{"id":24568,"date":"2013-08-20T14:13:16","date_gmt":"2013-08-20T18:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=24568"},"modified":"2013-08-20T14:13:16","modified_gmt":"2013-08-20T18:13:16","slug":"vaa-vaathyare-vootandeyorigins-and-growth-of-the-unique-chennai-tamil-dialect-known-as-madras-baashai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=24568","title":{"rendered":"“Vaa Vaathyare Vootandey”:Origins and Growth of the Unique Chennai Tamil Dialect Known as “Madras Baashai”."},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/p>\n

Karthik Subramanian<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a lot of interest on the etymology behind the famed Madras Baashai online. The dialect offers plenty of scope for both fun-filled \u2018guess work\u2019 and proper research on the origin of the words. Some of it sounds very plausible \u2014 take the case of OC, the slang for free. There are articles in newspapers as well as crowd-sourced online forums that suggest the word came about from the era of the East India Company when official postages used to carry \u2018On Company Service\u2019 and was shipped around free of cost.<\/p>\n

And there are words possibly borne out of the figment of imagination of popular comedians such as Thengai Srinivasan \u2014 most notably jalsa and jilpa (both meaning \u2018fun\u2019) \u2014 that have become so popular.<\/p>\n

But does this mean most of the lexicons of Madras Baashai have relatively recent origins, dating back to the last three-and-a-half centuries that the city has thrived. Or do some words go back even further in time?<\/p>\n


\n
\nFascinating origins<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are several blogs and Wiki entries that study the etymology of some of the words. Tamil writer and scholar Pazha.Athiyamaan says that even though the enthusiasts may be right in reasoning some of the origins behind the words, there are some words that are not really as casual as they may appear. \u201cA commonly used word for pulling is \u2018valikarathu\u2019. A rickshaw puller might say \u2018konjam valipaa\u2019 to say pull something. You would be surprised to see that Thirumoolar (one of the Saivite saints) has used the word to mean the exact same thing in his verses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Athiyamaan argues that some words that sound colloquial really have their roots in classical Tamil literature. \u201cAnother word is \u2018Aminji\u2019 that forms the location \u2018Aminjikarai\u2019. People think this is a colloquial modification of a pure Tamil word and suggest \u2018Amaintha Karai\u2019 as an alternative, but \u2018Aminji\u2019 is a classical Tamil word that means something done without hard labour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humourist and script and dialogue writer Crazy Mohan says, \u201cThose who speak Madras Baashai speak the words without the Sanskrit influences. Funnily, there is no \u2018sha\u2019 in Madras Baashai!\u201d<\/p>\n

He argues that often colloquial words become mainstream. \u201cPerhaps the first person to mainstream colloquial words was poet Kamban whose Kamba Ramayanam used the word thummi, which is colloquial for thuli (water drop). There goes an associated story in which when the king and poet Ottakkoothar (Kamban\u2019s nemesis) challenged the word thummi, goddess Saraswathi is said to have been born as a fisherwoman and used the word. That Kamban used colloquial words is indication that one should not look down upon them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changing times<\/strong><\/p>\n

Veteran playwright and journalist Cho Ramaswamy, who is credited by most as being the person who moved the language of the streets on to the stage with his many popular plays, says the Madras Baashai of today, or Chennai Baashai is most likely to be a lot different from what was portrayed in his plays or his movies. \u201cThe reason why I used it in my plays was there was a certain force associated with it. People appreciated it the way we used it because it was done in good humour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cho played the near-perfect Madras Baashai-speaking character in the 1968 movie Bommalaattam. The song \u2018Vaa Vaathiyaarey Vootaanda\u2019, a riotous duet between \u2018Jambajaar\u2019 Jaggu and Chinnaponnu (played by Manorama), is still the song to watch if you want a humorous dose of the dialect.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Portrayals on the silver screen<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Vaa Vaathiyaarey Vootaanda\u2019 song in Bommalaattam featuring Cho Ramaswamy and Manorama as \u2018Jambajaar\u2019 \u2018Zambazaar’ Jaggu and Chinnaponnu. This should rank as probably as the crowning glory moment for Madras Baashai.<\/p>\n

\u2018Thengai\u2019 Srinivasan in many roles \u2014 though his stand-out performance as the strict disciplinarian boss in Thillu Mullu, Srinivasan popularised words such as jalsa and jilpa long before Chennai 600028 did!<\/p>\n

\u2018Surli\u2019 Rajan \u2014 another effortless comedian, who was typecast as the Madras Baashai-speaking labourer.<\/p>\n

\u2018Loose\u2019 Mohan (Arumugam Mohanasundaram) acted in several movies, playing the same sketch over and over again.<\/p>\n

Kamal Haasan in Pammal K. Sambandam, Michael Madana Kama Rajan and Maharajan. Some of his roles can be seen as a homage to the comedy greats listed above.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Possible etymology<\/strong><\/p>\n

OC (meaning free) \u2014 from East India Company marking official postages free of cost as \u2018On Company Service\u2019<\/p>\n

Dhuddu (money) \u2014 from Kannada<\/p>\n

Dakaalti (to cheat) \u2014 from dacoity <\/p>\n

COURTESY:THE HINDU<\/em><\/p>\n

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by Karthik Subramanian There is a lot of interest on the etymology behind the famed Madras Baashai online. The dialect offers plenty of scope for both fun-filled \u2018guess work\u2019 and proper research on the origin of the words. Some of it sounds very plausible \u2014 take the case of OC, the slang for free. There …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘“Vaa Vaathyare Vootandey”:Origins and Growth of the Unique Chennai Tamil Dialect Known as “Madras Baashai”.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24569,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24568\/revisions\/24569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}