lahoriii
Aradia at the atlanta metblog recently wrote a post on how certain phrases are very geographically grounded in atlanta. Being a non-lahori until quite recently, it’s funny how I came across and slowly adapted to a new vocabulary once I got here, words new and weird, which now roll off my tongue easily. Words have very different connotations in Karachi and Lahore – (since those are the only two places whose slang I’m acquainted with :p) The most obvious ones that come to mind are –
-‘set hai‘ (it’s all good) in Karachi becomes ‘fit hai‘ in Lahore
-Lahoris use banda (girl) and bandi (guy) …Karachiites usually just use less slanger versions, like dude, or simply girl and guy.
-Lahoris use shugal for fun, and Karachiites usually use mazaa. (:D)
–“koi nahin” in Lahore, for “no worries”, turns into “kuch nahin hota“, or “chalta hai” in Karachi
-“wela” for someone who’s got all the time in the world, in Lahore, and “farigh” in Karachi.
Terms that I’ve only heard in Lahore include –
-cheeta for someone brillant
–chaa gaya for “way to go”, “wow”, “congrats”, “you rock”…
–bongi for something that’s really dumb
–yeh cheez for “wow”, “way to go”, “congrats”, “you rock”.. :
–pack ho gayee for “i got freaked out”
–chikk diya for “aced it”
Words like TC and phrases like “sahih keh rahay/rahi ho” (“Yeah, right!) and “must hai!” (it’s a must!), and “what’s the scene” exist across the board I think. Do excuse the academically focused slang, but uni’s the only place that I’ve picked up these words from… :)
Am sure there’re loads more that I can’t think of at the moment…feel free to add :)
And this isn’t slang, but Lahoris tend to roll off the ends of their sentences in non-urdu-like ways – such as ‘kar dayeen’, (“do it”), instead of the urdu-er version – “kar do”. Punjabi influence on the tongue I guess.
chaa gaya hai bai. :-)
and yeah, a Lahori thing is how they/we say ‘bhai jaan’. It comes out like “payaan”.
“bus o bus” is used for ‘enough!’, normally when attempting to diffuse a high-tension situation like a brawl or something. Also commonly heard amongst ‘lotairaas’ (kite-catchers) during basant season here in Lahore.
Although not as common, but a new contender is ‘war gaye bai’, used when something goes wrong.
All in all, an interesting post. Fit hai! :)
oops!
and i thought that was just NCA’s terminology …
you probably know of ” game daal dayna” too then … meaning: to make something interesting/ exciting.
oh oh dont forget the karachi counterparts like “lush yar” and “bharam…i learned alot of these at uni too:D
let us not forget the magical punjabi gaali that we use as expression of almost every feeling
and that ‘chuk kay rakh‘.. I’ve also encountered ‘thand rakh‘ on a number of occasions
thanks Momekh!
leftistoe: yeahh, i’ve heard warr jaana, (quiz warr gaya yaar), and i forgot ‘blast ho gayee’, ‘pharoo’ (:P), ‘phat gayee’….oh man, waay too many academic ones :|
not heard “game daal dayna” …
waisay no this is all lums terminology, but we share a lot of slang with NCA! :)
haha, #4 – i know, we don’t have an equivalent for bharam in lahore do we :s
shazada laga ain (u rock),,,,b**d bandooq ho gai (dar gaya),,,,earth ho gaya (dar gaya),,, phat ke hath main a gai ( was shocked),,, kahanian na dal (dont bullshit around),,,, cheer char ke hath main de dena ( to insult someone) also just hath main de dena,,,,bachchi (cool chick),,,mahool dalna,,,,class lena (dont think its unique to lahore),,,,,toun wein jahaz hi ain (jahaz should be read with a ye in the end and not jeem),,,,and many many more which i dont remember right now
and also “thandh mahool” ( means no problem)