Some wise man had once said that to learn a new language, there are four major steps: first, learn how to greet girls in that language. Second, learn its slangs. Third, learn commonly used words, and lastly learn the grammar. This wise man may not be absolutely correct (may be because the wise man I refer to is me: this is my theory) but makes a strong point: the importance of slangs to a language. Language survives culture by being a common means of communication between people of that culture. While languages are as varied as cultures are, there are some similarity between various languages. One of these is the nature of slangs.
In every language you find slangs... and there are similarities of semantics cutting across language barriers. For instance, the fact that the mother-son attachment is special in all mankind, a common slang in all languages is mother-fucker, or what they call mader-chod in Hindi, lanja kodaka in Telugu and aii-zhavedaa in Marathi. Yet, the display of slangs in public, or in literature, varies from culture to culture. The usage of maderchod in Hindi is as widespread as motherfucker is in English. Yet, the mention in Hindi literature, and films, of slangs is very low. This may be because ours is a hypocritical society. For instance, we talk of karma and dharma, while at the same time engaging in inhuman activities towards untouchables.
My first brush with slangs
I was then in class seven... or may be six. I learnt the word "Bokka" then. Anything that is a taboo always arouses curiosity and excitement in children's circle. No wonder, magian had the same effect. At first, we knew not the literal meaning of the term. Then slowly the meaning became clear, as the dawn of adolescence drove away the ignorance of innocence. Then I learnt other Telugu slangs, and later hindi slangs. It was fashionable to swear at a friend, just to show that you dare defy the taboos of society.
Both in school days and +2 days, I have marked that Hindi and Telugu slangs suffered from an inferior status to English slangs. Those who prefer to swear in english seemed to believe that they are more polished and refined, and that vernacular slangs are the stuff used by street children and the illiterate. It is unfortunate that while Dick and lauda mean the same thing, one was fashionable while the other was looked down upon. Perhaps the colonial hangover of English favouritism hasn't even left slangs: slangs, which mean the same thing cutting across barriers of caste, creed, race etc.
College Days
An individual from middle class background best understands the real essence of gaalis -bhasas -in an engineering college. You get to know that there is more to a slang than the semantic meaning. The word maderchod, for example, assumes several meaning depending on the feelings with which it is expressed. If someone cracks a seven-digit-a-year package in campus placement, you say
"phod diya be maderchod, phod diya"
If someone cracks a PJ, or spreads some funny gossip, you fondly say
"Hat maderchod, shut your chut mouth up"
If someone is shagging behind closed doors and you want to spoil his bliss, you bang on the door and say
"Nikal maderchod. Abe that porn star looks like your sister"
If you want a favour from someone, you affectionately say
"Mera homework kar de na maderchod... I will treat you a maggi at Cheddies"
And pat will come the reply " Mujhe chutia samajh rakha hai kya... itna chuda hua code and just a maggi? Nothing less than a mader dinner in LS will do" Here the word means four-course.
As my friend satyanand says, slangs are an expression of feelings -both positive and negative. Ironically, in engineering colleges slangs only imply positive emotions. If you want to insult a chap and you blurt out the word maderchod, the whole dialogue gets diluted. Hence, never use bhasa when you want to really hurt the person concerned. Use shudh, pure language.
Besides maderchod, there are two other common gaali specializing on the incest: behenchod and betichod. This is where Hindi diverges from English. In English you don't find common slangs like sister-fucker or daughter-fucker -nor do they sound like good slangs. But behenchod and betichod are quite cool gaalis. For instance, if there is a chutia around who thinks it is really bad to use the gaali maderchod, you can use the word betichod for him (just see to it that he doesn't have a kid). These are usually the people who have been over-socialized into values and morals by their parents; they would even feel guilty if you say they fuck their wives, and strongly deny the accusations.
Now, do you know when to use the word behenchod? I mean, I have often seen people use the word maderchod at places where behenchod is more suitable and behenchod at places where maderchod sounds better. The advantage of behenchod over maderchod is that you can screw the syntaxes to produce varied sounds. For example, there is behenchod, and there are versions like vhanchod, bhaaaanchod, and benchod. Due to this, the effect of behenchod is more than that of maderchod when you intend to have a dramatic stretch.
Colours of Gaali
Psychologist Carl Jung had once said that there is a collective unconscious that pervades throughout mankind. This collective unconscious is a psychic entity that an individual inherits from his/her previous generation. Most gaalis, I believe, are archetypes of this collective unconscious. In every language you will find slangs concerning mothers (she got knocked and preggie before marriage/ she is a slut/ whore/ she has incest relations etc), and genitals. Yet, it is incorrect to state that Dick and Lund mean the same thing, or Dick and Dong for that matter. It is not just the semantic meaning but also the feelings attached that finally make a word. Lund, chut, gaand, and their derivatives have multiple usages in Hindi grammar.
