Tiffin? It is a fine old british colonial tradition.. Hobson Jobson has some weird and wonderful etymologies in it (aka not always accurate) but for once they seem to confine themselves to fact here ..
http://www.bibliomania.com/2/3/260/1287/20268/1/frameset.html TIFFIN, s. Luncheon, Anglo-Indian and Hindustani, at least in English households. Also to Tiff, v. to take luncheon. Some have derived this word from Ar. tafannun, 'diversion, amusement,' but without history, or evidence of such an application of the Arabic word. Others have derived it from Chinese ch'ih- fan, 'eat-rice,' which is only an additional example that anything whatever may be plausibly resolved into Chinese monosyllables. We believe the word to be a local survival of an English colloquial or slang term. Thus we find in the Lexicon Balatronicum, compiled originally by Capt. Grose (1785): "Tiffing, eating or drinking out of meal-times," besides other meanings. Wright (Dict. of Obsolete and Provincial English) has: "Tiff, s. (1) a draught of liquor, (2) small beer;" and Mr. Davies (Supplemental English Glossary) gives some good quotations both of this substantive and of a verb "to tiff," in the sense of 'take off a draught.' We should conjecture that Grose's sense was a modification of this one, that his "tiffing" was a participial noun from the verb to tiff, and that the Indian tiffin is identical with the participial noun. This has perhaps some corroboration both from the form "tiffing" used in some earlier Indian examples, and from the Indian use of the verb "to Tiff." [This view is accepted by Prof. Skeat, who derives tiff from > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of Radhika, Y. > Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 8:01 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [silk] Casual Hellos and Food > > Tiffin is an Andhra staple and I always thought it was unique to andhra! > > On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 7:26 AM, Namitha Jagadeesh > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > > > @ Deepa, Nishant, > > Not sure why culturally it is so, but it gets asked and answered > almost > > automatically. I usually just say "Hu, ayithu" and smile, as an auto > > response, without actually pausing to think if I have eaten or not. > > "Nimma ashirvada" is used more in context of elders asking you > > "Chennagideeya?" and not so much with food-related Qs, as far as I > know. > > > > Did not notice that it was such a Kannadiga thing until it was > pointed out > > here. Another common variation is "Tiffin ayitha?"...recently > discovered > > that "tiffin", with connotations of breakfast/evening snack is also > > somewhat > > unique to Karnataka, when I used the word in a mixed crowd and no one > got > > it. Do other cultures also use tiffin in that sense? > > > > On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 6:44 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > > > > > Gautam John [29/08/08 18:40 +0530]: > > > > > >> On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 6:35 PM, ss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >> > > >> its a politeness thing. And not Asian > > >>> > > >> > > >> You don't have to ask if someone has eaten to be polite, yes? > > >> > > > > > > I wonder if there's a culture somewhere where the question is "have > you > > > crapped today?" > > > > > > 1. The guy's eaten - obvious deduction from that question > > > 2. His digestive system works fine - sense of physical well being > etc etc > > > > > > srs > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Radhika, Y.R. > Project Manager, > Centering Women project, Sri Lanka > International Center for Sustainable Cities > 415 - 1788 W. 5th Avenue > Vancouver BC Canada
