Words morph, pronunciations whirl, expressions change, and meanings shift, but rarely do we come across utterances that have been so drastically revamped that modern-day speakers need a reintroduction to what they originally sounded like ...continue reading

Ifs and buts create the gray areas in our speech that shine brighter than all other colors produced by all of language. Grammatically a conjunction, or Harf-e-Atf as it’s called in Urdu, this one set of words is just an inevitable part of our vocab. ...continue reading

A word is often meshed with so many warps and wefts (Taana-Baana) that we barely ever realize how nuanced the fabric of language is. But once we do, it seems like nothing short of a fit! On the back of this allegorical intro, let’s return to our tra ...continue reading

A great many words in our everyday rhetoric are mispronounced, and no better testament to that exists besides the ‘J’-for-‘Z’ confusion. Take Zamaana spoken as Jamaana, Zor as Jor, Marzi as Marji, and so on ...continue reading

Words often conceal more than they convey. Today, we’ll be unpicking, unpacking, and more, a word we use countless times every day, but are only getting to know now. Waghaira, our very own etcetera, is a word we use here, there, and everywhere. It’s ...continue reading

Last week I dropped in on an old friend for dinner. Since I had arrived early - around 5-ish - her mother offered tea, which I was only too kind not to refuse. Cutting to the chase, we had tea. It was around 6:15 and we started noshing in on some sna ...continue reading

The interplay between a word’s literal and colloquial use often results in discoveries beyond interesting! In this blog, we’ve dug out a familiar - yet not-completely-known word - that might raise your eyebrow to the top ...continue reading

Last time around, we picked a tiny, tiny word ‘Jaa’ to lay bare how words actually build our everyday lexicon. Continuing the series, here I am bringing you another little word that has enabled several other words to come to their feet ...continue reading

As odd as it may sound, the smallest piece in a puzzle is often the most central to its coming together. It’s also the one that takes the least space and eventually can’t find its place on the maze, at all!  On the maze of words too, there are tin ...continue reading

Urdu was born in the 12th century from the regional Apabhramsha of northwestern India. This newly-born speech was a breed of amalgamation of the Hindu and Muslim cultures (during the 12th to 16th centuries); a composite product of Ganga-Jamuna tehzee ...continue reading