A WORD (OR TWO HUNDRED) FROM THE EDITOR

Newcomers to Canada, no matter how well-versed in English, bring their own brand of the language. And the 1.5 generation, as award-winning author and Grant’s Desi Achiever Shyam Selvadurai dubbed them – neither first nor second-generation Canadian, who slip in and out of identities – while familiar with it, are a little amused, too. My sons, for instance,  find some of the expressions I use vastly funny.

“What is this messy pile in my room called again, mom?” was a frequent question when they were growing up. A ploy to get their mother to say higgledy-piggledy. Or better still, ghich-pich, its Hindi equivalent. What was to them a combination of nonsense sounds conveyed my meaning perfectly. Higgledy-piggledy actually existed in the dictionary, I would say, hauling out my trusty Chambers English Dictionary which has accompanied us on moves across the globe – and which I hang on to out of sheer affection and nostalgia even in this age of smart phones that make a world of information so handily available – it means haphazard, in confusion.

Hullaballoo is another perennial laugh-raiser.

I wish I’d had David Chariandy’s Brother handy at the time. He so evocatively described the childhood of immigrant children. Francis and Michael and their friends “are the children of people from the colonies, people with a shared vocabulary – ragamuffins, hooligans and gallivanting”.

See, there, right there, are the words we use that are alien to you but are or were commonly used in English, I would have proclaimed triumphantly. It’s the language we grew up with, I would have explained. It’s English English, enriched with expressions from other Indian languages. Ragamuffin (and scalawag), incidentally, were used by none other than Jon Stewart to describe a US senator. So others use those words, too!

Discussion around our dinner table often turned to words we borrow from other languages, making them our own in unique ways. And this works both ways, enriching both languages.

“Like tickety-boo.” said my husband.

The oh-so English expression describing something fine and or satisfactory is also commonly heard in Canada. Some sources suggest it might have its origins in a popular children’s song, Everything Is Tickety-Boo, but others point to the Hindi expression Theek hai, babu or All good, sir. This was probably what British personnel stationed in India heard from the Indians working for them in response to their questions about the state of things. From officers of the British Raj to England and across the Commonwealth.

Recently my son came home grumbling about the slush on the streets. “I stepped out of my car and my shoes went pachak! in a puddle,” he said.

I smiled at his use of the typically Indian expression. Everything was just tickety-boo in my universe.

Happy Guru Nanak Jayanti!

SHAGORIKA EASWAR