Word of the Year: 2023
Letter to PM
Hon’ble Prime
Minister of Bharat,
Pleas accept
my heartiest compliments for your inspired and dynamic leadership of our
great country during Amrit Kaal and your numerous glorious achievements.
I seek to
draw your kind attention to an important matter and request for prompt action.
As per recent
news reports, 2023 Word of the Year (WoY) has been announced as follows:
· Merriam-Webster – authentic
·
Oxford
University Press – rizz
·
Collin’s
– AI
· Cambridge Dictionary – hallucinate
· Dictionary.com - hallucinate
AMUL, Bharat's celebrated brand has even used one of these new-fangled words in its recent ad!
I appeal that
Bharat Sarkar should summarily dismiss and reject the above-mentioned announcements
on the following grounds:
· Since the methodology for selection
of WoY has not been made public, there is a reasonable doubt that it is based
on the whims, quirks, personal preferences, and prejudices of a myopic
editorial board. For example, OUP has selected ‘rizz’ because it is trendy with
Gen ‘Z’ in US and Europe; but why should Bharat accept this cultural imposition
of the West?
· Bharat with a population of 143 crores
(as on Dec 22, 2023) has not been consulted even though English is our lingua
franca (along with Hindi), Notably, the total population of US and Great
Britain is only 33.19 crores and 6.73 crores respectively.
· English no longer belongs to any one
country, is a global language, and very much a language of Bharat with Hinglish,
Bengalish, Tenglish, and others as popular dialects. English is the mother
tongue for 2,59,678 Bharatiyas as per Census 2011 and 265 million Bharatiyas
speak English!
· Bharat spends thousands of crores
every year to provide English education to its students resulting in top
performance in TOEFL, SAT, GMAT, etc. based on which lakhs of them secure admission in foreign universities, mostly in English speaking countries of US, UK,
Australia, and New Zealand.
· Private sector in Bharat offers the
largest number of Spoken English and English Proficiency classes in the world.
· Bharatiyas are the largest buyers of
English dictionaries and Wren & Martin English Grammar Books, and school
students mug up whole dictionaries which explains the unmatchable performance
of students of Bharatiya origin in America’s yearly Spelling Bees contest.
· The ready acceptance of English is
evident in the use of English Titles by several Hit films and TV serials: Jewel
Thief (no one demanded that it should be renamed Jawaharat Chor!), Gambler, The
Burning Train, 3 Idiots, Ginny Weds Sunny, Ghost Stories, Class of ’83, Drive,
Lust Stories, Jailer, etc.
How to Select WoY
Being
Vishwaguru, we may offer for global use a method that has been tested for
decades in our country and found highly reliable.
Binaca Geetmala
For more
than four decades (1952-1994), this flagship Radio Programme presented a list
of Hit Songs for the Week, and a Final Hit Songs of the Year based initially on
farmaish (listeners’ requests) and later sales of music records.
There was no
controversy ever regarding the list of Hit Songs though occasionally folks with
vested interest in songs that failed to make it to the top alleged that one or
more songs were pushed to the top ranks by distributing pre-printed post cards
to be mailed from Jhumritalaiya at a nominal honorarium paid to the mailer for
his services in promoting Bollywood films. These allegations were motivated
and unproved, as explained by the sponsors and organisers of BG.
Newspapers of India
As per RNI
(Registrar of Newspapers of India)’s data, there were 20821 newspapers in India
as on 31/03/2022. It is presumed that all these newspapers are now composed in MS
Word or similar writing software with ‘Word Count’ facility. RNI should mandate
each newspaper to count the top word on its front page and declare it as the
Word of the Day. Word of the Week/Year can thus be declared by each newspaper on
a scientific basis vetted by an actual word count.
Bharat Sarkar
Bharat
Sarkar should select the WoY for our lingua franca (Hindi and English), and for
the 22 Scheduled languages the concerned States should do the needful.
Newspapers
may be assigned the task of selecting WoY for the 99 non-Scheduled languages as
per the 2011 Census.
G20 Sub-Committee
G20
represents most of the English-speaking world, and hence, there should be a
Sub-Committee for selection of WoY, to be Chaired by Bharat.
Bharat’s Words of the Year
2023
Any of the
following words - Ram Ram, Amrit Kaal, Chandrayaan, Aditya, G20, IPL, Guarantee,
Biryani – or other popular words (the billions of ‘Good Morning’ in WhatsApp
messages) may be considered for the honour.
Everyday millions of people greet each other by saying ‘Ram Ram,’ and hence, this might
be the top used word in Bharat. Incidentally, only one Namaste or Namaskar is
an adequate greeting, but if the name of Ram be invoked, it must be repeated at
least twice as per custom.
For 2024, WoY
is a no-brainer. It would be ‘Sri Ram Mandir.’
Advisory Committee
Bharat
Sarkar should appoint an Advisory Committee to recommend further course of
action in this regard.
The
undersigned has proven credentials of excellence in Indian English, and therefore, in
national interest offers to serve as Chairperson of the Advisory Committee on
the usual terms of Last Drawn Pay minus Pension, and other facilities.
Since you
would be busy in many momentous events in 2024, I request you to instruct PMO
to do the needful in the matter of WoY 2023 and report compliance to you on or
before 31/12/2023.
Best wishes
for a Happy New Year.
Regards.
Yours
Sincerely,
Prasanna
Dash
(A Proud
Citizen of Bharat, an Indian-English author, and an Od-English speaker.)
CC:
1. PM of United Kingdom
2. President of the US
3. The Editor
o
Merriam-Webster
Dictionary
o
Oxford
Dictionary
o
Collin’s
Dictionary
o
Cambridge
Dictionary
o Dictionary.com
Postscript
Readers’
response to my latest blog was varied and interesting. A few readers
complimented me for raising this important issue and for my well-thought-out proposal
to which they pledged their full support. If I call upon them to sign this
petition, I guess they would readily agree.
A few others
enjoyed it as a satirical piece, and even laughed aloud upon reading a few
passages. However, I was a little concerned when an esteemed senior warned me
of dire consequences:
“Are you
looking for a room in Tihar? People are long term guests of that hostelry for
lesser transgression.”
For removal
of doubts and misgivings, if any, I issue the following:
Disclaimer
I declare
and assert that I wrote no satire, and esteemed readers are advised not to
misconstrue it as a satire. In fact, I have used factual data from reliable government
sources like the Census of India, Registrar of Newspapers in India. However, if
some passages of my ‘Letter to PM’ read like a satire to some readers, I
solicit them to make corrections as they deem fit which I promise to
incorporate into the letter before taking out the final print and signing it.
***
