'Sheke maad beda, Chipku!'

BANGALORE: Of the languages commonly spoken by the young cosmopolitan Bangalorean, one has always been popular — ''Lingo'', a mix of English, Hindi, Kannada and gibberish.
Those who speak it swear by it. Those who don''t are ''simbly'' left out.
How''s ''matash'' for a flop show and ''matashkar'' for a killjoy? This one''s been popularised by the Wipro Janata, in addition to ''Control D'' which means ''forget it'' and ''upload'' and ''download'' inside a lift.
The new additions to Lingo include ''Send it''. "Whenever friends want to go to a movie, or for a smoke or drink, we say ''Guys send it''. This is really popular nowadays among young men," chuckles a graphic designer brought up in Bangalore. ''Jammit Up Makosa'' is not a cocktail in a happening pub. Rather, it is the term used when a group of yuppies want to go out for a drink.
Though ''Adjust maadi'' (please adjust), ''boss'' and ''da'', ''sheke maad beda'' (don''t hassle me) and ''chindi'' (an all-purpose term to mean ''Great!'') form part of the evergreen local parlance, the new ones are taking over. ''Mama'' is the equivalent of boss and is used to address friends and strangers.
Environmentalist Suresh Heblikar reminisces about his college days in Dharwad during the mid-''70s. "The smart ones at college would use ''good-for-nothing'', ''late night bird'' and ''goofy bugger''. These days, such buzzwords are out of currency," he remarks.
Lingo in Bangalore has also graduated from words like ''jogging on'' (getting on with life), face-fungus (moustache and beard) and ''dough'' (money). "The one word which I still hear everyone using is ''gundu'' meaning liquor," Heblikar adds.
Students, however, let loose a flurry of the latest usage. ''3-D Loser'' and ''that sucks'' (for something that is not tasteful) tops the list of campus lingo. But, ''sakkat'' (fantastic), ''biscuit haak bitta'' (taken for a ride), ''dakota'' (useless), ''bitt-haak'' (forget it), ''pakkadh mane dove'' (next-door beauty), ''porki'' (loafer), ''colours'' (young girls), ''macha'' (friend), ''check-out-the stud'', ''jetang'' (too bright), ''blown'' (drunk), ''koncha difficult'' (a little difficult) and ''kaddey'' (loss of face) are an important part of college conversation.
Freshers are known as ''freshmate'' in Mount Carmel College to rhyme with ''jailmate''. In the professional world, ''saachas'' is the word used to refer to freshers. An outgoing, optimistic person is known as ''Happy Singh''. ''Chipku'' (a nag or a clinging person) and ''sidey'' (an odd person) are thrown in for some more lingo effects.
Humanistic psychology expert Dr J. Robert Donald explains that the birth and death of lingo is a fad. "It''s always changing and lingo keeps coming and going from society. Lingo these days is the result of borrowed culturism and to create it or use it has become very fashionable."
Social acceptance by making people laugh at lingo, self-contentment and peer pressure are responsible for people resorting to lingo. "But it is harmless. When people become aware that using lingo doesn''t really help the self or professionally, they slowly give it up. Then new lingo by younger people emerges," Dr Donald adds.
Surely, all this colourful language is an outcome of Bangalore''s multicultural experience.
With over 6.5 million citizens and a population growth rate of over 34.80 per cent, the ''bindaas'' idiom had to come.