Short Trip, Sharp Eyes

Is there something about short trips that sharpens your powers of observation?

This is the thought that crossed my mind after reading Anu Garg's latest posts on AWAD, which has been aptly described by the New York Times as "The most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace"!

Over the past few days, Anu has been posting Japan Special's after a brief visit to the Far East. Despite having stayed and traveled extensively in Japan for two years, some of his observations have come as a big surprise to me.

I did not know, for instance, that "skosh", "honcho" and "tycoon" were all English words borrowed from NihonGo. Neither did I notice that each of the 47 prefectures in Japan has its own cutesy police mascot, created to "win the affection of the people and make them feel safe"!

Japan's 47 Prefectures and their 47 police mascots! (pic source: idleidol.net)

The one for Ibaraki is neither a frog, nor an owl but a skylark named Hibari-kun.

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LINKS:

* Japan's Mascots -- http://idleidol.net/

* AWAD - A Word A Day - http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html

'Soft Arrogance'

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This is a new one - 'soft arrogance'. I came across this phrase for the first time in an interview given by Subroto Bagchi, founder and VC of Mindtree, and author of the book "Go Kiss The World".

According to Bagchi, “India is respected for two things. The IT industry told the world that Indians are smart, intelligent people. Two, the day India exploded a nuclear device, people in the world changed their perception. India right now has what I call soft arrogance. Arrogance is bad, but soft arrogance is important, but it cannot be on a weak plinth.”

What is “soft arrogance”?

“Soft arrogance is when you are expertise-led, when you have self-confidence, the belief that you have value — real value — to offer… no shortcuts, no workarounds. It comes when you believe in a cause, when you know that you can stand your ground.”

This makes sense. If the phrase "soft arrogance' had come from anybody other than Bagchi, it would have been dubbed as an oxymoron!

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 LINKS:

"India has Soft Arrogance" - Interview in theHindu Business Line with Rasheeda Bhagat - http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/rasheeda-bhagat/article2208098.ece

Zen Garden: Subroto Bagchi's Blog in the Forbes Magazine - http://www.mindtree.com/subrotobagchi/zen-garden/

Exuberance of Verbosity

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This is one thing I've always, always wanted to figure out -- what the heck was Antony Gonzalves trying to say??

In "Amar Akbar Antony", a popular Hindi movie from the late 1970's, Amitabh Bachchan, playing the role of a maverick named Antony Gonzalves, pops out of an Easter egg and sings a song. Its a mixture of English and Hindi, and delightful, unadulterated nonsense.

The Hindi lyrics fits into the overall plot and makes some sense - Mr. Gonzalves, the 'party entertainer' is trying to woo a girl on the sly. But what is he trying to say in English??

Here it is - gibberish deciphered:

"Wait, wait...WAIT! You see the whole country of the system is juxtapositioned by the haemoglobin in the atmosphere because you are a sophisticated rhetoritian intoxicated by the exuberance of your own verbosity!!"


"You see such extenuated circumstances coax me to preclude you from such extravagance!"


"You see the coefficient of the linear...is juxtapositioned by the haemoglobin of the atmospheric pressure in the country!"

There is actually a wiki-page dedicated to this song! According to folks-who-know, while Kishore Kumar did the singing, the talking (in English) was by Bachchan himself. And the opening line - "sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated by the exuberance of your own verbosity" is from a speech in the British Parliament by Benjamin Disraeli in 1878!

Where did the song-writer, Anand Bakshi, dig that from?? :)

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LINKS




Movie - Amar, Akbar, Antony - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amar_Akbar_Anthony

The Song - My Name is Antony Gonzalves - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_name_is_Anthony_Gonzalves

Seichel

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An interesting new word - Seichel.

It is Yiddish for wisdom, but it means more than that: It connotes ingenuity, creativity, subtlety, nuance.

According to Jeffery Goldberg,“Jews have always needed seichel to survive in this world; a person in possession of a yiddishe kop, a ‘Jewish head`, is someone who has seichel, someone who looks for a clever way out of problems, someone who understands that the most direct way — blunt force, for instance — often represents the least elegant solution, a person who can foresee consequences of his actions.”

After the recent botched raid on Mavi Marmara, the very notion of seichel lies in shambles.

