The way the Sinhala language keeps evolving is amazing. How one word that means the same can have two completely different meaning at street level is something which never ceases to surpirse me. For instance if you walk into a road side food kiosk and ask for tea they give you tea made with milk and sugar but if you ask for “t(h)ey” – the Sinhalese word for tea – then it means a plain cup of tea without any milk.
Now it seems there is another new phenomenon. This time it is to do with our staple diet Rice.
If one goes to a roadside boutique and orders a “rice” then it means a fried rice while if they order a “buth” – Sinhalese word for rice – then it means the traditional rice and curry.
I can see you going huh!!! Yes that was my first response as well.
Now it seems there is another new phenomenon. This time it is to do with our staple diet Rice.
If one goes to a roadside boutique and orders a “rice” then it means a fried rice while if they order a “buth” – Sinhalese word for rice – then it means the traditional rice and curry.
I can see you going huh!!! Yes that was my first response as well.
1 comment:
this is a really interesting observation. Thanks! And i am going to try it out :)
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