On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 9:33 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Thaths [16/06/08 08:42 -0700]: > >> language: "su chhey saru chhey danda leykey maru chhey". >>>> >>> >> The narrator also provides an English translation: >> How are you? >> I am well. >> I will take a stick and beat you to hell! >> > > not too accurate. from a fractured knowledge of gujju - > > khem chhe is "are you fine / content / ok / happy" etc > > chhe is like are, so "are you" or "is your" or "what is"... for example > tamaru naam su che is "what's your name". > > saru chhe is "i am well" - thats fine > > danda leke .. there's no "to hell" there though.. just "will take a stick > and beat you" > > srs > > From a fairly fluent knowledge of Gujarati (and a love for Rushdie), 'danda leke maaru che', as a rhyme has many problems. Firstly, it is wrong Gujarati, basically corrupted by non-Gujarati speaking Bollywoodish caricaturists of the language. The correct phrase would be "Dando laine marvu che" - literally - take a stick and beat you up / beat you to hell. I am hoping that Rushdie actually knew that what he was reporting was a corruption and still retained it. The second problem is the one of translation - and this is where Rushdie actually got it right. While the word 'Narak' - hell - does not really feature in that rhyme, it is an implied meaning. Just like "Ghante Latak" - hang from a bell (literally) - does not really translate into "Go and f*** yourself", it still has that meaning. I am not very well qualified to comment on other Indian languages but at least with Gujarati, there is this very interesting process of cultural elipsis where the 'negative words' are generally only in the implication rather than in the utterance. Nishant P.S. I have no idea why "Betty bought some butter" never occured to me as a vowel oriented 'mouth twister'... probably because it is the tongue that stutters over the overlapping sounds of 'b' and 't'. Maybe there is no such thing as a 'mouth twister' :) -- Nishant Shah Doctoral Candidate, CSCS, Bangalore. Director (Research), Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore Asia Awards Fellow, 2008-09 # 0-9740074884
