterBottle – I don’t know! I didn’t do anything! She just does that and I don’t know why!
A- You must have done something.
WaterBottle- I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!!
A- You must have done something. Else why should she say that to you?
These kinds of conversations, like DD mourning periods, often went on for about 780 years.
Yenuff, no? Yes.
okbai.
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