10 classic Indianisms

Heard about Indian English? Sounds Vague and strange, but a good observation of our daily usage, makes us take a step back and wonder, do we actually use these phrases and words, do we create our own words, and the questions will continue striking one after another in a loop.

We are unique species, not as humans, but as Indians. I dont have any personal grudge on any one,being an Indian myself, it puts me too shame, that yes, even I have used these Indian created Idioms, phrases, and words out of thin air.

Let me now share with you, a few of them.

1.Order for
Indian Usage: "Hey, lets order for a Pizza"

"Sure, and why not raid a library while we're about it"

When you order something, you "order" it, you do not "order for" it.
Who knows when or why we began placing random prepositions after verbs?
Perhaps somewhere in our history someone lost a little faith in the "doing" word and added "for" to make sure their order would reach them. They must have been pretty hungry.
I am now, so I started with this one.

2. Passing out
Indian Usage: "I passed out from my college in 2000"

When you complete your studies at an educational institution, you graduate from that institution.
You do not "pass out" from that institution.
To "pass out" refers to losing consciousness, like after you get too drunk, though I’m not sure how we managed to connect graduating and intoxication.

Oh wai … of course, poor grades throughout the year could lead to a sudden elation on hearing you’ve passed all of your exams, which could lead to you actually "passing out," but this is rare at best.

3. Kindly revert
Indian Usage:“Please revert at the earliest.”

“Sure, I’ll set my biological clock to regress evolutionarily to my original primitive hydrocarbon state at 1 p.m. today."

One common mistake we make is using the word revert to mean reply or respond.
Revert means "to return to a former state."
I can’t help thinking of a sarcastic answer every time this comes up.

4. Years back
Indian Usage:“So when did you buy this car?”

“Oh, years back.”
“Cool, can you open the backside? I’d like to get a load in.”

If it happened in the past, it happened years ago, not "years back."
Given how common this phrase is, I’m guessing the first person who switched "ago" for "back" probably did it years back. See what I mean?
And speaking of "back," asking someone to use the backside entrance sounds so wrong.

5. the needful
Indian Usage:“Will you do the needful?”

“Of course, and I’ll send you a telegram to let you know it's done too.”

Try to avoid using the phrase "do the needful." It went out of style decades ago, about the time the British left.
Using it today indicates you are a dinosaur, a dinosaur with bad grammar.
You may use the phrase humorously, to poke fun at such archaic speech, or other dinosaurs.

6. about
Indian Usage: “What shall we discuss about today?”

“Let’s discuss about politics. We need a fault-ridden topic to mirror our bad grammar.”

You don't "discuss about" something; you just discuss things.
The word "discuss" means to "talk about". There is no reason to insert the word "about" after "discuss." That would be like saying "talk about about." Which "brings about" me to my next peeve.

7. Do one thing
“My computer keeps getting hung.”

Indian Usage: “Do one thing. Clear your history. Delete your cookies. Defrag your hardrive. Run a virus check. Restart your computer... .”

When someone approaches you with a query, and your reply begins with the phrase "do one thing," you're doing it wrong.

"Do one thing" is a phrase that does not make sense.
It is an Indianism. It is only understood in India. It is not proper English. It is irritating.
There are better ways to begin a reply. And worst of all, any person who starts a sentence with "do one thing" invariably ends up giving you at least five things to do.


8. Out of station
Indian Usage: “Sorry I can’t talk right now, I’m out of station.”

“What a coincidence, Vijay, I’m in a station right now.”

Another blast from the past, this one, and also, extremely outdated.
What's wrong with "out of town" or "not in Mumbai" or my favorite "I'm not here"?

9. The big sleep
Indian Usage: "I’m going to bed now, sleep is coming."

"OK, say hi to it for me."

While a fan of anthropomorphism, I do have my limits. "Sleep is coming" is taking things a bit too far. Your life isn’t a poem. You don’t have to give body cycles their own personalities.

10. Prepone
Indian Usage: “Let’s prepone the meeting from 11 a.m. to 10 a.m.”

Because the opposite of postpone just has to be prepone, right?
"Prepone" is probably the most famous Indianism of all time; one that I’m proud of, and that I actually support as a new entry to all English dictionaries. Because it makes sense. Because it fills a gap. Because we need it. We’re Indians, damn it. We don’t have the time to say silly things like "could you please bring the meeting forward." Prepone it is.

There are many more, that could be added to this list, and the list might never end, but slowly in time, our English will surely improve.

Also you could check, what the twitter users share about http://twitter.com/#!/search/weirdindianpronounciations
If you know anyone's that I have missed, please do share them in the comments box below!
Hinglish (Hindi-English) Zindabad