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Why is one syllable ugly?Could be because of the meaning of लत (i.e., lat) meaning in Hindi (see especially entry 3 at link). or perhaps i simply like my name as is and am not pleased when someone i do not know takes it upon themselves to shorten it without asking for my view on the matter. would the person who called me lat have called gandhiji mo?
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would the person who called me lat have called gandhiji mo? on this forum, very likely, yes. in this culture, the shortening of names is usually a sign of familiarity, even affection, and no insult is intended.
Last edited by Buffalo Shrdlu; 10/13/09 12:54 PM. Reason: fixed quote
formerly known as etaoin...
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how do you find themI found it from an aggregation of online dictionaries about half a decade ago. Because I have studied both Sanskrit and Hindi, the former much more seriously than the latter, I am familiar with Devanagari, but I did find a a new site for transliterating Latin into Devanagari ( link). The Hindi-Urdu dictionary was digitized from a public domain work from 1884.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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would the person who called me lat have called gandhiji mo?
I have always been slightly uncomfortable in shortening names on Web forums. Some of the processes of picking a hyporcorism are interesting though. And, as Mr Shrdlu says mostly this is for benign and affectionate reasons, it can be for demeaning or insulting ones, too: e.g., Tricky Dick and Slick Willy for presidents Nixon and Clinton respectively. back to the actual formation processes: (1) shortening (the most common), from one or the other or both ends, or sometimes an initialism: e.g., Ed for Edward, Joe, Joseph (but sometimes with a mutated sound, as in Ned or Ted for Edward, Bob for Robert), Topher for Christopher, FDR, JFK; (2) then there are nicknames that have nothing to do with the form of the person's name, like Ginger for somebody with red hair, Nuncle for Zmjezhd (from another of my noms de ouaisbe, Uncle Jazzbeau). What to call people is a socially complex situation in most cultures, and I tend to not shorten a person's name because it's long or difficult to remember. Back to Mr Gandhi: we here in the States usually abbreviate Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to Gandhi (or Mr Gandhi if writing for newspapers such as New York Times). I noticed in India that most refer to him as Gandhiji (the -ji being a title of repsect and not some lengthening of his name for hypocoristic purposes). Many refer to him as Mahatma Gandhi, thinking that Mahatma is his first name rather than another honorary title.
When visiting my friend's family in India, the adults mostly called me Jim, though on several occasions I was referred to by family members (in the third person with folks outside the family) as Mr Jim. The eldest brother was surprised when I gave him my business card to find out Jim is a nickname form of James and that I had a surname); the children all called me Jim Uncle, though one of the nephews, who's now in the States, asked for Uncle Jim once when my wife answered the phone (becoming culturally acclimated). As I am studying Japanese, I am amazed at how social niceties are handled in Japanese, grammatically (different verb forms) and lexically (different words depending on whether in relationship to the first person or to the second and third person). It is amazingly easy to insult somebody in Japanese.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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It is also amazingly easy to insult someone who has a chip on their shoulder -- no connection implied.
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would the person who called me lat have called gandhiji mo? on this forum, very likely, yes. in this culture, the shortening of names is usually a sign of familiarity, even affection, and no insult is intended. and it is normal to do this without asking? Most North Indians have two 'given' names, a legal one and one that is used by family and close friends. It would never occur to me to use the 'intimate' name of someone I did not know well, even if I happened to know it.
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When I do it, you can be sure it is done with affection, or at least not meanly. Occasionally I have done it here simply to save myself some time, if someone has a really l-o-n-g screen name.
It can also be, funnily enough, a sign of trust, as in, "I think we have developed enough trust that I believe you won't take umbrage". Thus my facetious (denoted by deliberately bad grammar or spelling) request to call zmjezhd zoom.
Face to face is different, I think. I would call someone by whatever they were introduced. If I met you as Latishya, I'd be very unlikely to call you Lat or Latty, etc. Though some people do, I have to say.
Maybe it's because in English we don't have a set way of indicating a close relationship, such as tu vs. vous in French. When I was in high school I met some Japanese exchange students; when I said "konchiwa" instead of "konichiwa" (sp?) to one guy, he blushed. Oops.
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Maybe it's because in English we don't have a set way of indicating a close relationship, such as tu vs. vous in French.
French only has 2?  There are 3 in Hindi - आप Aap for formal and respectful, तुम tum for normal friendship among peers and तू tu for the most intimate and familiar and for addressing god.
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how do you find themI did find a a new site for transliterating Latin into Devanagari ( link). THANK YOU! I have been looking for a site to transliterate from devnagri to gurmukhi for a long time now as i wish to learn how to read gurmukhi and i think that being able to compare familiar words will help. This site is a tremendous assistance, thank you once again. Now if only it had nastaliq it would be everything i need.
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We do have three too. Gij for very respectful ( Gods and the likes), U for respectful and jij for family and friends.
But confusing those things are. Aap is literally Monkey in our language. I would have problems to say Aap to a person for a respectful approach.
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