HINGLISH, CHINGLISH AND MOBAMA

Jun 15, 2009 Features / Columnists, Tony Deyal column

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According to information derived from essays written by schoolchildren, “The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare. He was born in the year 1564, supposedly on his birthday. He never made much money and is famous only because of his plays.
He wrote tragedies, comedies, and hysterectomies, all in Islamic pentameter.”  Writing a hysterectomy is bad enough, but writing it in Islamic pentameter might cause it to be viewed as so offensive to people of that religious persuasion they might ostracize you, or worse, invoke a Tali-ban.
Fortunately for English Literature, the tragedy Hamlet was set in Denmark and written in English.  In Act Two, Scene Two of the play, Polonius asks Hamlet, “What do you read my Lord?”  Hamlet answers, “Words, words, words.”
While Shakespeare was not responsible for the introduction of the word “word”, or even of the word “hamlet”, he is said to have used 17,677 words in his plays and to have been the first person to use 1,767 of these words.  Among the ones he introduced were “assassination”, “multitudinous”, “obscene”, “lonely”, “gnarled”, “hurry” and “eventful” – the last probably being the best possible description of his life and times.
While some schoolchildren claim that the very name “Hamlet” makes it clear that the play was written by Francis Bacon, the fact is that whoever wrote the plays was a wordsmith of note.  Incidentally, the term “wordsmith”, meaning “a skilled user of words” is supposed to have originated in 1873.
Since then the language has grown to the point that a Texas-based company, Global Language Monitor (GLM), announced that at 10:22 a.m. GMT on Wednesday this week (June 10, 2009), word number one million was recorded.  GLM, which claims that a new English word comes into existence at an average of one every 98 minutes or 14.7 per day, declared the millionth word to be “Web 2.0”.
This term describes “the current generation of web services that feature hallmarks like social networking functionality, geolocation features, interoperability, collaboration and mashups of different types of content.”
Facebook is an example of “Web 2.0”. I always thought that “mashups” were severely damaged relationships or property, particularly automobiles.  Wikipedia, however, says that “mashup” means “a web page or application that combines data from two or more external online sources.”
According to a newspaper report, “The Global Language Monitor today announced that Web 2.0 has bested Jai Ho, N00b and Slumdog as the 1,000,000th English word or phrase added to the codex of fourteen hundred-year-old language. Web 2.0 is a technical term, meaning the next generation of World Wide Web products and services. It has crossed from technical jargon into far wider circulation in the last six months.
Two terms from India, Jai Ho! and slumdog, finished No. 2 and 4. Jai Ho! Is a Hindi exclamation signifying victory or accomplishment; Slumdog is an impolite term for children living in the slums. Just missing the top spot was n00b, a mixture of letters and numbers that is a derisive term for newcomer.
It is also the only mainstream English word that contains within itself two numerals.”
So what is this “Jai Ho” about?  Is it like the famous “Land Ho!” uttered by Columbus when he sighted Charlotte Street in Trinidad?  The phrase actually came from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” and signifies the joy of victory.  It roughly translates into “It Is Accomplished.”
If you’re looking at the World T20 now taking place in England, you can expect a lot of “JAI HOs” among the supporters of the Indian cricket team.  “Slumdog”, before the movie, was a term of disparagement of slum dwellers.  It has now taken on undertones of endearment, but this did not stop the Mumbai authorities from demolishing the city’s shanty-town.
“Jai Ho” and “Slumdog” are examples of another new word category “Hinglish” (Hindi/English) and there is also one that is “Chinglish” (Chinese/English).  Word number 999,988 is “Chengguan” which means “Urban management officers” whose powers make them a cross between mayors, sheriffs, and city managers.
“Cloud computing” is another new word, which comes from today’s technology. It has been defined as “referring to a network setup where everything is stored on an external server, and only the interface is in front of you. Almost everything is streamed over the internet.”
There are some other new words that came out of computing such as de-follow (when you are no longer following a particular personality on twitter), de-friend (when you blank them out completely), and e-vampire (for equipment that uses a lot of electricity while on standby mode),
Emerging from what is now know as the present “financial tsunami” are three interesting financial terms.  The first, “chiconomics” is the ability to maintain your fashion sense or “chicness” despite the recession.  The second is “recessionista” which like barista (coffee mixing expert) evolved from the new chicness.
The “Urban Dictionary” defines “recessionista” as “a person who evokes being affected by the recession because it’s the ‘in’ thing to do, especially if they have no real need to. They may even pay more for the privilege of having just the right down-market accessories or habits.”
As an example, “We’re going to Mel’s Diner tonight. The decor’s a little shabby, you know with the recession and all, but they have the most fabulous oysters served in replica sardine tins.”  “Recessionistas” have survived “bangsters”- bankers who have made money from predatory lending prices during the recession.
My favourite is number three in the fashion folio- “mobama”.  It refers to the fashion sense or chicness of Michelle Obama.  The ultimate accolade is that your clothes “are quite mobamaish”.  What about if everything and everybody else pales in comparison?  Would that be “spalin”?
*Tony Deyal was last seen saying that one of the new words that is possibly worth investigation by mobama or splain is “chuddies” or Hinglish for female underwear.

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