ji

[David Bergdahl]

Could Dickens' "ji" be related to the "term of respect added to ends of
sentences or words" as the editor of the Longman anthology of Brit Lit
glosses a Rushdie character saying "No suspicion intended, ji" ("Chekov
and Zulu" 2727)?

Britain was certainly in India at the time Dickens was writing and words
did flow from India > home counties (e.g. khaki in standard English,
kyber "backside," bukshee "free," Doolally ""demented" in Cockney
[Cockny examples from Story of English, 2nd ed., 2764]).
-- db
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