Comments on: Blighty = Vilayati

By: Mart

Mart — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:18:50 +0000

Most comments here have missed the point of the nuance and Fathima is not too far off the mark.

It is the Indians themselves who referred to Imports as "Vilayati" or "Bilati" both of which were corrupted into Blighty by the English speakers.

The English simply noticed that their homeland was referred to as "Balati" and adopted the phrase, whether they knew it meant 'foreign' or not is a moot point... at first they probably did not but for some reason they liked the sound of the word and adopted it to refer to their "homeland"...

What is foreign to one person is simply another persons familiar territory - the real meaning wouldnt even have mattered to them... as they had created (by virtue of their own dialect) a new pronunciation and allocated a fresh and specific meaning.

Happens all the time with progressive language, even today.

By: Ennis

Ennis — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:41:33 +0000

but what fascinates me is the possibility that the British soldiers not only knew that bilayat meant foreign, but that they used the term with an added layer of irony. i'm thinking that it's possible that they consciously appropriated the term to refer to Britain while they were in India, not only in the sense of Britain being foreign to India/ns (which would explain why they didn't use an English word. using a Hindusatani word to refer to an English entity underscores the foreignness of England), but also foreign to themselves.

I think you give them too much credit. Back then people didn't live that long, and probably most of the British in India had been born in England. I doubt they saw themselves as more of brown sahibs than white ones. And in any case, the word was popular across the Raj, at which point the possibility of knowing irony ceases. It was also used in a semi-official capacity which would be weird. Why would the Army publish magazines for homesick soldiers in trenches that calls them foreigners? Nationalism tends to be far simpler than that.

By: Rahul

Rahul — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:53:41 +0000

Also, speaking of tomatoes and mangling by the British, mulligatawny soup (bastardization of the Tamil "molaga thanni" or "chilli water") is the worst insult you can throw at such a fantastic component of Tamil cuisine.

Sorry, that sentence lost something thanks to an incomplete edit by me. Mulligatawny soup was used to refer to rasam. And somebody needs to fix that most unapettizing Rasam photo on Wikipedia.

By: Rahul

Rahul — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:47:37 +0000

Among other misunderstood words, there's also juggernaut. Also, speaking of tomatoes and mangling by the British, mulligatawny soup (bastardization of the Tamil "molaga thanni" or "chilli water") is the worst insult you can throw at such a fantastic component of Tamil cuisine. Hypertree, good observation about the Kohinoor and Rasam. What about the stones in the dal though? If you're going to get your teeth chipped, wouldn't a diamond be preferable?

And what about Indians using English? Yeh goodbye kya hai?

By: Amrita

Amrita — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:29:24 +0000

I knew that. Thanks for Bhenjotibad, Ennis

Did y'all know how Hindi lessons for Brits worked? Examples: There was a brown crow!" --"There was a coal hoe!"

When asked to appeal to her husband for clemency on behalf of Bahadur Shah Zafar, one popsie proudly told him, with suitable emphasis, "Kubeen Nai!"

By: HyperTree

HyperTree — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:08:45 +0000

They brought tomatoes and took back the Kohinoor and the Star of India.

good bargain at that. I bet the Kohinoor wouldn't blend well in rasam.

By: begtodiffer

begtodiffer — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:10:33 +0000

They brought tomatoes and took back the Kohinoor and the Star of India.

By: Fuerza Dulce

Fuerza Dulce — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:50:01 +0000

several things the British had brought into the country, such as the tomato (bilayati baingan)â€.

So the British gave me tomatoes, and therefore the gift of chicken makhni – chalo, it’ll be one thing I’m not mad at them for.

By: fathima

fathima — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:48:32 +0000

but what fascinates me is the possibility that the British soldiers not only knew that bilayat meant foreign, but that they used the term with an added layer of irony. i'm thinking that it's possible that they consciously appropriated the term to refer to Britain while they were in India, not only in the sense of Britain being foreign to India/ns (which would explain why they didn't use an English word. using a Hindusatani word to refer to an English entity underscores the foreignness of England), but also foreign to themselves. i'm romanticising a bit here, but i think of people like Rudyard Kipling, a man who never fit in totally anywhere, but was most uncomfortable in England. if someone like him used the word "foreign" to refer to the place from which he came, the place to which he might never return, unpacking what he really means gets ... complicated.

By: ak

ak — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:38:46 +0000

camille, yes.

‘chicozapota’ – so interesting that this word is split correctly down the line for general northern and southern use. i wonder how they decided which region took which part of the word? and is there an english word for it?

as for tomatoes, i suppose it is one good thing to come out of the raj. i once had to give up tomatoes for 6 months – that was much harder than i had expected

ennis – would not the maternal version of bhenjotistan have been more appropriate for mother england?