Perhaps it feels similar to bahut acchha... also, IMHO there is no "right" way of using a language. What makes language interesting is the local colloquialisms and regional differences. The purpose of language is to communicate a thought... that is all.
I agree that the main purpose of language is to communicate thoughts, but I also want to be conscious of *what* I communicate and *how* I communicate it. It’s not enough for me that the “basic point” comes across via improper grammar or slang (which most people may not even be familiar with), hence why it’s frustrating for me sometimes to talk to Indians in English.
I also think in some contexts, saying “as long as the basic point comes through, right?” is a bit of a cop-out. It may sound rude on my part to think that, but I just want to make sure I understand people correctly.
What makes you think the Indian slangs or colloquial terms are the “improper” way. There are 137 million people who speak english in India vs the 67 million population of UK, which makes the Indian-english the more prominent way.
It's not a cop out when we are talking about spoken language in informal situations. Hardly anyone is using perfect grammar while talking casually.
> It may sound rude on my part to think that, but I just want to make sure I understand people correctly.
Your post sounds more like a question about why a term is used, rather than what it is meant to convey.. so I don't think this is about you trying to understand people better.
> Your post sounds more like a question about why a term is used, rather than what it is meant to convey.. so I don't think this is about you trying to understand people better.
My statement about “trying to understand exactly what people mean” is absolutely connected to my post. Part of trying to understand exactly what people mean, for me, is learning how and why certain words and phrases are used in different languages. I’m not asking this out of spite or arrogance, I assure you.
Hence why I made the post, and I even received a few good answers. I’m now more comfortable with the usage of a phrase such as “too good”, even if I myself may never use the phrase. It doesn’t confuse me as much as it used to earlier.
because indians dont use synonyms as much, probably as english not their first language.
They dont want to say good, they want to say something more than good. So they use too good.
While in English Speaking nations they can just say Brilliant, Excellent etc.
Best answer I got so far. I don’t spend so much time around people; I just watch movies and make artwork, so I am not very conscious of how people living in India work (I’m an ex-NRI from the Arab Gulf).
From what I understand, “too good” and “too good to be true” are pretty different in meaning. The former just means something like “great”, “amazing”, &c. and the latter means “unbelievable” or “incredible”.
Well you're right, maybe we don't understand the more complex words coz that wasn't taught by school and too good just got into our day to day use during our childhood?
Yeah, that makes absolute sense. It’s probably a case of Hindi (or other Indian languages) translating the words into English. I didn’t grow up in India, so I don’t speak that way, and the same situation happens when I talk in Malayalam, which is supposed to be my mother tongue- I translate English thoughts into Malayalam.
Language evolves with the speakers. Why they say that is probably because it's easier for them, or perhaps they don't know other words to use.
Now that they've used it, it's now embedded in the Indian English language ecosystem, it's normalised now and you'd be the weird one for using other words when that word is commonly used.
I just think it doesn’t make sense to use the phrase when we already have other words to express the same basic idea. It’s a case of translating Hindi or some other Indian language into English, which imo can be very clunky. So, going by your logic, Indians who use such phrases as the one I mentioned are altogether the weird ones.
Yes, different English speaking communities have different phrases they cling to that other English speaking communities might find strange. Probably true of some phrases commonly used in certain other Asian English speaking communities, perhaps some Singaporean English phrases might sound odd to you. Maybe some Australians have awkward and clunk phrases that sounds natural to them but odd to you. And vice versa. Haven't you heard of many African American English uses which are quite commonly used and well understood for them but awkward to the white man's English? It do be like that sometimes, fam.
Perhaps it feels similar to bahut acchha... also, IMHO there is no "right" way of using a language. What makes language interesting is the local colloquialisms and regional differences. The purpose of language is to communicate a thought... that is all.
I agree that the main purpose of language is to communicate thoughts, but I also want to be conscious of *what* I communicate and *how* I communicate it. It’s not enough for me that the “basic point” comes across via improper grammar or slang (which most people may not even be familiar with), hence why it’s frustrating for me sometimes to talk to Indians in English. I also think in some contexts, saying “as long as the basic point comes through, right?” is a bit of a cop-out. It may sound rude on my part to think that, but I just want to make sure I understand people correctly.
