Hinglish
David Crystal is a University of Wales professor who's written over 40 books on linguistics - and David Crystal is now predicting that Hinglish could become the most widely spoken and dominant language on the planet. Hinglish is Indian English and comes from the collision of English and Hindi. Already 350 million Indians speak Hinglish - and the population is growing by 3% a year (against 1% in the US and UK). David Crystal said: "with Indians at the forefront of the IT revolution, Hinglish will soon become the most common spoken form globally." Hinglish has a quaint, almost old-fashioned, formality in which people offer "do the needful", police "nab" their man, "miscreants abscond", youths engage in "tomfoolery" and politicians say their opponents speak "balderdash". Hinglish is spiced with Hindi words, like "pukka" for real, "jungli" for uncouth, "chappals" for sandals and "chuddis" for underwear. If David Crystal is right, then a world dominated by Hinglish will certainly be colourful.
.. so move over US English it seems that we will have to refer to Hinglish if we are to use the argument that "most" speakers of English spell/say/understand it this way or that so we are right" ..
WoZ of Aus 01/12/04
Submitted by Wizard of Oz (Newcastle - Australia)