Language Revolution - India Today

4/26/13 Language revolution: Queen's English gets a royal snip : SOCIETY & THE ARTS - India Today
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ADITI PAI APRIL 14, 2012 | UPDATED 18:24 IST

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Language revolution: Queen's English gets a royal snip
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If Facebook had a Language Status, many would say: "It's

Complicated." We think in one language, speak another, pepper it
with borrowed slang and pack all of it, on Twitter, into 140
characters. Call it the language revolution, if you will, but get
ready to say bye-bye to vowels. It's hello acronyms and welcome
textese. As Jadavpur University engineering student Arijit Ghosh,
18, says: "Who has the time anyway?" Sample this: "c hw dey :-* &
cort! Signor Lucentio, hEr iz my h&, & hEr I frmly vow. At your Must See
wit's end? It's a line from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. Anurag Kashyap's
Even the great bard would have barely recognised the textese Ugly selected for
Cannes Director's
version of his "See how they kiss and court! Signor Lucentio, here
Fortnight
is my hand and here I firmly vow." tbh ('To be honest', for the This is the second
uninitiated), atm (at the moment) it is a case of tmi (too much time Anurag's film is
being screened for
information) and tlt (too little time) for GenNext. They, fo sho Directors' Fortnight.
(for sure), will ttyl (talk to you later), tell u 2 kiss (keep it simple,
An honour to be a
Click here to Enlarge silly!), meet 2moro (tomorrow) and sign off with xoxo. That's
part of Cannes
'hugs and kisses', even if they've never met you. With only 140 jury: Vidya
characters to pack it all in, oh-so-long sentences are making way for a new lexicon. "We are the jaldi The judges' panel
includes names like
generation and don't have time for anything long-drawn which can be shortened," says Bangalore-based Nicole Kidman, Ang
writer, standup comedian and RJ Danish Sait, 24. Lee and Steven
Spielberg.
He's ryte (right) whether u lyk (like) it or nt. English is being mangled and how. The Queen's Aerosmith and
language has long taken a hit-literally and not just in Internet lingo; prepositions are PSY to perform at
deleted, hashtags are the new prefixes, and punctuation, what is that anyway? But den it's Social Star
Awards
f9 (fine), v live in da (the) I-age (Internet age). Blame it on our rapid-fire lives where
Justin Bieber is
everything from coffee to conversation needs to be instant. The invasion of the Internet among the leading
has changed the way the FB (Facebook) generation thinks and talks. The Twitter-bred nominees at the
event.
think in characters rather than words, express with emoticons and communicate in a
mishmash of languages. Everything can be 'Googled' and 'I facebooked him' is conclusive Supreme Court
stays Zanjeer 2
that the recipient has been intimated. And how does it matter whether we speak in Hinglish release
and Tanglish with choppy syntax and sloppy spellings? At least we are getting the message The remake of
across, rnt v? Zanjeer features Ram
Click here Charan, Priyanka
to Enlarge Chopra, Sanjay Dutt.
In times of glued-to-the-gadget lives, emoticons are
the new mirror to our minds. Our faces can be deadpan; the
Justin Timberlake
fingers convey smiles, tears, kisses, frowns and envy. The friendly married his 'best
emoticon is an indispensable mood communicator and time-saver. friend'
There's a graphic face for every little emotion. Disgusted or The 32-year-old
singer, who tied the
indifferent? Flash the face-palm. The side smiley is the easiest way knot with Jessica Biel,
to tell your buddy: "Dude, I am feeling sad/bad for you but I don't believes marriage
suits him.
Click here to Enlarge know what to do about it." "We alter our moods to fit into the
limited emoticons that are available. If it's something we are
indiatoday.intoday.in/story/language-revolution-youngsters-facebook-twitter/1/184338.html 1/9
feeling and don't find a corresponding emoticon, we'd rather not feel that something," says Sait. Up, close &
personal with
Shobit Arya, 40, founder-publisher of Wisdom Tree Publishing House, Delhi, says "being correct is out of Parineeti
Parineeti Chopra on
fashion". And it's pretty evident if you look around. Exam answer sheets vouch for it and a look at official her upcoming movies,
mails confirms his contention. Peppered with shd, wld, ur, cryng, the ans jst dnt luk dat gd ne more! After commercials & future
many trying moments, Bangalore University evaluators have demanded a ban on sms language and plans.
Mumbai's teachers have vowed to crack the whip on slang by slashing marks. "Students should learn what
20 stars unite for
language is acceptable," says Madonna Francis, teacher at The International School, Bangalore. After all, Bombay Talkies
u can't b chillofying wen it cums 2 marks! song
The song, titled Apna
In times when Emotional Atyachaar and Kolaveri Di become Bombay talkies, has
been choreographed
anthems for heartbroken boys, language is no longer the by Vaibhavi Merchant.
homogenous entity you once thought it was. A melange of words,
slang and dialects is the new tongue of the youth-Hinglish, Rihanna sets new
Pinglish, Tanglish, Kanglish or any other khichdi you like. chart record
"Tropicalised words have a better connect. 'Funda' works better By having ten number
