India Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Associated with or special to India or Indian people, places, or things. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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eye wash n. It is an eye wash. Even the CLP leaders termed it as farce. [English India] [full cite] (Oct. 21, 2004)

fauji n. The young, mostly male Punjabis are not lawfully in Britain and they have few legal rights. They are known as “Faujis,” a Punjabi term colloquially used to describe illegal immigrants, and are mostly poor farmers from the Punjab in India. [India United Kingdom] [full cite] (Jul. 21, 2008)

foghorn n. “Olive, don’t use foghorns,” Convergence Contact Centre trainer Nilanjan Roy tells Olive Watson alias Mithu Malik. “Foghorns,” for the uninitiated, are the “hmms” and “ahaas” that punctuate tele-conversations. [English India] [full cite] (Jul. 14, 2004)

frauder n. But could everyone feel less like they’re being robbed? All tourists suffer the unpleasant impression that they are being squeezed, the foreign ones feel it in multiplied measure. At the Taj gate, they pay Rs 750 compared to Rs 20 for Indians. Which is why a new word has entered the circuit’s Hindi lexicon: “frauder.” This joins the word native to the Agra/Rajasthan belt: “lapak” (a blend of pounce-surround-intimidate). [English-derived India Money & Finance] [full cite] (Oct. 4, 2004)

globe n. Clearly, the professor’s statements are empty words, commonly known in MBA-lingo as “gas” or “globe.” Lots of speech and no content whatsoever. Is Dr. Monipally to blame for this near-meaningless collection of words, or the ET reporter who, knowing that the committee had only just been constituted and would take 6 months for its report, insisted on asking the professor who/how/what/when/why questions before the event (programme revision) had even begun. [English India College Slang] [full cite] (May. 21, 2007)

goonda tax n. A notorious criminal based in Ranchi, he patronised the word “goonda tax” (or GT in police parlance) to a good extent in the city, having collected Rs 2 crore over the past six months. [India Crime & Prisons Money & Finance] [full cite] (Oct. 7, 2004)

goonda tax n. The main accused in the Magarasa massacre was arrested by the police on Wednesday morning from the same locality while he was engaged in extorting goonda tax from shopkeepers. [India Crime & Prisons Money & Finance] [full cite] (Oct. 7, 2004)

goonda tax n. Addressing newsmen here today, Mr Bansi Lal described the extortions as “goonda- tax.” [India Crime & Prisons Money & Finance] [full cite] (Oct. 7, 2004)

guess question paper n. If you have the money, you can walk into the exam hall with the answersheet, filled and how. The modus operandi is simple—students get hold of the question paper for the next day’s exam, called in campus parlance as “guess question paper,” for a price. They answer the questions on the answer-sheet which even bears the official symbol of the university and walk into the exam room, get the duplicate sheet signed by the invigilator and take the other answersheet with them. [English India Education] [full cite] (Mar. 24, 2008)

guitar n. The police found that an AK-47, which was earlier referred to as “jhadoo” (broom), had been renamed “guitar.” [India Crime & Prisons] [full cite] (Dec. 6, 2004)

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