Shanghaiied

satchitananda · Apr 4, 2023

It must have been sometime in the mid 80's. Those were much gentler times. Racism did exist and travellers to the US did undergo strict checks. A friend went to the US and was subjected to the usual check up. He was carrying "darbha pullu" which is used in shraddha rituals. "What is this?" he was asked. "Grass" came the candid reply. What followed does not necessitate too much of imagination. Obviously he had a considerable amount of explaining to do. But like I said, we lived in gentler times and he did get away without any untoward consequences.

An elderly friend was gobsmacked the other day when her post on Facebook was censored. "Why? What is wrong with this post" she asked explaining what the post was about. It did not take too long to understand why. She had referred to a cat in affectionate terms but unfortunately the word has already been hijacked to mean something else altogether - a part of the female anatomy.

The poor donkey may no longer be affectionately referred to by its synonym - ass. Why is it that all animal names are now used to refer to not so public parts of the human anatomy?

Take the synonym of the word 'happy'. The Victorian word 'gay' has also been taken over by one section of the population and no one may claim to be 'gay' unless they belong to that community - no matter how 'gaily' they might be flitting around.

Or 'spend a penny'. I did not spend a penny during this trip. Well, the word 'trip' too. I used the expression in the literal sense, but apparently 'spend a penny' is a British euphemism for using the toilet and stems from the times when using a public toilet cost a penny. "i'm going to spend a penny" does not mean spending money. No dears, nor does 'trip' mean only an outing. It more often than not means travelling to other dimensions in this physical body.

I certainly feel cheated when words I spent years learning in my toddler years have been 'shanghaiied' and do not mean what they meant long ago and I am obliged to learn the language all over again. Why have they been taken off to Shanghai, can anyone please tell me?

Please add to the list of such unfortunate words whose original meanings must now RIP so we can pay our last respect to them.

Rihana · Apr 4, 2023

The word "transition" can no longer casually be used in its original meaning.

When tennis great Serena Williams wanted to announce her retirement but did not want to say "retiring", her next choice was "transition" but she skipped using that because, in her own words:

"I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me."

I am happy to give up that word for the trans community to use it exclusively, nonetheless an RIP is called for the lovely word's retirement. A little child would transition from diapers to big-boy or big-girl clothes. A kindergartener transitioned to full day school. As the world slept, India transitioned from a British colony to an independent, sovereign state.

satchitananda · Apr 4, 2023

Wow! Never thought of that! I have also heard of the word used in the sense of 'passing on'. The English language has many words with two or more different meanings - homonyms. Maybe it would be reasonable to be able to use such words with their old meanings as well as in the newer contexts in which they are getting used. All could be happy all around!

Viswamitra · Apr 4, 2023

Dear Satchi,

The dictionary meaning of the word "Rip" is "tear or pull (something) quickly or forcibly away from something or someone". After the use of abbreviation became so popular due to smart phone short messages, the word now belong to those who kick the bucket meaning "Rest in Peace".

"Bull" and "Bear" meant animals when I was in school and I have seen picture books that taught alphabet carrying the pictures of these animals. Now they refer to in the stock exchanges as a market that represents excessive demand or supply of stocks.

satchitananda · Apr 4, 2023

It is becoming a challenge to understand teenage lingo these days! Feel like a dinosaur!

Balajee · Apr 4, 2023

Ah the pitfalls of language! You have to negotiate carefully through its traps,, Shanghaied rewminds me of Bangalored. No it does not mean falling into one of the city's potholes but it is an American term for l losing one's job in the IT industry to be replaced by an Indian in Bangalore at a lower wage. "Grass" must have sent the American Narcotics Control Board into a tizzy. The guy was lucky that he emerged unscathed or with minimum l damage, Sigh, looks like we will never be able to post the nursery rhyme about the cat going to see the queen on FB.These pitfalls exist in Indian languages too Imagine the reaction of a north Indian lady who visits a Telugu home to be greeted with "randi, ramdi" which in Telugu means welcome but in Hindi.....well, My father told me this story: Once a Tamil mami to whom Hindi was greek visited her son in Delhi. Once when she was alone at home/ someone knocked and a male voice asked her to open the door using a term which in Hindi means a bolt but in Tamil it denotes human rear orifice! The lady flew into a rage and abused the guy left and right in the most colourful Tamil. Within a couple of days she packed her bags and left southward in a huff.

satchitananda · Apr 4, 2023

Balajee, if words in one language can be problematic, words in different languages can be even more maddening. Like the Marathi word for lizard is the same as the Tamil word for milk!

shyamala1234 · Apr 5, 2023

Balajee said: ↑

Ah the pitfalls of language! You have to negotiate carefully through its traps,, Shanghaied rewminds me of Bangalored. No it does not mean falling into one of the city's potholes but it is an American term for l losing one's job in the IT industry to be replaced by an Indian in Bangalore at a lower wage. "Grass" must have sent the American Narcotics Control Board into a tizzy. The guy was lucky that he emerged unscathed or with minimum l damage, Sigh, looks like we will never be able to post the nursery rhyme about the cat going to see the queen on FB.These pitfalls exist in Indian languages too Imagine the reaction of a north Indian lady who visits a Telugu home to be greeted with "randi, ramdi" which in Telugu means welcome but in Hindi.....well, My father told me this story: Once a Tamil mami to whom Hindi was greek visited her son in Delhi. Once when she was alone at home/ someone knocked and a male voice asked her to open the door using a term which in Hindi means a bolt but in Tamil it denotes human rear orifice! The lady flew into a rage and abused the guy left and right in the most colourful Tamil. Within a couple of days she packed her bags and left southward in a huff.
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There was another bad word in Telugu which in Punjabi means "Boy". I do not dare to use the Telugu word in open forum. Only people who know Telugu and Punjabi can guess it!!!
Syamala

satchitananda · Apr 5, 2023

And those who don't know Telugu can find it on Google if they know the Punjabi word! :-D

Marun · Apr 5, 2023

Interesting topic. I would say its all geographic and how words have been put to use as the years pass over the decade.
Litres are gallon & Kms are miles and in a similar way someone donkey eventually become an ass somewhere sometime.

The cockney rhyming people use to make their pronunciation easy is another reason.
Lorry in UK would be truck in US. Yama vaahan in India

Trouble and strife means wife in UK and I poeple can personally quote what they wish to