--- On Fri, 19/12/08, ss <[email protected]> wrote:
> From: ss <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [silk] Pet Peeves and Pedantry, was: How Risky Is India?
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Friday, 19 December, 2008, 7:02 AM
> On Friday 19 Dec 2008 5:37:18 am Aishwarya Subramanian
> wrote:
> > > And here are some of mine: the use of
> "hopefully" to mean "I hope that",
> > > "nauseous" to mean
> "nauseated", and in Delhi, "until" to
> mean "while".
> > > (Yes, really. "We can't have the meeting
> until he's not well.")
> >
> > ..which of course leads to *my* pet peeve in India in
> general: "offer open
> > till stocks last"
>
> My personal observation is that educated English speaking
> Indians are more
> rigid and "brahminical" about the English
> langauge than the language itself
> is.
>
> English (with plenty of help from America) has crossed
> boundaries that I was
> taught never to cross as a child.
>
> It is an evolving language and Indians who allow and come
> to terms with
> Indianisms are likely to help enrich the language even as
> they become less
> embarrassed and more comfortable.
>
> shiv
Fair enough. I can't disagree entirely with this sentiment, but do disagree
partially.
There can be no objection to an 'Indianism', or any other vernacularism, or any
form of borrowing from a foreign language, provided there is no permanent
damage to the rules of grammar or to the historical sense of a phrase or a word.
As far as Americanisms are concerned, I despise them, but have no problem with
those who use them consistently. Which, Shiv, from the evidence of your book,
you don't; if it's 'honor', then it ought to be American spellings
consistently. That really isn't playing fair.
You need to set your spell-check consistently to American or to English
spelling.
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