one's Rihanna
than saying 'a thought' and 'whatte a ton Sachin... jhakaas' will Click here to Enlarge topples Katy Perry's
bring a flood of comments on Facebook. People relate to record run of nine
number one tracks.
colloquial languages; it is catchy and stays with you," says Mumbai-based branding professional Komal
Lath, 26. No wonder then that the nation chose Pepsi when it went to town with its 'Youngistan Ka Wow'
When Vidya asked
campaign in 2010. And Airtel's immensely hummable 'Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai' is almost
for Aditya's
addictive. autograph!
Vidya is in complete
Bollywood, too, is ditching the shuddh Hindi for a cool, urban smattering of Hinglish. Gone are the days of awe of Aditya's
forthcoming film
Urdu-inspired poetry; flippant numbers like Mein karu toh saala character dheela hai and Dil dance
Aashiqui 2 and calls it
maare echo the lingo of the youth. "It's fun as long as these creations are able to communicate and convey a beautiful love story.
something. Dillogical and Anything Karega are absolutely brilliant examples that caught on with the
Penelope Cruz
youth immediately," says Nitesh Tiwari, 38, national creative resource, Leo Burnett, Mumbai and co- strips for new
director of the movie, Chillar Party. Italian movie
The 38-year-old actor
has gone topless in a
When film lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya, 35, the king of slang and hybrid,
scene with co-star
made Dev.D cry Emotional Atyachaar, an entire generation of heart-break Emile Hirsch in
victims echoed it. Similar creations like Delhi Belly's Bhaag D.K. Bose and Venuto al Mondo.
Agent Vinod's Pyaar ki pungi may have riled some but went on to become Aashiqui 2 in
popular youth catch-phrases. "Cinema and society draw from each other. We concert!
use situations, slang and phrases from our daily lives to flesh out the character. The entire star cast of
Aashiqui 2 attended a
When the characters become popular, it becomes the new catch-phrase that concert to celebrate
everyone uses," says Mumbai-based film writer Devika Bhagat, 32. the music of the movie
in Mumbai.
Language is no bar while stirring this cultural cocktail. It didn't matter that
over three quarters of India didn't know what Kolaveri Di meant when Ben Affleck to live
on tiny budget
Dhanush recorded his impromptu 'soup song'. The peppy number became the
He is planning to live
Click here to Enlarge new anthem recording over 50 million hits online. "The tendency is not new, on $1.50 a day for five
the trend of using a mix of English and some other language is more apparent because there is legitimacy days in support of the
charity campaign Live
in breaking the sacrosanct walls of English. We don't feel the need to abide by all its rules. Some amount Below The Line.
of bending and breaking is inevitable, as part of its democratisation, and it's also playful," says Rita
Kothari, 42, professor of language and literature, iit Gandhinagar, and co-author of the book Chutnefying Now Bigg Boss in
English. Marathi?
Riteish Deshmukh is
Moving beyond borders, GenNext walks and talks the gangsta slang with funky coinage from American reportedly going to
produce and host
and British shows. So, a clever prank on buddies is Bazinga (from the CBS show The Big Bang Theory), Marathi version of
and youngsters won't think twice before telling you not to "burn" them, slang for insult, inspired by That reality show Bigg
Boss.
70's Show. If the kid-next-door announces "let's bounce", don't be alarmed; he is simply leaving. 'Stop
being a douche bag' might leave you scrambling for an explanation but look West and you'll know it just Kim Kardashian
means 'don't be an idiot'. "It's most ridiculous that youngsters in India are using ghetto slang. In the long worried about
body
run, it'll dumb down the inherent sense of grammar or sentence construction that people derive from day- She is worried she
to-day conversations," says Ahmedabad-based writer-poet-musician Vineet Kaul, 25. "I am amazed at won't be able to get
how someone you've met five minutes ago can become buddy or bro," says Saad Khan, 27, a Bangalore- back into shape after
her baby is born.
based filmmaker and theatre professional.
Writers, too, are jumping onto the Hinglish bandwagon to grab Fashionista
Click here to Enlarge
Aaradhya steals
eyeballs. A Dilli-Mumbai Love Story written by Abhimanyu Jha, the show from
32, a Bangalore-based author, is liberally peppered with what he Abhi-Ash
calls "cool and youthful sms lingo" and lots of Hinglish, Punjabi See pics of the tiny tot
dressed in leopard
words and creations like 'marofied'. "I wanted to connect better print leggings and a
with readers in the age group of 15 and 30 who speak in Hinglish pink top.
and are the Facebook generation. This is how we speak among
friends, informally," says Jha.
When Ahmed Faiyaz, 30, author and founder of Grey Oak Psy's new single
Publishers in Bangalore, receives manuscripts in sms lingo, he gets record 200m
views in 10 days
directs most to the trash can. "Sometimes it is used to make the
His new video
characters seem 'cool' or 'with it', a forced effort that doesn't work Gentleman also holds
especially with a well-read and articulate audience. When we talk, the day-of-debut
record with 18.5
we don't express emotions as lol (laugh out loud) or rofl (rolling on million views.
