Hey! We are grateful for the bunch of followers and friends who never cease to inspire or remind us of things from the past.
Thanks to Jyoti's comment, it instantly sent me down the memory lane. I was at a factory in Ahmadabad and was asked if I'd like to have some snakes.
I did nothing to hide my bewilderment but politely said "Thank you, I'm a vegetarian".
At this I was told "we also eat only vegetarian, but some snakes you must take with tea. Its way past four". Then I realised it was the mother tongue Influence (MTI).
Mother tongue, which like a true mom never ceases to check out what the child is up-to.........even if the child is being fostered by another language.
I wouldn't quote all the examples over here....after all, I'm not wanting to lose friends because of spilling some beans, but some incidents are irresistible & will give me discomfort if not shared. During the same trip I also went to the store of the retail chain I work with and was very sweetly asked by a young lady, "There's a rape top which has come and we don't know how to sell it. Can you please help?"
I wondered to what level of obscenity my co-workers had taken a design, for it to be christened "rape top".
On seeing the garment I figured it was just an innocent wrap.
That should call for a stop...I didn't really want to get started on this cause I have heapful of accounts to share....they can wait for a personal narration. So I'll quickly change direction to the misspelt words I've come across.Not that my own spelling are something to be proud of, but its always easier to take someone else's case.
* snakes & tea (as mentioned earlier & bet many have witnessed)
* Sandwitch
* Chainis.... (a tough one for the Chinese)
* Chowmen
* Chopsee ( I tell you we hold something against China)
* Ice kreem ( often spelt correctly but usually pronounced aiscream).....
* Cartoon ( almost always in factories----is the pronunciation for carton)
* gold loacket free. (only if you understand, you'll come to claim it. Tricky, eh!)
* talk about the LOVE in the lowly pronunciation of (LOW / LAU)
Similarly when Indians move abroad the first thing getting wounded is there name, ego can follow.
1) Shambu usually ends up being shampoo,
2) especially in San Jose, Manjit becomes Manhit,
3) Mani is thought of as money.
4) Hetal is thought of as hate all & is hated for the same reason.
As for my own personal experience talking to my British boss who said, "Devender is in China" while I kept telling him the vendor is in Ludhiana.