Lauda means someone who is a Dickhead, Landura means an Idiot. Ling, on the other hand, is used in reference to Lord Shiva and His hugeness, that even porn stars are jealous of. Ma-Ka-Lauda again has a reference to mothers.
Chutia is perhaps the most used slang in usage in Hindi belt of India. It really is a harmless word, meaning idiot, or fool, or stupid depending on the context in which it is used. Still it is a taboo for the simple reason that etymologically it means someone who has come out of a chut. I wonder who hasn't. The word chut itself is seldom used, though in IIT Delhi it had become a fad by the time I reached final year.
"Abe chut, why haven't you met your project guide. He is really pissed and is ready with a khada hua lund for you"
"Chutad, you don't even know how to hack into a porn site"
"That's a chutiatic comp you have. What is it, P2? It is even slower that P2 processor"
And then there were other derivates like chut-ke-dhakkan, chut-ke-baal (also called jhant), pink chut, kaali chut, chutiapa etc. Those days I used to force my friends to read my short stories. Those who got frustrated with it used to say "Abe chutiapa mat kar, ask someone else to read it. I read only Champak and Mastram"
Another word, bhonsadi, again means cunt. This word is quite popular in UP and Bihar (and areas where migrants from these states have settled) but not used quite often elsewhere. Bhonsdi wale means one who has come out of a cunt. Surprisingly, in most engineering colleges where UP bhaiyajis and Biharis have a dominance. this word is used as a title to address the dearest of friends.
At this point, I must explain the conceptual difference between chut and bhonsadi. Even I wasn't conceptually clear on this, so I referred to my friend ACIT Sridhar Dora. According to him, a burr is a virgin cunt, while a bhonsadi is one in post-delivery period. A chut is a cunt which isn't virgin but hasn't yrt delivered. I know this sounds sick, but as a scholar my job is to maintain value-neutrality in presenting facts. Also the usages of the two terms bhonsadi wale and chutia are vastly different
"This new prof in vlsi lab is a big chutia. I don't know what he is up to"
"Bhonsadi wale, he is a little strict so u think he is chutia. Trust me, he is quite sharp"
Gaand has become such a colloquial word that it no longer borders in the area of taboo slangs. Yet, the censor board is wary of letting moviemakers use it in movies: shows the kind of hypocrisy existing in our society. A band from XLRI even uses this word in one of its compositions: "Tere gaand mein danda re...".
Creativity and Gaali
If you have watched the Irish movie "lock, stock and two smoking barrels", you know how the flavour of gaalis can be harnessed to make creative prose, poetry, and motion pictures. My personal favourite in the movie is: "...cunt you make it sound as if it is as tough as climbing mount-fucking-everest?"
Unfortunately, this is an area which hasn't yet been explored to that extent in vernacular language media. Luckily, you get many chances to hone your gaali-creativity skills during ragging in engineering colleges. For example, during ragging session in a wing in my hall in Delhi, I was asked to give an innovative gaali to another wing. I shouted at the top of my voice to the fellows in the other wing,
"Teri maa ko antenna pe dalke chodunga
Tera baap tv mein dekhke muth marega"
Gaali as a way of life
There are some people for whom gaalis are a way of life. They can't do without swearing in every sentence. Take, for example, my friend Sravan Kumar. He used to start his day with the chant of Modda (Telugu for Dick) and kept using the work in every sentence till his mouth shut with sleep at the end of the day.
"Modda whose class we have today?"
"Modda I am hungry"
"Modda I need to pee"
"Modda I like that maal"
"Modda you are a good friend of mine" etc
He also used to make use of innovative slangs like ghodagian (horse fucker), mendhagian (sheep fucker), bengagian (frog fucker) etc. Unfortunately, he is married now and has reformed quite a lot. The world of slang-lovers has lost a great patron.
By the way, if u want to meet some great patrons of slang, meet some Jats from Delhi. In their characteristics accent, they make use of many colourful slangs. A Jat property broker in Delhi who had fixed me a room for my UPSC preparations used to use some sort of slang in almost every sentence. He often referred to his youngest son as a maderchod because the fellow was useless and did no work!
