Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Interesting Indian English definitions ...

Babalog - a young, Westernized social group or individual concerned with wealth, pop culture fads, appearance, material goods, or other superficialities; a yuppy or yuppies. Formerly associated with associates of Rajiv Gandhi.

Booth capturing - the act of seizing and controlling a polling station so that many fraudulent votes may be cast there.

Chamcha - a sycophant, toady, or hanger-on.
Etymological Note: From the Hindi and Urdu word for ‘spoon.’

Goonda tax - money extorted as ‘protection’ or to permit passage on public thoroughfares, or paid as a simple bribe.
Etymological Note: The Hindi and Urdu term goonda can be translated as rascal or ruffian and even as goon, but there is no evidence to indicate that the English goon comes from goonda or vice versa.

Item girl - in Indian cinema, a woman who appears in an item song; (hence) a female actress, singer, or dancer, esp. one who is poised to become a star.
Editorial Note: An item song or item number is a musical performance that has little do with the film in which it appears, but is presented mainly to showcase beautiful dancing women, to promote a song, or to lend marketability to a film. Item numbers often have a life on stage long after a movie has left theaters.

KLPD - sexual frustration; blue balls; unfulfilled (sexual) desire or an unfulfilled promise; (hence) a letdown, a disappointment. Also KLD.
Etymological Note: From Hindi and Urdu, variously transcribed as (Khadi Kade Khade Kheray Khari) (Lun Lund Land) (Par Pe Par) (Dhokha Dhoka), meaning, roughly, “trick or betrayal of an erect penis.”

love-cum-arranged marriage - matrimony between a mutually acceptable and consenting couple that has been facilitated by the couple’s parents.

Patel shot - a candid photograph with a person in the foreground and a place or object of interest (such as a tourist destination or landmark) in the background.
Editorial Note: This term appears to be common among Anglophone Indians. The “Patel shot” as characterized in the 2001 and first 2004 citations is used by only a small number of closely associated filmmakers.

Potel - a hotel owned by a South Asian, especially one from India.
Etymological Note: Patel, a common Indian surname, + hotel.

rowdy-sheeter - a person with a criminal record; a hardened criminal.
Editorial Note: A synonym is history-sheeter. In India, a rowdy is far more often used than in other Anglophone countries to mean a lawless or disorderly person. Therefore, a rowdy sheet is what is known in the U.S. as a rap sheet—a criminal record—and a person who has such a record is therefore a rowdy-sheeter.

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