Back to
blogging in the New Year. Last couple of weeks was very eventful with mostly
good things happening. Hope it continues.
Coming
to today’s post, I’ve often wondered how words have changed over time. They
don’t mean the same over a period of time as they meant at the beginning.
Ofcourse, I’m not talking about all words, but some words have transformed.
Let’s look at some of them.
Homely:
What
does ‘homely’ mean? If I had not been taught its meaning by a nice teacher, I’d
probably say that it means ‘of home or suitable to a house’ or something of
that sort.
But dictionary defines ‘homely’ as plain,
pretentious and lacking in physical beauty.
We
generally associate that term with a girl, usually a prospective bride. People
say they’d prefer a homely girl. What they actually mean is that they’d prefer
a girl, who’s traditional in nature, suitable enough to fit in anyone’s house
adjusting herself to the surroundings.
Are
there such girls present today? ;-) Just kidding :-)
I agree that it’s offensive to girls in
general that such a demand for a ‘homely’ girl is being made in today’s world.
Perhaps, girls should start demanding a ‘homely’ boy then. I’m not even
venturing into the definition of a ‘homely’ boy. Please do if you wish ;-) :-)
But the
point is that 99.9 percent of the people using that word, especially in South
India, do not know its dictionary meaning. Like all other Indians, people were
probably looking for a word that would aptly fit in and describe the
characteristics mentioned and they hit upon this word.
Another
problem is in suggesting an alternative. What alternative would you suggest for
‘homely’? ‘Traditional’ sounds fine but
in today’s world that sounds more offensive than some swear words. Think of it?
How would you react if you were called a traditional girl/boy? Does sound odd.
Got to stick with ‘homely’.
Having
been taught well, I don’t use it in that context, but I find everyone else
using it. I can correct some but not everyone. So the simple solution lies in
me not using it but understand what people mean by it if they use it. So many
eminent people have used it. Time to accept that the word has undergone/is undergoing
a transformation in our own unique Indian way.
Guardians
of the English language/dictionary writers at Oxford & Cambridge should
perhaps realize that the words they define don’t mean the same in India :-) Perhaps they must come up with an Indian edition,
‘cause we’re unique.
Dude:
Another
interesting word. Dictionary defines it as “an informal way to address a man; a
man who’s much concerned with his dress and appearance”.
But if
you ask people using it, people like you and me, we’d say that it simply means
a ‘cool guy’. But did you know what the word meant when it was first coined?
It meant
a ‘dud’. Yes. The word was coined in the 1860s and at that time it was used to
refer to males who were extremely well-dressed that their dressing was often incongruous
(out of place). So they were called ‘dud’ (boring, fool, etc.). This became
‘dude’ and transformed in meaning to its present form.
Another
issue here is gender based. Though the word is used to refer to males, it has
come to be more unisexual of late, being used for both genders.
But the
actual female equivalent of a ‘dude’ is a ‘dudette’, which again is not the
original term. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the female equivalent of a
dude is a ‘dudine’. But again the term might have sounded uncool and someone
thought of this term ‘dudette’.
Again
‘dudette’ has come to mean something different, somewhere close to its original
meaning.
In today’s
college parlance, ‘dudette’ means a girl who’s dumb. She might be well-dressed,
elegant and might talk only in English. Even if you talk to her in Tamil
knowing that she can speak that language perfectly well, she’ll be like “Eniku
Thaamil theriyaadhu” (I don’t know Tamil). If you ask her about who the Chief
Minister or Governor of the state is, she’ll probably say “Oh, I don’t know. I
don’t read politics, you see.”
So
there’s your ‘dudette’ , atleast that’s what a ‘dudette’ means in today’s
college parlance. So if someone calls you a dudette, be offended or perhaps,
you really are one ;-)
That’s
why ‘dude’ is being used unisexually these days.
Weather
and Climate:
I’ve
corrected the maximum no. of people with these words. We’ll talk a little
Geography here. I owe a lot of my knowledge in Geography to a wonderful teacher
named Sujatha Ma’am who taught me Geography at school. I did well in Geography
& scored a 98pc in my board exam. I guess that qualifies me to teach you
all a little Geography.
When you
talk about the weather of a place, you’re talking about the climatic conditions
of a place over a short period of time like a day or a couple of days or a week
at the maximum.
When you
talk about the climate of a place, you’re talking about the climatic conditions
of a place over a long period of time like 20 to 30 years or more.
You
don’t say “Today’s climate is good”. You say “Today’s weather is good.”
Similarly
you say “Bangalore has a pleasant climate or Coimbatore has a pleasant climate
or Chennai has a sultry climate” as you’re talking about the prevalent general
conditions in those places for years together.
Guys/
Gals and the usage of Mrs./Ms.
Another
issue that arises is with regard to the usage of ‘guys’. ‘Guy’ means a male and
it’s plural form is ‘guys’. The apt female equivalent of this word is ‘gal’. But
again, there’s this ‘uncoolness’ about that word. So people don’t prefer to use
it. Even ‘guys and girls’ is more acceptable in today’s parlance than people
calling ‘guys and gals’. This again has led to the word ‘guys’ being used
unisexually. There’s a reverse gender bias here ;-) All words that were guys’ are
being taken away from us ;-) :-)
Another
interesting word is the word ‘mistress’. Though in India people have taken to
referring their wife as ‘mistress’, the word actually means an adulterous
woman, signifying an illicit relationship. Unlike other words like ‘homely’,
mistake in this word should be deemed unacceptable. So please don’t use the
word ‘mistress’. Introducing them as your ‘wife’ or ‘spouse’ or as your ‘better
half’ is good enough. While on this topic, I’m reminded of a joke that I read
in some magazine a long time back.
A
foreigner and his wife were travelling in a train and they were seated next to
a village couple. The villager was strangely staring at the foreigner’s wife.
The foreigner noticed this and to make things clear, he said to his wife, “I’m
your husband and you’re my wife.” The villager saw this and trying to ape him,
he turned to his wife and said “I’m your handpump and you’re my pipe.” :-D
For
males, such a problem never existed as they were addressed as ‘Mr.’
irrespective of their marital status. This injustice to females was noticed and
it was first suggested that the title of “Ms.” be used for women in 1901 in The
Republican magazine. This issue was
later taken forward by American Business Writers Association and from 1970s
onwards, the title “Ms.” has been used to refer to women. Newspapers like The Guardian have given fillip
to this usage by stating that they’d refer to all women by the title “Ms.” unless
the women being addressed themselves state their preference to be addressed as
either “Miss” or “Mrs.”
Hmmm/Hmm
If you’re
wondering what this means, be assured
that you’re not alone. We are sailing in the same boat. Perhaps the most
irritable response that you could get from someone in a text message is ‘hmmm’.
It’s not even a proper word for heaven’s sake. People use it in oral
conversations as means of letting the speaker know that he/she is being listened
to. Stop it with that. Please don’t take it to written communication. Good
communicators never use it in their writing. It’s just a conversation filler.
There can hardly be anything more irritating than when you receive a reply “hmm”
in response to a lengthy message that you typed and sent. If you want to
acknowledge, you can atleast use words like “ok” or even a “smiley” would be a
better response than “hmm”. Please avoid it if you’re in the habit of using it.
I recently found a person, who I regard as a very good communicator, using it.
I advised that person not to use it,
only to find the words “hmm” again in that person’s message to me. Old habits
die hard, I guess ;-) :-)
Will
update on more such words as and when I come across them.
Cheers,
Ashwin Murali
