Current usage of English

After spawning new terms and expressions like outsourcing, offshoring, knowledge management etc IT industry has moved on to greener pastures on language front. Recently a software major sent good number of their employees into virtual pool. Unlike a swimming pool, this pool does not leave the occupants wet but they feel left out in the cold. I assumed that virtual pool must be barren but I was mistaken. A recent report from this software major mentioned that the employees in virtual pool were seated on virtual benches. A lot of investment in terms of thought process has gone into create the virtual pool and associated infrastructure. Who knows, creating such virtual infrastructure could be the next " big bang" opportunity.

A report says that Lear's macaw ( named after poet and artist Edward Lear ) which faced extinction in Brazil has moved from "list of critically endangered species " to "list of endangered species". The report also mentions that " Extinction vortex" propels endangered species into rapid oblivion. When any species is endangered, the collectors are willing to pay more money and the hunters hunt them into extinction to make a killing in the grey market. This tendency is termed "extinction vortex".

Hailing from Kerala, I am used to the slogan "Inqlab Zindabad". Report from Iran on protests against recent Presidential election states that the most prominent sites for protests in Teheran are Enghelab square ( Enghelab in Farsi means revolution ) and Azadi square.

There is a lot of commonality in terms of language, food and religious practices in the land mass extending from Saudi Arabia through Iraq, Iran, India, Burma, Thailand and stretching up to Indonesia ( Islam, Hinduism, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, temples, Budhism, Ramayana etc ). But Himalayas has been a big geographical barrier and hence a impenetrable cultural barrier as well . Except for Budhism, nothing has managed to surmount the massive mountain range and got to the other side. It is a Shangrila out there on the other side of Himalayas. Culture has managed seep through deserts, Hindukush mountains, dense forests and even managed to cross the sea to reach Srilanka and Indonesia. But Himalayas has been a real wall.

Comments

  1. prasadgcJuly 4, 2009 at 4:57 AM

    Two related and interesting snippets I picked up:

    1. The official name for Urdu is 'Zaban e Urdu e Mualla', which means 'language of camp and court'. This was a patois of several languages like Arabic, Turkish, Persian and some Indian languages that arose out of the huge polyglot armies of the Muslim conquerors and rulers of India since Babar. Apparently, the word 'Urdu' in Turkish means 'army'. The closest English word to it is 'horde'.

    2. 'Hindukush' literally means 'Hindu-killer'. ('Khudkushi' in Urdu means 'suicide'.) Apparently one of the Muslim invaders of India captured and took back a huge number of Hindu slaves. While crossing the mountains, more than a hundred thousand of them died of cold in a single night. That's why those mountains are called the 'Hindukush' mountains.

    gcp

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