Hindian (was: Tea & Pee)

[Thomas Paikeday]

I first encountered it on signs used by Tamil-speaking people of the
southern state of Madras (now Chennai) demonstrating against the
imposition of Hindi on Tamilians and other Dravidians. Just a jocular
nonce word, I guess, but I thought it was very expressive. This must
have been about 20 years ago. I don't recall hearing it again, but I use
it occasionally when asked why I don't speak Hindi after having lived
and worked in New Delhi for nearly three years, the real reason being I
don't have the gift of the gab. I am satisfied with Malayalam.

TOM PAIKEDAY

Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com wrote:
>
> > This is my first encounter with the word "Hindian". I assume that it means
>      "Indian-from-India, not American-Indian"
> -- right? How widespread is it?
>
> -- Mark
>
>                   Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist
>             Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
>  320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com