Hinglish
has been prevalent in India since the British Raj ('Raj' having been accepted
as an English word). However, it came into its own about a decade or so ago
when the upwardly mobile and the neo rich began using common Hindi words in
spoken English (perhaps due to lack of awareness of the English substitute). So
we had ‘hazaar’, ‘gyaan’, ‘tamasha’, ‘hungama’ etc finding their way in
commonly spoken English in India.
But now, a
reverse phenomenon appears to be in vogue – using common (and even not that
common) English words in not only day to day speech, but even in vernacular print
media. Just take a look at the accompanying pics and go through the headlines
and the following text that the camera captured. The evolution of ‘Eendi’ is
clearly visible.
Is it a
natural linguistic evolution or the result of (now overt) commercial pressure
on the editorial content of modern day journalism? Take your pic.
