Speaking American

Sarah Palin, who was John McCain's running mate in 2008 US Presidential election is calling on immigrants in the United States to speak "American.” Years ago, a gentleman told me we don't speak English, we speak American. I politely disagreed with him, saying "whatever you might call, however Americanized it may be, the language is still English". English, though originated from England spread world wide as the British colonies, including America adopted it either as mother tongue or the official language of communication. No wonder Winston Churchill, desperate to drag America into World War II when Germany was making gains in Europe told the then US President Roosevelt, "We are common people, separated by a common language".

English is a rich language. Like Urdu it does not have a script of its own (Roman script). Its richness comes from its flexibility, its not being shy at accepting words and phrases from other languages. This has been its secret sauce of survival (the other one being the language spoken by British and United States, two major powers over centuries).

In India, English used to the language of elite and the passport for success. A person having a good command over English commands respect. In Odisha where many in the state of excitement or anger switch to drive a point or score over their rivals, even it is PAKHALA KHIA Onglish (the typical Odia accented English which comes out of mouth after consuming a stomach full of water soaked rice). The word Yaar is already there in dictionary.com. meaning friend in Hinglish (Hindi-English). We also have our Binglish (Bengali-English), Tanglish (Tamilian English) and so on. 

We all know about words of Indian origin making into English dictionary, Bandh (strikes as going on in India now) and Gherao (surround) are few of them, though I have never seen being used here in US. Similarly I have uttered words Lakh (100 thousand) and Crore (10 million) to the bewilderment of my American friends and colleagues who only know thousands, millions, billions and trillions. The words Jugaad, Bandobast (both meaning making necessary arrangements) are already used in Indian context.

This phrase chewing English is another example of Onglish (Oriya-English) . Every year new additions are made to Oxford dictionaries, so who knows "Chewing English" could be one of them. I have chewed enough English for now, unable able to digest it, burping out my PAKHALA KHIA English.