Dreaded S-Word — beingdesh

1993

two kids from class 3 fighting as Abhishek watches on (still be christened with any of the present day nicknames).

bippu*- saale kutte kahi ke??? ritesh*- shocked and about to breakdown Abhishek and rest of the audience- Haaaaauuuuuuuuu… ritesh*- full-tu crying, I will complaint this to Ratnam Mam [My fav teacher in school, bestest teacher ever, will write about her sometime)

Pumped by anger, insult and what not ritesh decided to complaint and bippu got punished, junta was obviously shocked at bippu’s behavior and happy that bippu got punished.

1999

All of us on the playing, tiddu*-famous for not blurting out any bad word till date fires one on pattu, pattu laughs like hell and so do the others, tiddu rages and starts a bat-beating session on pattu, pattu and others still laugh and welcome another member to the gang.

[*Names have been changed to confuse identities]

Gone are those days, in primary school using the S-word (something similar to a Brother-in-law too, your wife’s brother, I don’t know why it became an abuse in the first place) meant that you were the full-time rowdy in class, other kids parents wanted their kids to stay away from you, and it was not at all good public behavior, you were the big time culprit of every wrong deed done in class. Slowly though, with secondary and higher education an Indian student gets graduated in profanities too.

Nowadays when I see kids using the F-word is much more than feeling, its mostly going away from our culture of using the S-Word to perfection. Although lots has been said about girls not using it but I know a few who use it nicely. But lets not get into gender aspects as of now.

Although the Hindi/desi equivalent of the F-word is considered quite crude in its usage but I don’t know why people consider the formers usage as much more decent (relatively). Both are the same, a conservative may say that they are bowing to western culture, but I think its much more to do with the popularity of such terms in Hollywood, its counter-part Bollywood has been not so liberal in usage of abusive language.

I picked up foul language sometime in mid-school, when we passed school there was only one or at most two boys still away from its active usage. In my college I found only one among 200+ boys (but he had his own versions of curses, which went quite above everyone’s head). The good things about using foul language are,

Good way to throw out your anger and frustration, go and shout from a roof/hill top, or do it after getting drunk.- Gives you a good time cursing your bosses, peers, any boy who roams around with good girls or mostly anyone.- Comes for free and is quite relieving, much more than dhyana or yoga.The only things about it which is not good and I don’t like is when its done in a seriously serious manner. People start fighting over it and makes matter stupid. When I and most of my friends do it, its mostly for fun, although we know making fun of other people is a serious crime, but everyone does it, and criminals are bound to use some foul language here and there. Some serious misapprehensions which are associated with this are,
it slows down with age- I think this skill mellows with age, the usage becomes more or less perfect and less hurtful to others.- you shouldn’t say it in front of girls- ???? pointlessAlthough in front of parents and relatives better don’t use it. I mean you can but better don’t. You might have noticed it, sometimes when you are at home, and things haven’t rubbed off from your tongue you feel like shouting sometimes, do it in a bathroom, safest place to do it.

By the way some unique ones which I have come across in my life are,

Indi-Poi Indrapal- used by a schoolmate, he considered this to be the mother of all profanities
Dusht Bijuke - Bijuke is Pure hindi for Scarecrow, my friend in college made it quite popular.

I am not mentioning lots of them which would like a bit indecent on my blog.

Whatever be it, never ever use it to hurt anyone, as long as its for fun, use it…

And for all those like the F-Word, try using the S-word!!!

Comments

14 comments from the original post:

TheQuark — December 05, 2007 at 08:56 AM

Well there are a lots of them C word, B word Hindi is filled with expletives. According to a South Indian friend he was amazed at the incestuous expletives which made me think that they are not prevalent in regional languages (or he was to naive not to know them in his mother tongue).* Hindi vs English: Since english is not habitually spoken, at least for a large part of one’s life amongst a large group of people the expletives have lesser impact. Some pseudos use them as euphemistic ways to cuss* Cathartic part: yes I agree it can be a good way to vent off one’s feelings but it can be dangerousTill then *&^%$!

