Back in 1872 two men began work on a lexicon of words of Indian origin that had been "insinuating themselves into English". The result was Hobson-Jobson: "A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms etymological, historical, geographical and discursive. By Colonel Henry Yule and AC Burnell."
Since its publication, the 1,000-page dictionary has never been out of print and continues to amaze and amuse with its delightful tales from colonial India. Years later, Tom Stoppard, in his play Indian Ink, would go on to invent two characters who competed to use as many of these words as possible. But living language is proof that we do not have to invent anything. It's a two-way street and today English words crop up in unexpected ways in every day conversations in other Indian languages, even among those who have not been educated in English. It isn't because the language being spoken lacks an equivalent word, it's just because language organically evolves the way it does.
"We have cross-bred everything. We eat Schezwan Masala Dosa. We pair our denims with kurtas. And we speak Hinglish," said the first post on the timeline of the recently launched Facebook page called KLPD or Kross Language Pun Design, started by two Mumbai-based friends, Prasad Ramachandran and Girish Narayandass. "Kya thodu language hai, right? So we thought, let's crossbreed and cross-pollinate our puns."
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Since its publication, the 1,000-page dictionary has never been out of print and continues to amaze and amuse with its delightful tales from colonial India. Years later, Tom Stoppard, in his play Indian Ink, would go on to invent two characters who competed to use as many of these words as possible. But living language is proof that we do not have to invent anything. It's a two-way street and today English words crop up in unexpected ways in every day conversations in other Indian languages, even among those who have not been educated in English. It isn't because the language being spoken lacks an equivalent word, it's just because language organically evolves the way it does.
"We have cross-bred everything. We eat Schezwan Masala Dosa. We pair our denims with kurtas. And we speak Hinglish," said the first post on the timeline of the recently launched Facebook page called KLPD or Kross Language Pun Design, started by two Mumbai-based friends, Prasad Ramachandran and Girish Narayandass. "Kya thodu language hai, right? So we thought, let's crossbreed and cross-pollinate our puns."
We give you their first ten designs, sure in the belief that Colonel Henry Yule and AC Burnell would heartily approve.
"Under pressure to engage" with their audience, or perhaps merely because they were "cold and lonely", the duo even called for entries from their friends and readers and the first winner was announced: who was "not an udder failure" but "a cool doodh. Aapse milk-ey accha laga".
Picture credits: Kross Language Pun Design except for last one which is Devaiah Bopanna.