However, the good news is that amidst the throng of jingoistic Israeli`s celebrating the widely denounced military action in international waters, there are sensible folks out there who foresee the wider repercussions of this blunder...

It is such a relief to see contrarian views coming from Israel itself, as well as the Jewish diaspora worldwide -


`GAZA FLOTILLA DRIVES ISRAEL INTO A SEA OF STUPIDITY`, Gideon Levy, Haaretz

On the Disappearance of Jewish Wisdom, Far Out at Sea, Jeffery Goldberg, The Atlantic, 31 May 2010

`CHOSEN, BUT NOT SPECIAL`, Michael Chabon, New York Times, 4 June 2010

LOST TRIBE - Are Israel`s Battles Costing the Country its Soul? , Ehud Eiran, Newsweek, 5 June 2010

Dhak-dhak, Doki-doki, Tun-tun

Dhak-dhak, doki-doki, tun-tun...these words may sound strange and funny but they all have one thing in common -- they describe the heartbeat in different languages!

In North India your heart beat is `dhak-dhak` while in Japan it goes `doki-doki` but to a Latino it is `tun-tun`. 

In English there is a world borrowed (or created) from Greek to classify these colorful `words that imitates the sounds they describe' - Onomatopoeia

Here is an attempt to collect such words in as many languages as possible.  :-)

CHINESE (Mandarin)
Pen-ti: Sneeze


CROATIAN
Kinhuti - Sneeze
Stucati - Hiccup


BENGALI
Haai - Yawn
Tapur-tupur - Sound of rainfall

ENGLISH
Bow-wow - Dog bark
Meaow - A cat`s cry
Ululation -  Howl, wail, lament, felicitation (during a marriage in Kerala)
Achoo (sneeze), Bang, Baloon, Beep, Burp, Buzz, Click, Cough, Crash, Cuckoo, Fart, Fizz, Hiccup, Hiss, Rip, Pop, Snore, Tinkle, Wink

HINDI
Dhak-dhak (धक्-धक्)  - heartbeat
Fatfatia (फटफटिया) - a noisy Auto-rickshaw (3-wheeler taxi) - "tuk-tuk" in Thai
Gubbara (गुब्बारा) - Baloon
Hichki (हिचकी) - Hiccup
Jhatpat (झटपट) - Hasty action
Kharratte (खर्राटे) - Snore
Khusur-fusur (खुसुर-फुसुर)- Whisper
Paad (पाद) - Fart
Teetar (तीतर) - Partridge-bird
Thappad (थप्पड़) - Slap

JAPANESE
Bishi-bishi (びしびし) -  stickily; relentlessly
Bisho-bisho (びしょびしょ) - scattering of drops, pieces
Bura-bura (ぶらぶら) - aimlessly; idly; loiter; loaf; stroll idly;
Chaku-chaku (ちゃくちゃく /  着着 )- Steadily
Chika-chika (ちかちか）- Flickering light
Choki-choki (ちょきーちょき）- Snipping, cutting sound
Dan-dan - (段々) gradually; by degrees
Giri-giri (ギリギリ) - Barely, Just-in-time
Goku-goku  (ごくごく) - Gulp-gulp [same reading - 極極 = extremely, highly)
Goro-goro (ごろごろ）- laze about,sound of an upset stomach!
Fura-fura (ふらふら)- unsteady on one's feet; stagger; reel; totter; dizzy
Haki-haki  (はきはき) - briskly; smartly; promptly; clearly; lucidly
Hiso-hiso (ひそひそ) - speak in a whisper
Jiro-jiro (じろじろ) - To stare
Kira-kira (きらきら) - Glitter & sparkle
Kune-kune (くねくね) ー　Circuitous
Kuyo-kuyo - Worry, fret over
Kori-kori (凝り; こり) - lingering discomfort; uneasiness; bad aftertaste; unpleasant feeling
Mago-mago (まごまご) - Confused
Moko-moko (もこもこ) - lumpy; fluffy
Nazo-nazo (なぞなぞ） - Riddle
Nya-nya (にゃにゃ） - Cat`s cry
Pachi-pachi (パチパチ ) - Clap, sputter
Pera-pera （ぺらぺら）- Fluency in a language
Pika-pika (ぴかぴか） - Gleaming (eg. car)
Ponyo-Ponyo (ポニョポニョ）－ Chubby
Potsu-potsu (ぽつぽつ)- Speckle, pimples
Shimi-jimi (しみじみ) -  《 染み染み》 - Earnestly; keenly; fully; heartily; seriously
Shuku-shuku (しゅくしゅく / 粛粛) - Silently, solemnly
Toro-toro (とろとろ)　- Simmer, stew
Uta-kata (うたかた） - Bubble
Wan-wan (わんわん）- Dog`s bark in Japan (!)
Zaa-zaa (ざあざあ）- Sound of rainfall


