I can taak inglis, I can vaak inglis...becaas inglis ij a bhery phunny language! ...
This famous dialogue reminds me of the funny incidents where deficiency or lack of prowess in the local language has given me enough reasons to laugh.........
Incident 1
There was this friend of mine Sonny (name not changed to maintain authenticity) who thinks that he is a master of languages...We being a gang of malayalee’s had this supreme air of over confidence and misgauged how well Sonny was good at linguistics...
It happened during a trip to blore while we were fresh blokes in college...We were seated in a restaurant and Sonny being the self proclaimed boss of the gang volunteered to get the food ordered...With panache he called up one of the waiter’s standing near by. Sensing an opportunity to impress his mates he blurted out something in Hindi...The waiter was left dumbstruck and a few turned shoulders in the hotel...
Minutes later we came to know what he actually said and the entire group of us had a bloody hell of a laugh..
“Khaaney keliya kaun kaun hein”...
Little did he know that it wasn’t....
“Which are the dishes you are serving?”
Apparently he did a word to word translation of the same question in Malayalam to Hindi which resulted in this blunder........
Incident 2
It happened at a hair saloon in Pune...This friend of mine was having a haircut and the feeling of being away from hadn’t quite set in yet for him...Few minutes into the haircut he asked the Barber.. “Cheep ondo??”... (Have u got a comb??).
This incident reaffirmed that he is not in Kerala anymore when the barber replied..
“kaafi cheap hein naa...bhaisaheb...Isse aur cheap kahan milega!!!”
We just couldn’t help laughing at the bewildered face of this friend!!!
Incident 3
I came to know about this from a blog friend of mine. This guy on a trip to Delhi, went shopping at Paalika Bazaar - asked the price of some stuff and the shopkeeper replied - "Pachhees Rupaye” ... Trying to impress his parents with his Hindi n Bargaining skills.. To the pleasant surprise of the shopkeeper this friend retorts back "Bahut Zyaada .. Chalees Rupaye"!!! His confusion between 25 and its double still continues!! :)
Incident 4
This is a funny a sign board which I saw while traveling from Mysore to Wayanad...The inter state buses usually stop at this non descript tea shop for a quick refreshment...
But the best part of the shop is not the food they serve...but the plank of plywood placed outside the cafe...Painted on it boldly... “URIN PROHIBITED”!!!Hey cmon...How can that be.................?
Am still wondering how they got the spelling right for “prohibited”.........
Little mistakes. Little blunders...but a sea change in ideas...........
Moral of the story: Always be carefree with words!!!!!!!!..oops...careful!!!!!!!!!!
15 years ago
10 comments:
LOL :))
Check out this hilarious post by Flaashgordon
@silver
wow..that was one helluva post!!
my mom's colleagues son had a foreign student in college. that guy was from some alien country and was understandably bad at English. he once said - i want urine and went staright into the loo .. rest left to ur imagination ;)
a local shop at trivandrum still offers 'bornless' chicken, whether u believe it or not!
;)
Great post!
@dewdrops
Lol!!!..chk out the link silverline has put up..awesome!!!
@velu
hehehe..remind me of "chilled bear"
nice read Mathew !!!
Thanks for your visit too
@yetanother.softwarejunk
Thanx a lot for visiting!!
lol mathacha..that was superb :d
@Monu
Thanx daa!!!
am a keralite who came to mumbai in my mid forties.i knew no hind 'cos i did most of my schooling in tamilnadu at a time when anti hindi sentiments ran very high- so landed up in mumbai with fifteen words. believe it or not managed beautifully with it- with fifteen words and kathakali could even gossip with my maid!
but my first attempt at communication with my first maid was disasterous. wanted to tell her she isnt doing her job(cleaning the floor) well- so found out the word for dirty- gandhagi, my neighbour told me it was.i memorised it and waited for the maid to come. she came late and i forgot the word but remembered the first sound. as she started washing the floor, suddenly the word came to me and i blurted out - bahoot garibi. should have seen the expression on her face!!!!!
u must b wondering how i got hold of 'garibi'? well i grew up in the heydays of mrs indiria gandhi and her populist vote catching slogan - GARIBI HATAO! the term surfaced from somewhere deep in my sunconscious mind.
i realised my mistake but how was i to explain to her with my fifteen words?
she didnt come aftet that day.
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