"...see! His elder brothers have all got some good jobs. I ask this maderchod to at least help me in my business, but he doesn't care"
(Note: I shall be back with another blog entry on this topic soon. This one is going to be well-researched and will include colours of slang in many other Indian languages. If the training classes continue to be this boring, I may become an expert in gaalis of all 21 languages in schedule 8 of the constitution)
In every language you find slangs... and there are similarities of semantics cutting across language barriers. For instance, the fact that the mother-son attachment is special in all mankind, a common slang in all languages is mother-fucker, or what they call mader-chod in Hindi, lanja kodaka in Telugu and aii-zhavedaa in Marathi. Yet, the display of slangs in public, or in literature, varies from culture to culture. The usage of maderchod in Hindi is as widespread as motherfucker is in English. Yet, the mention in Hindi literature, and films, of slangs is very low. This may be because ours is a hypocritical society. For instance, we talk of karma and dharma, while at the same time engaging in inhuman activities towards untouchables.
My first brush with slangs
I was then in class seven... or may be six. I learnt the word "Bokka" then. Anything that is a taboo always arouses curiosity and excitement in children's circle. No wonder, magian had the same effect. At first, we knew not the literal meaning of the term. Then slowly the meaning became clear, as the dawn of adolescence drove away the ignorance of innocence. Then I learnt other Telugu slangs, and later hindi slangs. It was fashionable to swear at a friend, just to show that you dare defy the taboos of society.
Both in school days and +2 days, I have marked that Hindi and Telugu slangs suffered from an inferior status to English slangs. Those who prefer to swear in english seemed to believe that they are more polished and refined, and that vernacular slangs are the stuff used by street children and the illiterate. It is unfortunate that while Dick and lauda mean the same thing, one was fashionable while the other was looked down upon. Perhaps the colonial hangover of English favouritism hasn't even left slangs: slangs, which mean the same thing cutting across barriers of caste, creed, race etc.
College Days
An individual from middle class background best understands the real essence of gaalis -bhasas -in an engineering college. You get to know that there is more to a slang than the semantic meaning. The word maderchod, for example, assumes several meaning depending on the feelings with which it is expressed. If someone cracks a seven-digit-a-year package in campus placement, you say
"phod diya be maderchod, phod diya"
If someone cracks a PJ, or spreads some funny gossip, you fondly say
"Hat maderchod, shut your chut mouth up"
If someone is shagging behind closed doors and you want to spoil his bliss, you bang on the door and say
"Nikal maderchod. Abe that porn star looks like your sister"
If you want a favour from someone, you affectionately say
"Mera homework kar de na maderchod... I will treat you a maggi at Cheddies"
And pat will come the reply " Mujhe chutia samajh rakha hai kya... itna chuda hua code and just a maggi? Nothing less than a mader dinner in LS will do" Here the word means four-course.
As my friend satyanand says, slangs are an expression of feelings -both positive and negative. Ironically, in engineering colleges slangs only imply positive emotions. If you want to insult a chap and you blurt out the word maderchod, the whole dialogue gets diluted. Hence, never use bhasa when you want to really hurt the person concerned. Use shudh, pure language.
Besides maderchod, there are two other common gaali specializing on the incest: behenchod and betichod. This is where Hindi diverges from English. In English you don't find common slangs like sister-fucker or daughter-fucker -nor do they sound like good slangs. But behenchod and betichod are quite cool gaalis. For instance, if there is a chutia around who thinks it is really bad to use the gaali maderchod, you can use the word betichod for him (just see to it that he doesn't have a kid). These are usually the people who have been over-socialized into values and morals by their parents; they would even feel guilty if you say they fuck their wives, and strongly deny the accusations.
Now, do you know when to use the word behenchod? I mean, I have often seen people use the word maderchod at places where behenchod is more suitable and behenchod at places where maderchod sounds better. The advantage of behenchod over maderchod is that you can screw the syntaxes to produce varied sounds. For example, there is behenchod, and there are versions like vhanchod, bhaaaanchod, and benchod. Due to this, the effect of behenchod is more than that of maderchod when you intend to have a dramatic stretch.
Colours of Gaali
Psychologist Carl Jung had once said that there is a collective unconscious that pervades throughout mankind. This collective unconscious is a psychic entity that an individual inherits from his/her previous generation. Most gaalis, I believe, are archetypes of this collective unconscious. In every language you will find slangs concerning mothers (she got knocked and preggie before marriage/ she is a slut/ whore/ she has incest relations etc), and genitals. Yet, it is incorrect to state that Dick and Lund mean the same thing, or Dick and Dong for that matter. It is not just the semantic meaning but also the feelings attached that finally make a word. Lund, chut, gaand, and their derivatives have multiple usages in Hindi grammar.
