[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by TheOne®

Lol, what does this VI mean?

Please! If Sam wraps the Saree

I think the correct usage would be 'Drapes the Saree', Sam please correct me if I am wrong

Originally Posted by Samurai

VI is same as adding A to a word in English.

English: a + moral = amoral (lack of moral)
Hindi: vi + desi = videsi (lack of Indianness)

Not really,

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Videsi simply means foreign. The word normally has a positive connotation.

umm actually Vides means foreign & Videsi means foreigner/Imported depending on context

Pardesi is more appropriate for a foreigner

Originally Posted by Samurai

Vi-desi or Par-desi means non-Indian, I am not sure whether Hindi has a word for foriegn. Now who said it was negative?

Des/Desh - Means Country

Swades- Means ones Own Country

Vides/Pardes - Means Foreign Country

Vides & Pardes are used in different Context though not always.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Pardesi is more appropriate for a foreigner

are you saying Sam has to purrrr repeatedly?

[PaulBarber]

Originally Posted by Nitronium

My ludicrous post comes to an end.

You said it!! Did u really mean ludicrous ?

[Nitronium]

Nope. That was just for the highly offended

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

I think the correct usage would be 'Drapes the Saree', Sam please correct me if I am wrong

You are absolutely correct.

Originally Posted by Technocrat

umm actually Vides means foreign & Videsi means foreigner/Imported depending on context

Vides/Pardes - Means Foreign Country

Vides & Pardes are used in different Context though not always.

Firstly, Vides does not mean foreign, it means foreign country. Vides is a noun. Foreign is an adjective, not a noun, but in India we use it incorrectly.

"Foreign" gaya hai - meaning he has gone abroad. This is quite incorrect in English.
The right way to use foreign is "This is a foreign item" or "She is a foreign girl"
Videsi = foreign/imported.
However when referring to a person it is appropriate to use the word "foreigner".

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Vides & Pardes are used in different Context though not always.

It is colloquial use I think. Des does not necessarily mean country. it can also mean "land" or even "village"
It is quite common, especially in Gujarat to refer to one's village/town as Des.
In this case, a pardesi could be someone who is not from your town/village.
A videsi/videshi is almost always from outside India.

[Samurai]

Techno, it is just a semantic, why are people taking it as negative?

Adding vi to a word doesn't make it the opposite, it indicates lack of it. I may not be an expert in Hindi, but in Kannada I was quite an expert at one time. Many of the word formations are identical in Hindi and Kannada, and they have the same meaning.

When you add "im" to moral, mortal, mobile or mutable, you get the antonym. But adding "a" is not the same as adding "im". Is amoral same as immoral, not really, there is a subtle difference, "a" means lack of, "im" means opposite. Using vi in Hindi/Kannada is same as adding "a", which means lack of or nuetral. If moral is positive and immoral is negative, amoral is zero. Another example in English is apolitical, which mean non-political. So vi-desi is non-desi, vi-kesh is no-hair, vi-kar or vi-roop is non-pretty, etc.

I have no problem if videsi is used for foreigner, it is an accepted usage for lack of options. Anyway, Sam found Vilayath as a replacement, it is again starting with vi, but that may be a co-incidence, layath may not be a word.

Since Jenny specifically asked the meaning of "vi", I preferred to explain the semantics of that term. It might sound politically incorrect, but I was being apolitical, pun intended.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

You are absolutely correct.

Firstly, Vides does not mean foriegn, it means foreign country. Vides is a noun. Foreign is an adjective, not a noun, but in India we use it incorrectly.

"Foreign" gaya hai - meaning he has gone abroad. This is quite incorrect in English.
The right way to use foreign is "This is a foreign item" or "She is a foreign girl"
Videsi = foreign/imported.
However when referring to a person it is appropriate to use the word "foreigner".


It is colloquial use I think. Des does not necessarily mean country. it can also mean "land" or even "village"
It is quite common, especially in Gujarat to refer to one's village/town as Des.
In this case, a pardesi could be someone who is not from your town/village.
A videsi/videshi is almost always from outside India.

You got me there, I did mention vides as foreign country later.

Yes des could also be used for own town/village, I didnt want to go all that way, same for Vides & Pardes about which what you have posted is correct :-)

Originally Posted by Samurai

Techno, it is just a semantic, why are people taking it as negative?

Using vi in Hindi/Kannada is same as adding "a", which means lack of or nuetral. If moral is positive and immoral is negative, amoral is zero. Another example in English is apolitical, which mean non-political. So vi-desi is non-desi, vi-kesh is no-hair, vi-kar or vi-roop is non-pretty, etc.

Since Jenny specifically asked the meaning of "vi", I preferred to explain the semantics of that term. It might sound politically incorrect, but I was being apolitical, pun intended.

While you are right about usage of vi not all words starting with vi are used in same manner.

Btw Vilayat is an urdu word.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

While you are right about usage of vi not all words starting with vi are used in same manner.

Exactly, it applies only when you add "vi" to an existing word. There are exceptions though, nash, vi-nash have similar meaning.

[tsk1979]

Yup videsi is outside india, but Pardesi is something which is not your town.
For example, I went to videsh recently, but my permanent station is Noida, which is Pardes for me

[f450]

Why has a marriage related thread transformed into a vocabulary related one?

[Sam Kapasi]

Ask any married man. All marriages, around the world are vocabulary related in one way or the other.