Sunday, June 22, 2008

B for Bihari...

My small tribute to the greatest language ever. Bihari.

I’ve always wasted my time convincing people that there is no language as ‘Bihari’. Although the people of the state can be termed as Biharis, there is no language of the same name. Majority of the language spoken in the state can be loosely categorized as: Maithili, Bhojpuri, English, Hindi, Bihari English, and Bihari Hindi. Now, every state presents a distorted version of Hindi and English which is so comical that it is insightful in ways. So wide is the spectrum, that an entire language can be spawned by the colloquial usage. So in that way, Bihari(the language here) also consists of some of the most interesting and strange words that one will possible encounter.

Bahooot : This is actually a contorted version of ‘bahut’. Bahut in Hindi means plenty and is pronounced conventionally bereft of any enthusiasm between the alphabets h and t. But, Biharis extend hut to hoot to give a completely new word.

Usage: Indian Team ajkal bahooot accha khel rahi hai.
Indian Team is playing very well these days.


Thethar: It means a stubborn person. Someone who is oblivious to all the advices coming around.

Usage: Hum apne beta se tang aa chuke hain. Ek number ka thethar, baat hi nai sunta.
I’ve given up all my hopes on my son. He is very obstinate, doesn’t listen to me at all.

Hehar: It conveys the same meaning as ‘Thethar’ and thus, is a duplicate of ‘thethar’. The only difference being ‘Hehar’ is used sparsely as compared to ‘Thethar’.

Bhutlana: It means to get lost or to lose your way.

Usage: Aap humko unke ghar ka address de dijiye nai to hum naye shehar me bhutla jayenge.
Please give me his address or else I will be lost in the new town.

Konchi: It means ‘what’. It is generally used in the sense of enquiring, sometimes used with a slice of frustration.

Usage: Konchi bol rahe ho? Humko kuch bhi samajh me nai aaa raha hai.
What are you trying to say? I’m not getting anything.


Palthi Maar ke baithna: it means sitting by crossing your legs, the Punjabi counterpart of it is ‘Chaukdi maar ke baithna’.

Budbak: A stupid person is labeled as a ‘Budbak’. It is generally used with a sense of levity and is used for someone who commits silly mistakes or shows immaturity.

Usage: Arre Budbak, baat samajh me nai aata hai kya.
Stupid! Don’t you understand a thing as simple as this?

Fascination with‘s’ and ignoring the ‘sh’: Generally, the hardcore biharis are detected by this full-proof (or fool proof?) test. Though, not all biharis swap the ‘sh’ with s but most of them do it. Here the‘s’ and ‘sh’ are the Hindi’s ‘dant sa’ and ‘talabya sh’ respectively. Mostly, it is the ‘sh’ which is exchanged by‘s’ and is never the other way around.
Therefore, ‘Ashok’ is pronounced as ‘Asok’ ; ‘Shyam’ as ‘Syam’, ‘Station’ as ‘Sta-sun’. etc. Biharis also have a great grievance with the word ‘v’ so much that they have sworn never to use it and replace it with their much loved alphabet ‘b’ or ‘bh’. Thus, Vinod will become ‘Binod’ , ‘Van’ will become ‘Bhan’, ‘Available’ becomes ‘Abhay-label’ or in the most trying circumstances ‘Abhay-labool’.

Chooche: It is not the same word which you think it is. This word is very much a vegetarian word amongst the Biharis and is generally used when one is eating a particular thing without adding anything else. For, example if you are eating rice only or only having ‘rotis’, the chances are pretty ripe that a Bihari would advise:
Arre Chaval chucche kyun kha rahe ho, Dal le lo.
Why are you eating only rice, take some Dal also.

Garda: it is an adjective used when praising something/ someone. It is used both for living and non-living things. Or, sometimes it is used entirely in itself without any sentence to portray a complete emotion.

Usage I: Kya Garda shot maara hai.<>.
What a terrific shot he has hit.

Usage II: A – “ Tumko pata hai, humko Maths me 100 aaya.”
B – “ Garda!”

A- “You know I got 100 hundred in Maths.”
B- “Fabulous!”

Dhoot teri ki: it is used in moments of acute frustration when an act produces a result different from desired or when one anticipates his undoing by a certain action.

Usage: Dhoot teri ki, kitna aasan question choot gaya.
Shit! What an easy question I missed.

I know there are plenty of words that skips my mind right now. All the hardcore Biharis are invited to extend the collection.

10 comments:

Mayur Thakur said...

very funny. how about the following
Kahey?
Dera
Bawaal
Ek tho

Anonymous said...

hahaha some of it i can relate to...so its funny but you have missed quite a few if it comes to my mind i will tell you ....

tanul thakur said...

@ Vickie Bhaiya: Yea, some nice words there...I will add them to my collection ASAP. And btw, check the Wikipedia in Bhojpuri. Its damn cool.!!

Kusum Thakur said...

the most popular you left is..
jo hai so

tusharika said...

Bloody Brilliant..!!

Oh, and how could you forget "sariyana" ?? :D

tanul thakur said...

@ Tusharika : Thank You. You know what, I thought 'Sariyana' was 'Bihari' when Deepika told me it is a hindi word, albeit a bit less used. Im' still confused.!

Anonymous said...

awesome!!
check these:
gaibe kiye the/karbe kiye the/bolbe kiye the
bachiya(for girl child)
laika and laiki
egarah...for 11
moohen choor denge...

Anonymous said...

What about 'Payda johna'Means
(Intezar karna)When we are waiting for some one,then this words are used by bihari babus.

Santosh from Gopalganj/barauli/Kotwan

Anonymous said...

"Ho mardey"..for "hello Mr...listen to me"..

Social message said...

👍👍