Friday, August 22, 2008

Yenakkum Tamil teriyum!

The blogosphere (or at least parts I visit) are rife with topics about language, I am guilty too. So keeping in with the theme I ramble thus:
My abilities in spoken Tamil. I apologize for a Tamil-centric post. Translation will take away all the fun. Will be back soon with a post in propah English.

“Adhu sekkalai” –referring to an alive thing previously thought to be dead, 1995

“Isko kaise odayenga” –pointing to a Coke can, 1996

“Neenga dhaan Mr. Vandivel aa?” –thus addressing a Mr. Vadivel in Chennai, 1997

“Naan yen china veetukku poren” –while going home, 1998

“Amma Appa tharaia pudungara” –referring to home renovations, 2000

“Amma nethi vaangara” Amma buying bindis off the pavement, date unknown

“Naan thalai vettindu varen” –every time I get a haircut

“Naan 33 madi erinen” –climbing a narrow staircase, 2007

“It costs tholairam rubai” –at something that clearly says $90 , 2008

What can I say, it is not for everyone to speak :)

11 comments:

Liberal said...

wow..were these faux pas committed by you...i still look up to you as less adulterated than me!

buddy said...

Yes yes, all me original and patented. Don't u dare pass them off as your own...

chocoliciousgal said...

haha u guys are aruguin who commits more Faux pas in Tam :D...

listen to this...when I had gone to chennai..thinking that i should speak "chennai tam" (being PI tam :P )i go to the housekeeper and say "enakku joram venum" (jorum i thnk means fever :D)...and she blankly stared at me..and I repeated it quite a few times..and my cousin comming from up behind says...(he's laughing)..."avalukku jalam venum" ..we say thanni at home na...isiliye :D all this confusn :)

Anonymous said...

O saaaruuu!! Like this so much so much Tamil u will write means howwuu? Tell I say, howwu? How will the undershtand non-Tams 'ma? Anyway, I understood two of these faux pas though, the 'Vandivel' and 'china veedu'! 'Vandi' in Tamil is 'bandi' in Telugu, and 'china veedu' Tamil is 'chinna illu' in Telugu which is a euphemism for brothel house! So, I'm guessing I'm right in understanding these two blunders the way they're supposed to be.

@ chocoliciousgal: Hilarious! 'jvaram' in Telugu means fever, so I understood your blunder as well!

buddy said...

@chocolocious gal: lol

@ karthik gaaru: saaru naaku telugu arthamaindi. neeku em problem? tamil chala easy if u know telugu. na telugu faux pas kavala? on second thoughts voddhu...u might just faint!

Anonymous said...

shoot! I'm all ears (eyes) :P! I'm in the mood to split my guts open laughing! I can't do the same in Tamil, though. I just can't speak the language, period. I've been to Chennai like a million times, but the language just could not rub off on me. Thanks to my mom, my Telugu is excellent.

Anonymous said...

But I can probably shoot a few Kannada faux pas. I understand Kannada pretty well, but stutter when I speak it.

Anonymous said...

Buddy what a whammy! You write this after Elamite Dravidian language history!
Yen ootaanda va rasa, gavanichikiren!

buddy said...

enna maame...ennoda vilyadade..naan romba danger!

Sneha P said...

Damn...bala was right!!
I am a disgrace...
Well I'm i even as much as open y mouth to speak in tamil it will be a faux pas!!
:( :(

Swatimala said...

dunno what this post was bout, but ya, tamil is not 4 me