Idiomatic idylls: English is in crisis
Tharoor's controversy only served to highlight the wider malaise that now affects India: unfamiliarity with English idioms.
By ET Bureau |
What is an idiom? Those with but a nodding acquaintance with the English language may well deduce that the word means a silly man. Literal translations of that kind are precisely what led to the kerfuffle over Shashi Tharoor���s indiscreet twitterings, rather than any national lack of a funny bone. Indeed, the controversy only served to highlight the wider malaise that now affects India: unfamiliarity with English idioms - phrases which mean something other than literal definitions of their constituent words.
Chinese and Hindi may be spoken by more people but English is the language of both international commerce and diplomacy, arguably the two forces that move the world. Not only has this made the vocabulary of English swell exponentially, its capacity for nuances and double entendres, has accelerated its acceptance and usage around the world. English���s virtues, however, cut both ways as Tharoor realised to his detriment.
Schoolboy penchants for puns have always been ably accommodated by the English language, but they become infructuous if their subtlety is lost on the audience; and they can cause a national ���incident��� if they are construed as insolence or derision. Once uttered or twittered, sadly, there is no saying where, and on whom, idiomatic phrases will land with a thud.
Time was when Wren & Martin grammar books and Roget���s Thesaurus were common items on Indian students��� must-have list of books. These arcane repositories of the glorious potential of English have now been jettisoned in favour of more workaday compendiums.
This has left no time or mindspace for comprehension of shades of meaning, irony, sarcasm, self-deprecation or other understated or unstated purpose of articulation. The result is a flattened perception of expression, which is then sought to be masked by umbrage over perceived notions of insult. By letting his urge to pun get the better of him, Tharoor has highlighted the dangers of letting English slide nationally, or dare we say, idiomatically, ���go to the dogs���.
Chinese and Hindi may be spoken by more people but English is the language of both international commerce and diplomacy, arguably the two forces that move the world. Not only has this made the vocabulary of English swell exponentially, its capacity for nuances and double entendres, has accelerated its acceptance and usage around the world. English���s virtues, however, cut both ways as Tharoor realised to his detriment.
Schoolboy penchants for puns have always been ably accommodated by the English language, but they become infructuous if their subtlety is lost on the audience; and they can cause a national ���incident��� if they are construed as insolence or derision. Once uttered or twittered, sadly, there is no saying where, and on whom, idiomatic phrases will land with a thud.
Time was when Wren & Martin grammar books and Roget���s Thesaurus were common items on Indian students��� must-have list of books. These arcane repositories of the glorious potential of English have now been jettisoned in favour of more workaday compendiums.
This has left no time or mindspace for comprehension of shades of meaning, irony, sarcasm, self-deprecation or other understated or unstated purpose of articulation. The result is a flattened perception of expression, which is then sought to be masked by umbrage over perceived notions of insult. By letting his urge to pun get the better of him, Tharoor has highlighted the dangers of letting English slide nationally, or dare we say, idiomatically, ���go to the dogs���.
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