On Tuesday 24 Nov 2009 11:55:14 pm Thaths wrote: > There is some truth in that. However, such gaudy prose is not just > restricted to advertising copy. I have also seen many be-jeweled > business documents and newsletters in my short professional life in > India. And these were equally prevalent in small local businesses and > large multi-national corporations.
Indian languages and non Indian ones (like Persian) are floral by nature. A tendency to transliterate by Indians who are less Macaulayized than we are results in the appearance of bombast. Offhand I will just quote a line from a Hindi/Urdu song (and a beautuful one at that - the song I mean) (Chaudvin ka chand) "Hoton pey khelti hai tabassum ki bijliyaan" In "proper" English it means "You are smiling" The translation is "Playing on your lips are the electric sparks of a smile" Link to the song on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ud2rsMT5ng shiv
