Wednesday 28 January 2009

Ye Olde Cunnada


On several occasions I have wondered what the Kannada equivalent of engrish is.

I came up with the following shortlist-

Kannad - As the North Indians call it and given their propensity to ignore the vowel (especially if its an 'uh' sound) at the end when they pronounce South Indian words

Kannadam - As I recently heard some tams and mals call it.

Diga/Kannadiga - Law Schoolites

I vote for and select Kannad.

However, most of the Kannad i see is because of wrong usage/ bad spelling by Kannadigas themselves.

The photo over here is an interesting one. This stone demarcating the boundary between Mysore and Malabar erected in 1862, is in a place so remote that the nearest tar road is a good 35 Kms away (Electricity - 45 Kms, though there is
a high tension wire, about 20 kms away, mobile signal - 5 kms). It is interesting because someone in 1862 saw it fit to go from Mysore all the way here, despite restraints of mid 19th century transport, lugging a huge slab of stone to plant it in a place where no human would see it for years to come.

The english writing on the stone staidly states - BOUNDARY BETWEEN MYSORE AND MALABAR. The etching in Kannada is what is interesting - Mysoorushimegoo Malabarjillakkoo Sarapoodra. Gets the meaning across but weird all the same.

ಆದರೆ ಇದು ತಪ್ಪು ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ. ೧೮೬೨ರಲ್ಲಿ ಸರಹದ್ದು ಎಂದು ಅರ್ಥ ಬರುವ ಹಾಗೆ "ಸರಪೂದ್ರ" ಎನ್ನುವ ಪದದ ಬಳಕೆ ಇದ್ದಿರಬಹುದೆಂದು ನನ್ನ ಊಹೆ.

ಅಂತೆಯೇ ಮೈಸೂರುಶಿಮೆ ಎಂದು ಬರೆದಿರುವುದೂ ಅಂದಿನ ಸಮಕಾಲೀನ ಚಾಲ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಿರಬಹುದು.

೮ ಕೂಡ ಅಷ್ಟೆ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಡುಬರುವ ಚಿಹ್ನೆ square root ಚಿಹ್ನೆಯಂತಿದೆ. ಕಲ್ಲಿನ ಕೆಳಭಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಲಬದಿಗೆ ಗಮನಿಸಿದರೆ ಕಾಣಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.

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