[shashanka]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

This is a difference that seems to have become lost in "Indian" English. That confused me on conversation sometimes.

Just as 'shirtings' and 'suitings' are shining examples of Hinglish at its inventive best! I doff my rhetorical hat to the moral guardians of the Queen's English that they have wholeheartedly welcomed so many examples of Hinglish into their language. But alas - we are like that only!

[dark.knight]

I know this thread is about posting in proper English, but I want to write about a few pronunciation trends that are fast catching on these days. Don't get me wrong I'm not being snooty, I'm aware that every state has its own unique kinks with regard to pronouncing English words but when I try my best to talk in a neutral way hearing them repeatedly brainwashes me into talking in the same manner

Career = Kuh-rear (I pronounce it sort of like ka-rear)

Correct = Kuh-rect (I pronounce it coh-rect)

Data = Dah-ta (I say dey-ta)

Breakfast = Break-fuhst (I say break-fahst)

Technology - Techno-lohji (I say technoh-logy)

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

... I want to write about a few pronunciation trends that are fast catching on these days. ...

Aren't many or most of those due to American influence?

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Aren't many or most of those due to American influence?

Exactly my thoughts.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Aren't many or most of those due to American influence?

Not quite, the way they're pronounced they're anything but American. Maybe how I typed them does not quite capture how they sound but its with a heavy Indian-ness where the u's are more of a's and r's roll about quite a bit. Basically what should be pronounced for longer is shortened and then some quite unnecessary emphasis on the rolling r's and lengthening the short parts.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Indianising the Americanised English

By the way, I just read the phrase "two of my next of kin," and wondered, can one have two? But maybe that question has more to do with law than language!

[devil_klm]

I am hearing the term "I can able to do that" or "I can’t able to do that" from many of my colleagues. Is this sentence correct? When i searched in Google, this is mentioned as Indian English.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by devil_klm

I am hearing the term "I can able to do that" or "I can't able to do that" from many of my colleagues. Is this sentence correct? When i searched in Google, this is mentioned as Indian English.

Oh please. That's ably incorrect, Indian or Norwegian. Do correct the next one. Do not let this propagate. I've never heard this, though.

[devil_klm]

Ah. Thanks a lot.
I tried to correct few of them but they are not ready to accept. What I think is these are English translation from local languages. Below is a comment on same

http://english.stackexchange.com/que...can-i-find-som

[ThePunter]

Originally Posted by devil_klm

Ah. Thanks a lot.
I tried to correct few of them but they are not ready to accept. What I think is these are English translation from local languages. Below is a comment on same

http://english.stackexchange.com/que...can-i-find-som

More on the same discussed here some time back

Originally Posted by ThePunter

Such a useful thread !
Another one I can't stand is... "I can able to" or "I can't able to".
How many ever times I try to correct that it should be "I am able to", it just continues. Gosh..!

[mayankk]

I got this from a forward. And I am too tired to check if its OK. Do have a go:

"I am the ghost of Christmas future imperfect conditional", said the spirit.
"I bring news of what would have been going to happen, if you were not to have been going to change your ways."

[PatchyBoy]

Not sure if this belongs here or in the jokes thread -

Student: Can I borrow a pencil?

Teacher: i don't know, CAN you?

Student: Yes. Also colloquial irregularities occur frequently in any language and since you and the rest of our present company understood my intended meaning being particular about the distinctions between "can" and "may" is purely pedantic and arguably pretentious

[pradkumar]

I noticed that OEM is wrongly used in the Indian media and this forum.

Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is a company that makes a part or subsystem that is used in another company's end product.

Simply put, OEM is not Maruti, Ford, or Hyundai, but say GoodYear, MRF, Denso, Exide India, etc.

[Thad E Ginathom]

A blunder in today's The Hindu (so-called English-language newspaper!).

Instead of saying not least because, the author has written not in the least because. He has said the opposite of what he meant to say.

[pradkumar]

The Kerala Kaumudi, a Malayalam newspaper some 20 years or more back printed an atrocious story on the front page. In those days, newspapers used to print an irrelevant photograph on the front page. If a major news story breaks out late, it was easy to pull out the picture and replace it with the major new story.

Coming back to the story, the editor had left for the day and the night shift editor was in charge. Purportedly, the guy was inebriated. He scanned for the latest ticker stories from PTI and other news agencies for any late breaking news.

Our man saw a ticker story of 500 odd sleepers (wooden railway sleepers those days) being swept away in a flood. This guy thought sleepers meant homeless people in his inebriated state and did a translation to Malayalam to that effect, that is, "500 sleeping people swept off in a flood", removed the irrelevant photograph, and carried it as front page news.

The next day, when his colleagues returned, he was still sleeping in the office. They say he left after reading the story and was untraceable after that. The management was left with egg on their face. They couldn't blame it as a genuine translation error because the second para read: "A few months back, there was a similar incident of 300 sleeping people (railway sleepers in the ticker news) being swept away."