All Questions
Tagged with subcontinental-english idioms
11
questions
2
votes
2
answers
517
views
Sentence phrasing 'Please don't punish/scold/penalize' [closed]
Situation: I technician came to my house for installation/demo or Refrigerator.
He was good but forgot to install a 'rat mesh' ( protect machine from rats).
I called customer care to inform the ...
- 229
10
votes
17
answers
28k
views
Idioms for a 'obvious' or 'needs no explanation'
I need to find an idiom for the following situation.
I am talking to the HR department about a particular policy. I did not know about the policy beforehand and HR had never explained it to me. For ...
- 229
1
vote
2
answers
13k
views
What "appear to be " means in the given sentence [closed]
Today, while reading a newspaper I came across a sentence that has been baffling me since:
The woman, who identified herself as Bhavna and appeared to be in her 20s, ....
What does appeared to be ...
5
votes
2
answers
40k
views
Origin of the expression "Gone for a toss" in Indian English
I recently heard the expression "gone for a toss", which in Indian English means afaik "broken beyond repair" or "completely out of order".
What is the origin of this expression? Is it borrowed from ...
- 2,088
3
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Is "to take birth" correct English?
A Google Books search shows many results of the phrase “to take birth” in the sense of “to be born”, but most of them are in books dealing with Eastern philosophies like Hinduism and Buddhism. I am ...
- 143
2
votes
3
answers
9k
views
Proper response to "Do the needful", when the "needful" might not be clearly defined
I have worked in various places where "do the needful" is quite the common idiom. However, in some situations, both parties might not be quite aligned precisely with what falls under the scope of "...
- 137
2
votes
2
answers
37k
views
Difference between "Putting in one's papers" and "Putting down one's papers"
I have come across these two phrases and both appear to mean almost the same.
As mentioned here:
Putting in one's paper means voluntary separation from employment.
and as I read here:
Putting ...
- 149
0
votes
1
answer
10k
views
Will that be fine?
Quite a few times now, a waiter or shop assistant has asked me:
Will that be fine?
I've noticed that I've only ever heard Indian English speakers use this turn of phrase.
To my (British) ear, it ...
- 3,101
2
votes
4
answers
146
views
is "merablum" or "merablem" a word?
is there a word "merablum"? maybe "merablem"? It means scrap or remnant of food left on a plate. I always thought it was a word but I googled it and - nothing. Is Google unaware of it or is it a made ...
- 37
6
votes
5
answers
8k
views
Is "stepmother treatment" Indian English?
When I googled stepmother treatment, I found that it was mainly used in India to refer to neglect, disregard or inattention. Most of the other non-Indian links talked about the literal treatment by ...
- 16.1k
9
votes
3
answers
57k
views
Meaning of the phrase "put down one's papers"
In India, the phrase "put down one's papers" means to submit one's resignation at a workplace. Is this usage universal? I suspect this is Indian.
- 1,151