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Phenomenon, when a phrase (lit. trans. into English from other regional language) has obvious mistake(s) and still uncorrectable due to popularity

English Language & Usage Asked on January 7, 2021

Let me layout an example to make the situation, described in question more clear:

There is a popular road in a city of Gujarat, India whose name when literally translated into English means “Horse Racing” or for the sake of completeness, “Horse Racing Road”. It’s literal translation in Gujarati should be “”Ghoda Dod” Road” where “Ghoda” means Horses and “Dod” means running/racing.

But, the translation has become to “Ghod Dod” Road, maybe due to fast usage of words or maybe just laziness to complete the first(or one) word and then move on to next one during a continuous conversation, and then maybe no one cared to rectify it.

So, what is this type of phenomena or event called, are there more of these phenomenons in other regional/national languages too apart from english ?

One Answer

In my opinion, the example you gave is more telling of the Gujarati language than it is of the English language. The particular example you gave, is perhaps the result of Relaxed Pronunciation or Contraction, as has been pointed out in the comments, as a result of the spoken tongue. This, as a phenomenon is arguably present in most, if not all languages. As this wikipedia entry mentions, "It is almost always present in normal speech, in all natural languages but not in some constructed languages, such as Loglan or Lojban, which are designed so that all words are parsable."

E.g. the following transition will probably make sense:

  • "I am going to eat."
  • "I'm going to eat."
  • "I'm gonna eat."
  • "Imma eat." (for some North American dialects)

In Hindi, for instance, often in normal speech, the voiceless glottal fricative /h/ is skipped, at least in most dialects of Delhi. So, quite evidently, the phenomenon is not confined to the Gujarati example you give.

This is, however, just one aspect of the phenomenon. When, for example, you write Ghod Dod in the Latin script, you inevitably open it up to different interpretations and pronunciations. This is reflected by the Rule of Hobson-Jobson, coined by Madras-born lexicographer, E.E. Morris, which says that as words are exchanged from one language to another, the sounds of the word change to suit the needs of the language that accepts this word. The term "Hobson-Jobson", as a matter of fact, is a result of this phenomenon, wherein you find English speakers taking the phrase Hassan Hussain and changing the pronunciation, so much so, that later, even the spelling for the phrase gets changed to "Hobson-Jobson". This is illustrated by the two examples below, which although do a bad job at explaining the "oriental" culture, through no fault of their own, help in understanding this phenomenon through the passage of time, a little better.

The Muharram and Charkh Pu'ja'. These two noisy and disgraceful festivals are past. The din and insolence of the former, and the cruelty and abomination of the latter, have ceased for a year. Our eyes are no longer assailed by the tortured Hindu, nor our ears dinned by the wild shriek of Hassan Hussain.

(The Calcutta Christian Observer 1838: 293)

I asked our ‘footman’ what the ‘garlands’ were for. He replied that it is the ‘Hobson Jobson festival, sir.’ This is a curious custom, which I may describe for the edification of curious people and the musical societies in the old town. To commemorate this festival with its strange name, it requires a man, or a number of men, who can imitate the ‘voices’ of various animals, and these men with some rude form of music – which here means the most horrid discord – go about like mummers in England, and this is their song: Hobson Jobson, one, two, three, Yah-yah – Yah-yah-yah; Hobson Jobson, one, two, three.

(J.W. ‘Eastward Ho!’ in The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent 1879: 8)

Answered by Piyush Mishra on January 7, 2021

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