WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN

Post No. 9300

Date uploaded in London – –23 FEBRUARY  2021     

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

        EVERY LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD HAS SOME WORDS WHICH SOUND AWKWARD OR MEAN  DIFFERENTLY  IN OTHER LANGUAGES.

I TAUGHT TAMIL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON (SOAS) FOR TWO DECADES. IN THE SECOND OR THIRD CLASS I USED TO TEACH MY NON-TAMIL STUDENTS SHORT AND SIMPLE WORDS. WHEN I SAY ‘PUU’ IS FLOWER IN TAMIL SOME WILL LAUGH, SOME WILL FROWN AND FEW OTHERS WILL WONDER. POOH HAS A DIFFERENT MEANING IN ENGLISH.

THE WORKPLACE WHERE I WORKED AS A PART TIMER HAD TWO GIRLS, ONE FROM SOMALIA AND ANOTHER FROM RUSSIA. THEIR NAMES OR THE SOUND IN THEIR NAMES HAD RUDE MEANING IN INDIAN LANGUAGES. BUT I STILL CALLED THEM BY THEIR NAMES BUT NOT LOUDLY, OTHERWISE MY INDIAN COLLEAGUES IN THE OFFICE WOULD RAISE THEIR BROWS. EVEN WHEN I WORKED AS A SENIOR SUB EDITOR IN DINAMANI NEWS PAPER, OR A BRODCASTER IN THE BBC TAMIL SERVICE, I WOULD NOT PRONOUNCE TWO MAJOR MUSLIM SECTS AS SUCH. WE DELIBERATELY DISTORT THE PRONUNCIATION OR SPELLING BECAUSE IT IS A RUDE WORD IN TAMIL.

HERE IS A PAPER CUTTING WITH THE WORD ‘GIFT’ WHICH CRETED A SCARE IN GERMANY.

SCARED OF CARROT SEEDS !

tags – Carrot seeds, Gift, Poison, scare