the floor laughing) or wtf (what the f***), so trying to use them in Arjun Kapoor's
passages is deeply flawed. It's almost like trashing literature," he strong bond with
says. Young readers, however, are lapping up books with a YRF!
The Aurangzeb trio are
youthful tone. A Calmer You, with liberal doses of Hindi, likely to team up for a
continues to sell well in Wisdom Tree's stable. "Adding a sentence movie together.
in a regional language, at times, communicates intimacy and breaks the barrier of formality," says Shobit
Arya. Call it the literary equivalent of a 'paneer tikka pizza' with a fusion of languages and reference
points. When Salman was
reminded of Karan
Arjun
This lexicon is 'twittered' all around, much to the horror of puritans. "The fabric and feel of
Salman was
communication have changed considerably. The English language seems to be undergoing assaults and reminded of his film
mutations at different levels. Facebook helps stay in touch, but has one noticed how regimented one's Karan Arjun, while
shooting for an inner
communication becomes in using it? Now you can 'like' or 'unlike', but not dislike. The Indian youth is wear ad.
speaking not just garbled English, but unrefined Hindi or other vernaculars too," says Namrata
Gwyneth Paltrow
Chaturvedi, 29, assistant professor in English at Zakir Husain College, Delhi University. Mumbai is world's most
corporate grooming expert Suneeta Sodhi Kanga, 43, makes it her business to "clean up language" during beautiful woman
her workshops. "sms language and abbreviations in formal communication portray a person who puts no People magazine has
named Gwyneth
thought into work," she says. Paltrow as the world's
most beautiful woman
The acronyms have found an unlikely supporter in the Oxford English Dictionary. In 2011, it took for 2013.
'initialisms' like omg (oh my god), imho (in my humble opinion), fyi (for your information) and lol to its Sonam to
hallowed pages, lending them instant legitimacy. Words like cyberbullying, retweeting, sexting, inspired celebrate 100
by the digital world, have joined ranks with other real words in the Oxford English Dictionary. "Oxford years of Indian
cinema at Cannes
dictionaries look at all usage as potentially valid usage of the language wherever it emanates," says Judy Sonam gears up to
Pearsall, 54, editorial director at Oxford University Press. join the 66th edition of
Cannes International
Film Festival.
Call it desification or corruption, but the current hybrid is a product of evolution of language. Greater
contact with a multitude of cultures and dialects influences the way we think, speak and write. "Languages Victoria Beckham
to cover US
gradually change due to transmission and the Internet has fuelled this transmission," says David J.
Vogue?
Peterson, 31, president of Language Creation Society, US, who created the Dothraki language that is used The designer has
in the popular TV series Game of Thrones. The meeting of cultures has thrown up fun catch-phrases like entered negotiations
to appear on the front
'Swalpa adjust maadi' (Kanglish for kindly adjust a bit) and 'Awesome saala', young Bengal's way to saying of American Vogue.
wow. "Combinations like Tanglish or Hinglish are a result of shifts in power equations. English continues
to be the dominant component in the mix, but it can now be 'used' and indigenised," says Rita Kothari.
Aamir turns circus
gymnast for
Will that change the future of communication? Kothari says it will. Will our future generations speak an Dhoom 3!
entirely different hybrid? Let's w8 n watch. bfn (bye for now). The actor is all set to
play a gymnast in
Check Out Dhoom 3 and is
- With Ayesha Aleem, Devika Chaturvedi, Tithi Sarkar, Mona Ramavat, Insiyah Vahanvaty and Abdus reportedly shooting in
Hollywood
Salam Penelope Cruz strips for new Italian
circus tents.
movie Seth MacFarlane
Do you like this story? 4 1 asked to host
Oscars again
Celebrities
CLICK HERE FOR MORE NEWS » The actor reportedly
Fashionista Aaradhya steals the
dedicated four months
show from Abhi-Ash to prepare for this
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Com m en t :
Nicole Kidman,
Ang Lee for
Cannes jury
Both of them will join
head judge Steven
Spielberg to help
decide the winner.
Na m e : Abhinav Bindra's
autobiography to
Pla ce : be adapted into
movie
E-m a il :
It was a tweet by
Rahul Bose praising
En t er t h e Code Sh ow n : the book that sparked
the idea.
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industry.
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4/26/13 Language revolution: Queen's English gets a royal snip : SOCIETY & THE ARTS - India Today

Updated 08:19 IST | April 26, 2013 ADVERTISEMENT

SOCIETY & THE ARTS BOOKS | FILMS | MEDIA

ADITI PAI APRIL 14, 2012 | UPDATED 18:24 IST

TAGS: Language revolution

If Facebook had a Language Status, many would say: "It's

TOP STORIES FROM SOCIETY & THE ARTS TOP STORIES

Miley admits she

Vidya Balan joins

Kanye wants Kim

Behind the scenes

Vidya Balan and

When the team of

Karan turns stylist

STAY CONNECTED WITH US ON

INDIA TODAY BUSINESS TODAY MONEY TODA

Nation: The Losing Battle

Print iPad Digital Edition Kindle

Even after two

Club 40: Age is not

ABOUT US CONTACT US ADVERTISE WITH US SUBSCRIPTION WE CARE PRIVACY POLICY

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