Lauda means someone who is a Dickhead, Landura means an Idiot. Ling, on the other hand, is used in reference to Lord Shiva and His hugeness, that even porn stars are jealous of. Ma-Ka-Lauda again has a reference to mothers.
Chutia is perhaps the most used slang in usage in Hindi belt of India. It really is a harmless word, meaning idiot, or fool, or stupid depending on the context in which it is used. Still it is a taboo for the simple reason that etymologically it means someone who has come out of a chut. I wonder who hasn't. The word chut itself is seldom used, though in IIT Delhi it had become a fad by the time I reached final year.
"Abe chut, why haven't you met your project guide. He is really pissed and is ready with a khada hua lund for you"
"Chutad, you don't even know how to hack into a porn site"
"That's a chutiatic comp you have. What is it, P2? It is even slower that P2 processor"
And then there were other derivates like chut-ke-dhakkan, chut-ke-baal (also called jhant), pink chut, kaali chut, chutiapa etc. Those days I used to force my friends to read my short stories. Those who got frustrated with it used to say "Abe chutiapa mat kar, ask someone else to read it. I read only Champak and Mastram"
Another word, bhonsadi, again means cunt. This word is quite popular in UP and Bihar (and areas where migrants from these states have settled) but not used quite often elsewhere. Bhonsdi wale means one who has come out of a cunt. Surprisingly, in most engineering colleges where UP bhaiyajis and Biharis have a dominance. this word is used as a title to address the dearest of friends.
At this point, I must explain the conceptual difference between chut and bhonsadi. Even I wasn't conceptually clear on this, so I referred to my friend ACIT Sridhar Dora. According to him, a burr is a virgin cunt, while a bhonsadi is one in post-delivery period. A chut is a cunt which isn't virgin but hasn't yrt delivered. I know this sounds sick, but as a scholar my job is to maintain value-neutrality in presenting facts. Also the usages of the two terms bhonsadi wale and chutia are vastly different
"This new prof in vlsi lab is a big chutia. I don't know what he is up to"
"Bhonsadi wale, he is a little strict so u think he is chutia. Trust me, he is quite sharp"
Gaand has become such a colloquial word that it no longer borders in the area of taboo slangs. Yet, the censor board is wary of letting moviemakers use it in movies: shows the kind of hypocrisy existing in our society. A band from XLRI even uses this word in one of its compositions: "Tere gaand mein danda re...".
Creativity and Gaali
If you have watched the Irish movie "lock, stock and two smoking barrels", you know how the flavour of gaalis can be harnessed to make creative prose, poetry, and motion pictures. My personal favourite in the movie is: "...cunt you make it sound as if it is as tough as climbing mount-fucking-everest?"
Unfortunately, this is an area which hasn't yet been explored to that extent in vernacular language media. Luckily, you get many chances to hone your gaali-creativity skills during ragging in engineering colleges. For example, during ragging session in a wing in my hall in Delhi, I was asked to give an innovative gaali to another wing. I shouted at the top of my voice to the fellows in the other wing,
"Teri maa ko antenna pe dalke chodunga
Tera baap tv mein dekhke muth marega"
Gaali as a way of life
There are some people for whom gaalis are a way of life. They can't do without swearing in every sentence. Take, for example, my friend Sravan Kumar. He used to start his day with the chant of Modda (Telugu for Dick) and kept using the work in every sentence till his mouth shut with sleep at the end of the day.
"Modda whose class we have today?"
"Modda I am hungry"
"Modda I need to pee"
"Modda I like that maal"
"Modda you are a good friend of mine" etc
He also used to make use of innovative slangs like ghodagian (horse fucker), mendhagian (sheep fucker), bengagian (frog fucker) etc. Unfortunately, he is married now and has reformed quite a lot. The world of slang-lovers has lost a great patron.
By the way, if u want to meet some great patrons of slang, meet some Jats from Delhi. In their characteristics accent, they make use of many colourful slangs. A Jat property broker in Delhi who had fixed me a room for my UPSC preparations used to use some sort of slang in almost every sentence. He often referred to his youngest son as a maderchod because the fellow was useless and did no work!
"...see! His elder brothers have all got some good jobs. I ask this maderchod to at least help me in my business, but he doesn't care"
(Note: I shall be back with another blog entry on this topic soon. This one is going to be well-researched and will include colours of slang in many other Indian languages. If the training classes continue to be this boring, I may become an expert in gaalis of all 21 languages in schedule 8 of the constitution)
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