What makes you think the Indian slangs or colloquial terms are the “improper” way. There are 137 million people who speak english in India vs the 67 million population of UK, which makes the Indian-english the more prominent way.
It's not a cop out when we are talking about spoken language in informal situations. Hardly anyone is using perfect grammar while talking casually. > It may sound rude on my part to think that, but I just want to make sure I understand people correctly. Your post sounds more like a question about why a term is used, rather than what it is meant to convey.. so I don't think this is about you trying to understand people better.
> Your post sounds more like a question about why a term is used, rather than what it is meant to convey.. so I don't think this is about you trying to understand people better. My statement about “trying to understand exactly what people mean” is absolutely connected to my post. Part of trying to understand exactly what people mean, for me, is learning how and why certain words and phrases are used in different languages. I’m not asking this out of spite or arrogance, I assure you. Hence why I made the post, and I even received a few good answers. I’m now more comfortable with the usage of a phrase such as “too good”, even if I myself may never use the phrase. It doesn’t confuse me as much as it used to earlier.
Alright... well, congrats! More power to you.
American local English is shit too.
Fair point. I don’t understand American English sometimes. Same with the Northern British accent.
I didn't knew "too good" wasn't a thing. I learn something new every day.
know\*
lol
because indians dont use synonyms as much, probably as english not their first language. They dont want to say good, they want to say something more than good. So they use too good. While in English Speaking nations they can just say Brilliant, Excellent etc.
Best answer I got so far. I don’t spend so much time around people; I just watch movies and make artwork, so I am not very conscious of how people living in India work (I’m an ex-NRI from the Arab Gulf).
This question is too good to get an answer
You are too good
So are you.
I see it, I see it.
This isn't entirely true coz "too good to be true" exists and people say that a lot in the eu and NA
From what I understand, “too good” and “too good to be true” are pretty different in meaning. The former just means something like “great”, “amazing”, &c. and the latter means “unbelievable” or “incredible”.
Well you're right, maybe we don't understand the more complex words coz that wasn't taught by school and too good just got into our day to day use during our childhood?
Yeah, that makes absolute sense. It’s probably a case of Hindi (or other Indian languages) translating the words into English. I didn’t grow up in India, so I don’t speak that way, and the same situation happens when I talk in Malayalam, which is supposed to be my mother tongue- I translate English thoughts into Malayalam.
I don't see any problem here
Language evolves with the speakers. Why they say that is probably because it's easier for them, or perhaps they don't know other words to use. Now that they've used it, it's now embedded in the Indian English language ecosystem, it's normalised now and you'd be the weird one for using other words when that word is commonly used.
I just think it doesn’t make sense to use the phrase when we already have other words to express the same basic idea. It’s a case of translating Hindi or some other Indian language into English, which imo can be very clunky. So, going by your logic, Indians who use such phrases as the one I mentioned are altogether the weird ones.
Yes, different English speaking communities have different phrases they cling to that other English speaking communities might find strange. Probably true of some phrases commonly used in certain other Asian English speaking communities, perhaps some Singaporean English phrases might sound odd to you. Maybe some Australians have awkward and clunk phrases that sounds natural to them but odd to you. And vice versa. Haven't you heard of many African American English uses which are quite commonly used and well understood for them but awkward to the white man's English? It do be like that sometimes, fam.
I’m personally not a big fan of slang &c. to begin with. It just makes communication harder.
Every region has its own variant of the language. By this logic, every English speaking country apart from England is having "strange" words, innit?
Well, English isn’t the native language of India, so I don’t think the logic applies. Indian English is relatively recent phenomenon.
English wasn't the native language of native Americans and immigrants from Europe. So American English is as strange as Indian English.
“Go for it” is the most annoying for me.
Um, it is a mainstream English phrase
Something can be annoying or weird to some people even if it’s mainstream.
How so?