Language is an ever-evolving thing – it is impacted by current events, new social trends, by government policies and even by what our leaders say. So the name that is synonymous with dictionaries – Oxford – continues to add new words to its (and our) lexicon and also announces its word of the year each year. This year the Oxford Hindi Word of the year was also announced at the currently ongoing Jaipur Literature Fest. Find out what is the Hindi word of the year is, and also find out what other words were considered.
We were all told to link our Aadhaar cards with our phone numbers, bank accounts, PAN cards, insurance policies… everything really.
Unlikely things to be linked to Aadhaar and the terrible consequences of not doing so were circulating on social media. People had the strangest ideas about what could be linked to Aadhaar.
Aadhaar has far-reaching ramifications on our social lives and even on our self-worth. After all, is there a single person who looks good in their Aadhaar card? Clearly not.
Whether one is a star, is a secret agent in a movie – everyone has to link their other identities to their Aadhaar.
It was stressful to think that their mobile connection or bank account or insurance policy would be terminated for not being linked to Aadhaar. So linking = happiness!
Because of how demonetisation, aka ‘notebandi’, threw all our lives into a tailspin this word was a strong contender for the Oxford Hindi word of the year.
…The pain of not being able to access our own money, the difficulty of standing in long queues, of waiting hours just to get our hands on a couple of thousand rupees.
Perhaps, there was also a survey on demonetisation. And the reactions as we can see are very very obvious.
Our PM is known to preface a lot of his public utterances with the now-ominous ‘mitron’ or friends. So this was yet another contender for the word of the year.
The very word strikes terror into the heart of the aam junta. Who can tell what will be next: after notebandi, GST, high petrol and diesel prices.
Perhaps it was a response to the endless mitron memes, perhaps the PM, decided to expand his vocabulary. Now suddenly mitron is something of an orphan word; rarely if ever escaping the leader's lips.
Cow vigilantism and violence in the name of the cow created multiple headlines in 2017. The actions of self-styled cow protectors or ‘gau-rakshak’ groups are seen to have a clear angle of political patronage. Is it any wonder that the word was considered as an option for the Hindi word of the year Oxford shortlist?
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
