As far as I can tell Blighty is an old nickname for England (maybe from WWI?), and I see it used quite a bit. Does anyone know what it means and where it comes from?
And it applies to the whole of Britain and not just England.
It derives from Hindi, and originated in the days of the British Raj: link
I’ve checked in two dictionaries, and they agree that it comes from the Hindi word “bilāyati”, meaning foreign.
Bleedin Bollocks! Britain’s bloody blighted, blighters!
From OED:
Well, my goodness. I would never have thought it was from Hindi. Or that there was a whole Wiki entry on it. Thanks all.
That article does rather explain why I saw it used 117 times on a thread where ex-pats explained why they had emigrated.
There’s a surprising number of pre-WW1 British things that com from India. The word ‘bungalow’ for instance. And rice pudding. And I suspect that the style of preparing tea with milk and sugar is ultimately Indian as well. My British-Australian co-worker mentioned that her grandparents would spice their tea as well.
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
There’s a surprising number of pre-WW1 British things that com from India. The word ‘bungalow’ for instance. And rice pudding. And I suspect that the style of preparing tea with milk and sugar is ultimately Indian as well. My British-Australian co-worker mentioned that her grandparents would spice their tea as well.
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You’d call the spiced tea “chai tea”. (Which is a stupid name, since it essentially means “tea tea”)
The spice is cardamom plus assorted other stuff depending on who/where you ask.
Wiki has a good list of Hindi words adopted into English, although I’m pretty sure some are from Sanskrit, Marathi and Gujarati.
Some other Indian-oringin words are “thug” and “shampoo”.
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
There’s a surprising number of pre-WW1 British things that com from India. The word ‘bungalow’ for instance. And rice pudding. And I suspect that the style of preparing tea with milk and sugar is ultimately Indian as well. My British-Australian co-worker mentioned that her grandparents would spice their tea as well.
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ooh, ooh, My ol’ granddad, gawd rest 'is soul, used to sprinkle some spice on 'is cuppa rosie.
Dunno wot it was tho’ guv’nor.
::tugs forelock respectfully::
Shampoo? Really?
I might also point out the obvious: that it’s a great self-mockery to call your own country “blighted”
[QUOTE=Michigan Sate Tax Website]
Blighted – means property that has been declared a public nuisance in accordance with a local housing, building, plumbing, fire, or other related code or ordinance; … is a fire hazard or otherwise dangerous to the safety of persons or property
[/QUOTE]
But “blighter” is an insult, right?
“I get words all day through,
First from him, now from you!
Is that all you blighters can do?”
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine]
But “blighter” is an insult, right?
“I get words all day through,
First from him, now from you!
Is that all you blighters can do?”
[/QUOTE]
I think that use of “blighters” was simply Alan J. Lerner’s idea of cockney slang…
[QUOTE=Alex_Dubinsky]
Shampoo? Really?
[/QUOTE]
How else do you think we’d come up with such a ridiculous-looking (and sounding) word?!
Of course the French take it a step further, and call it le shampooing. I have no idea why the French have such a love affair with “-ing” loan words, even when they’re really not appropriate:
un pressing - a dry cleaner’s
le footing - jogging
un camping - a camp site
un parking - a car park (parking lot).
Bonkers, the lot of them.
</le hijacking>
[QUOTE=Alex_Dubinsky]
I might also point out the obvious: that it’s a great self-mockery to call your own country “blighted”
[/QUOTE]
Obvious but wrong. It’s “blighty”, not “blighted”, and the two words are unrelated. “Blighted”, or at least “blight”, first appears in English in the early 17th century,
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine]
But “blighter” is an insult, right?
[/QUOTE]
“Blighter” derives from “blight”, and again has nothing to do with “Blighty”.
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine]
But “blighter” is an insult, right?
“I get words all day through,
First from him, now from you!
Is that all you blighters can do?”
[/QUOTE]
I would not assume it was an insult, though it might be. And “blighters” in that song from My Fair Lady is a euphemism for “bastards” or “buggers” – take your pick. In that context, it looks like a mild insult.
[QUOTE=Alex_Dubinsky]
Shampoo? Really?
[/QUOTE]
Yup. Actually, I wasn’t that surprised - it doesn’t really sound like a Latin or German root to me.
[QUOTE=etymonline.com]
shampoo (v.)
1762, “to massage,” from Anglo-Indian shampoo, from Hindi champo, imperative of champna “to press, knead the muscles,” perhaps from Skt. capayati “pounds, kneads.” Meaning “wash the hair” first recorded 1860; extended 1954 to carpets, upholstery, etc. The noun meaning “soap for shampooing” first recorded 1866.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends]
Obvious but wrong. It’s “blighty”, not “blighted”, and the two words are unrelated. “Blighted”, or at least “blight”, first appears in English in the early 17th century,
“Blighter” derives from “blight”, and again has nothing to do with “Blighty”.
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Your mistake is obviously that just because a word seems to have a distinct etymology (the Hindi language), it doesn’t mean it’s the only reason people started using it.
Hell, don’t you even realize that there’s no word “blighty” in Hindi in the first place? To go from “bilāyati” to “blighty” requires a certain bit of wit. And the fact that there’s an extra “y” at the end is a joke. ‘Y’ is an (personofied?) adjective ending. As ‘sleepy’ is to ‘sleep’, so is ‘blighty’ to ‘blight’ (like grouchy, sneezy, dopey or any of the other dwarfs).
[QUOTE=Alex_Dubinsky]
Your mistake is obviously that just because a word seems to have a distinct etymology (the Hindi language), it doesn’t mean it’s the only reason people started using it.
Hell, don’t you even realize that there’s no word “blighty” in Hindi in the first place? To go from “bilāyati” to “blighty” requires a certain bit of wit. And the fact that there’s an extra “y” at the end is a joke. ‘Y’ is an (personofied?) adjective ending. As ‘sleepy’ is to ‘sleep’, so is ‘blighty’ to ‘blight’ (like grouchy, sneezy, dopey or any of the other dwarfs).
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Your argument is specious, but, uh… citey?
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
Your argument is specious, but, uh… citey?
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No, I think Alex_Dubinsky’s argument is reasonable. The British who went out to India in the 18th and 19th centuries heard words in the local languages, such as Hindi, and transformed them into something more like English words. They weren’t linguists trying to record the exact nuances of Hindi, etc.: they were just adapting the local language into English, and if an English word sounded similar, it would influence the assimilation into English.