An interesting Tamil dialect: Madras Bashai

by Guest Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:02 pm

Madras Bashai evolved largely during the past three centuries. When the city of Madras was founded in 1640 by the British East India Company, it had sizable populations of both Tamil and Telugu speakers. As the city gradually expanded to include the predominantly Tamil-speaking areas to its south, a cosmopolitan culture evolved. The Tamil spoken by Telugu settlers was heavily-laced with Telugu words. Gradually, with the emergence of Madras as an important city in the British Empire and as the capital of Madras Presidency, contact with the western world increased and a number of English words crept into the idiom. Due to the presence of a considerable population of Hindustani-speakers, especially, the Gujaratis, Marwaris and some Muslim communities, some Hindi words, too, became a part of Madras Bashai. It is a surprise that Madras Bashai uses two corrupt forms of Sanskrit words, which are not available in any Tamil dialects. They are ‘madha kolam’ (மாதாகோலம்) and ‘kasamalam’(கசமாலம்). First words are from Sanskrit’ maatha kavala’ which means ‘mother, a mouthful of food’. This phrase is used by alms seeker in the sense ‘oh Mother give me a mouthful of food’ in late nights. Second word is from Sanskrit ‘kashmalam’ which means impurity, used to scold a person in the sense of filthy/dirty.

http://marakkamudiyuma.wordpress.com/tag/madras-bashai/

by Guest Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:05 pm

'Madira' in Hindi means alcohol. The word 'madirapaan' refers to the act of consuming alcohol.
*Scene - Hindi class in a South Indian college. Lecturer catches back-bencher red-handed, doing all manner of kirik*
__________________________________________________
Lecturer : "You! Ess, you! Stand up I say!"

Back-bencher, with exaggerated nonchalance : "Yenn sarr? (What sir?)"

Lecturer : "Oho. So confident aa? Ok then, you better tell me what this next word means, otherwise I'm suspending you for a week. Translate "Madirapaan". Fawstly!"

Back-bencher, thinking furiously to himself : "Ayyo, what is this big word now? Let's see, let's see, something to do with paan? No no. Hey wait, madeira is some firang wine! So it must mean something to do with drinking wonly. Worth a shot!"

Back-bencher turns to Lecturer : "Sarr, drinking sarr"

*Lecturer's mouth falls wide open in disbelief, as back-bencher's chaddi-buddies set up a loud cheer*

http://samosapedia.com/e/Madras%20bashai

by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:55 pm

a) madras bashai is considered uncouth by most tamilians not from madras, and you'd induce vomiting in most tambrahms if you try speaking it to them. so don't try it at the in-laws.

b) the back bencher involuntarily made some correct etymological connections. this was supposed to be a joke but there is a kernel of truth there. sanskrit is an IE language as is ~~spanish~~ portugese. (well spanish is too but this drink is portugese).

by Impedimenta Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:13 pm

err? since when did this become a dialect of its own?

by Hellsangel Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:26 pm

After the gult brotherhood, why is the Tamil brotherhood ganging up on Rashmun?

by Guest Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:40 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:a) madras bashai is considered uncouth by most tamilians not from madras, and you'd induce vomiting in most tambrahms if you try speaking it to them. so don't try it at the in-laws.

b) the back bencher involuntarily made some correct etymological connections. this was supposed to be a joke but there is a kernel of truth there. sanskrit is an IE language as is ~~spanish~~ portugese. (well spanish is too but this drink is portugese).

thanks for the advice.

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An interesting Tamil dialect: Madras Bashai

An interesting Tamil dialect: Madras Bashai

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