Language Indian "Ishtyle"

Something I posted on Shakespeare & Co

Let us take the name "Shankar" for instance and start on a journey from north to south of India and see how the name would be pronounced in each region of India.

Punjab: Shankar-uh

U.P.: Shankar-va

Maharashtra: Shankar-e

Karnataka: Shankara

Kerala: Shankar-an-oo

In the north the verb assumes a gender as in "Ladki jati thi".

In Marathi in addition to female of the species even inanimate objects take a feminine gender as in "Gadi geli hoti."

In Malayalam verbs do not assume a gender as in "Aval poi" or "Aval vannu." That's why most Malayalis say "Ladki jatha tha" instead of "Ladki jati thi." I guess, this applies to Bengali also.

Another Indianism is "Khana-bina," "train-bin," "bus-gis," and the like.

It is hilarious when all these linguistic groups work together in an office. Recently I found a note stuck to a toilet in the office where I work, "It's not use."

I thought may be toilets (more progressive colleagues call them "rest rooms") are only for show in this quasi-American BPO unit, and not to be used.

Or, it could be that the writer meant, "It's no use," meaning, it is of no use complaining about the lack of toilet papers, liquid soap, toilet flush, etc.

Or, it could be that "It's of no use," meaning what you do in the toilet is of no productive use and the company would have you working instead of wasting time in the loo. True, a lot of my colleagues carry out their kootchie-koos inside the toilet.

Then it ocurred to me that the man who wrote this probably meant, "Please do not use."