TheQuark — December 05, 2007 at 08:57 AM

Sandy — December 05, 2007 at 10:01 AM

shabaash desiplz write about the b, c and m words too…

Shariq — December 06, 2007 at 04:55 AM

Kya baat hai desi…tu to sabki @#$%@#@ bajaa diya…you have *#$%!@ excelled in this #$%@#$% language where everyone uses @#$%@!@ words…

King Vishy — December 06, 2007 at 07:53 AM

Showing the Desi way, eh? :) Good analysis.. he he..@thequark:I dunno if your South Indian friend is from Tamil Nadu. Even if he is, am sure he is not from Chennai. There are usages here that can inflict wholesome damage to “total families”, most of them being incestuous (as in a popular movie here :))

Supriya Narang — December 06, 2007 at 10:09 AM

I totally agree with thequark on the euphemistic usage of English :)and to you, superb analysis!“better than dhyana or yoga”u should not use it in front of girls :Dand wot if girls themselves use them :|Donno how many girls gonna agree to this but I wud say it’s unfair to all the girls that they cannot use expletives to express their anger in front of boys other than there close friends whereas guys can curse and can use such words in front of people they hardly even know! Forget morality and decency, I think girls must also be given equal rights to express themselves in any way they feel comfortable in, and well ahem.. some new words should be discovered for girls to speak :LOL:

desh — December 07, 2007 at 06:03 AM

@quarkit can be dangerous but still its good. And btw every part of india have thr own versions of expletives, so much variety in our culture :)@sandyabout all tht sometime later :P

desh — December 07, 2007 at 06:05 AM

@sharicoi am just another user like u :)@vishytell me whch movie ???and sure i am showing everyone the desi way ;)pays much more to be in spirituality(we can brand it tht way) than IT :P

desh — December 07, 2007 at 06:07 AM

@supriyai never expected a lady to comment on such a stupid post, but comments r welcome :Pand i wont stop u, go ahead, it wud be a mayhem if even girls join the party full time :)

TheQuark — December 07, 2007 at 06:17 AM

@vishy: He hails from Andhra (or as many of dravidians say their native is andhra)@sandy: Is a blog needed on all those words for you?@supriya: Gender equality is the new morality. We should have unisex toilets, unisex hostels. I would suggest in an Orwellian manner remove all the notions of gender implication in words. Remove her/him make it it. Though I am not offended by girls using expletives. They will have more affect i am sureOn a normative discussion over this topic to use expletives in front of fairer sex or not a very close friend of mine in college expounded that if she knows it she is oh-not-so-lady-like-innocent (and all) so it is ok, if she doesnt know the words it is more than okay any ways!@desi: baba desi hmmmm start a cult their is a lot of market to be gained in baba-dominvestments i guess are not too much. some bhagwa vastra, cool hair do, a nice facial with a beard and couple of religious tomes from gorakhpur press

Parul — January 02, 2008 at 02:47 PM

Hey and there are those who use both the F and S-words with panache(like yours truly ;)) I guess those are the true amalgamation of the modernisation and India(ahem…)As for the Hindi couterpart(s), it’s not about how often they’re used, but the kind of ppl most of the Indians grow seeing using them(not a very decent gentry). So the mention of the hindi siblings of the F-amous word doesnt go down well with most of the people. However the story is different with the angrezi bandhu…People generally seen using it are ‘normal’ and ‘educated’(and sometimes adorably funny too…Friends for instance)like most of their Indian followers. And then the intent with which the word is used is not that crude. It’s usage is so extensive that it’s meaning has become highly dilluted…Your post was an interesting read…I liked to delve in this direction…lolz!Austere Alacrity

desh — January 03, 2008 at 06:48 AM

wud be interested in listening the amalgamated usage once from urs truly :)yep and u r right, the meaning has been become quite diluted, so better start using the strong hindi counterparts :P

freesherry — January 17, 2008 at 03:28 PM

even though i am strictly against swearing (call it a girl thing if you want to though i know quite a few girls who swear worse then guys), this really made me laughhow drastically things change with times.. nice blog :)

desh — January 18, 2008 at 05:48 AM

@freesherrykeep visiting and swearing FREEly :)

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