I'm back from Australia after spending a week in India 🇮🇳. An amazing country! I was particularly privileged to be in Amritsar on Guru Nanak Jayanti, one of the most revered days on the Sikh calendar.
Trust me to be paying attention to English usage in India, so here are three words that Indian English shares with Australian English...
🫑 Capsicum
What is known as a 'bell pepper' in the USA and a '(red/green/yellow) pepper' in the UK, Ireland, Canada and South Africa is called a 'capsicum' in India, Australia and New Zealand.
⚕️Chemist
No, not the person, the place where you buy medicines. This is what North Americans know as a 'drugstore'. 'Chemist' is also used in the UK but in recent decades 'pharmacy' has become more common. The same is slowly happening in Australia but for now 'chemist' is still holding sway. I also noticed many signs in Mumbai displaying 'Chemist and Druggist', a term that was phased in out in the UK in 1953.
📦 Shift (house)
This is a quintessential Indian English verb – in India, you don't 'move' but 'shift' house. However, it's not uniquely Indian. Unlike in other parts of Australia, in South Australia people 'shift' houses too. So now when you hear an Indian or a South Australian say they're 'shifting', you know exactly what they mean. I did hear once that it originated from Scottish English.
And the picture below shows Indian English in action, where it's common to see 'inconvenience regretted'.
For more pics of my Indian travels, you can see them at here.
If you need to make sure you get the shift right from the move or know your capsicums from your peppers, then why not drop me a line at info@nicknasev.com and let's discuss how I can get you the most out of the Australian market.
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