MALAYALAM
Addi (അട്ടി) - Hit, slap
Kaakaa (കാകാ) - Crow  (Ditto in Tamil)
Korava (കൊറവ ) - Crowing, Ululation
Koorkam ( കൂര്കം) - Snore
Kushu (കുശു) - Fart
Piri-pirippu (പിരിപിരിപ്പ് )- Fidgetty
Thummal (തുമ്മല്‍ ) - Sneeze
Thulli (തുള്ളി ) - Drop (water, dew)
Umma (ഉമ്മ) - Kiss

ROMANIAN (without the right intonation marks :(  )
Bum-Bum - Heartbeat
Casca - Yawn
Ham-Ham - Dogs-bark
Miau - Cat's cry
Part / Basi - Fart
Sforai- Snore
Stranut- Sneeze
Sughit - Hiccup
Tusi - Cough

SPANISH
Beso ("muak")- Kiss
Gota - Drop
Guau-Guau - Dog bark
Hipo ("hip-hip") - Hiccup
Maulido ("mau-mau") - Cat's cry
Pedo - Fart ............... (Indo-European root?)
Tonwar (v) - Snore
Tos (col.) - Cough
Tun-tun - Sound of heartbeat

SWAHILI
Beua - Burp
Busu - Kiss
Bweka - Dog-bark
Chafya - Sneeze
Jamba - Fart
Koroma - Snore.......(similar to the Malayalam word!)
Kohowa - Cough
Kwi-kwi - Hiccup
Miyao - Yawn  :)
Nyau - Cat's cry




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Reference & Links -

• Onomatopoeia at Reference.com - http://www.search.com/reference/Onomatopoeia
• http://coolslang.com/in/Japan/PeraPera.php
• http://www.lint.co.jp/e+/fun/onomatopoeia/onomatopoeia.htm

English Words in Conversational Malayalam

This is related to a previous post `Malayalam Words of Foreign Origin`.

Over here I'm just trying to list Mallu-English words, without which it would be nearly impossible to follow a conversation (or movie dialogues), in Kerala today -

* "Felt" - used to describe the impact of a perceived slight. Eg. അവന്‍ ഒത്തിരി ഫെല്റ്റ് അടിച്ചു! - Avan otthiri "felt" adicchu - (He felt really bad..)

* "Sugar" - Used as an adjective, a substitute for the word "Diabetic". Eg. ചായക്ക് മതിരം വേണ്ട...അവനു  ഷുഗര്‍ ആ...- Chaayakku mathiram venda - avanu sugar'aa - (Don't sweeten his tea - he's diabetic)

* "Get-up" - to describe aesthetics of a building / home. Eg. പെയിന്റിംഗ് കഴിജപ്പം വീടിനു നല്ല ഗെട്ടുപു ആ.. - Painting kazhinjappam veedinu nalla gettupp'aai -  (The house looks chic after it got painted)

* `Over` - anything excessive, especially when a person is too confident/smart/arrogant/drunk/indulgent; pronounced `wouver`. Eg. അവന്‍ കൊറച്ചു ഓവര്‍ ആഇടുന്ദെ - Avan koracchu wouver aaitunde -  (for somebody who may have exceeded his brief)

* `Shine` -  reserved for disparaging somebody who is trying to stand out from the crowd; or trying to get fresh. Eg. കൂടുതല്‍ ഷൈന്‍ ചെയ്യല്ലേ! - Kooduthal shine cheiyelle!  - (don`t act too smart!)


Suggestions & contributions are most welcome!     8-)