# Brits: why do you call England "Blighty?"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 21, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117 "2008-05-21T15:53:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/1 "2008-05-21T15:53:13Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/2 "2008-05-21T16:00:26Z")
[Blighty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blighty)
And it applies to the whole of Britain and not just England.
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### Author:  [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/3 "2008-05-21T16:00:57Z")
It derives from Hindi, and originated in the days of the British Raj: [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blighty)
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/4 "2008-05-21T16:01:20Z")
I’ve checked in two dictionaries, and they agree that it comes from the Hindi word “bilāyati”, meaning foreign.
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### Author:  [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/5 "2008-05-21T16:04:06Z")
Bleedin Bollocks! Britain’s bloody blighted, blighters!
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/6 "2008-05-21T16:15:15Z")
From OED:
> [@](#):
>
> Blighty
>
> [Contracted form, originating in the Indian army, of Hind. bilayati = wilayati foreign, and esp. European, f. wilayat prop. Arabic, inhabited country, dominion, district, VILAYET, in Hind. esp. foreign country (cf. Arab. wali governor of a province, VALI, WALI).
>
> [1886 KIPLING From Sea to Sea (1899) II. 358 Let the town hear of the wonders which I have seen in Belait.] 1915 Times (weekly ed.) 8 Oct. 852 The only thing they looked forward to was getting back to ‘Blighty’ again. 1916 N. & Q. 19 Feb. 151/1 One poem I have recently seen begins: Oh, send me back to Blighty. 1917 P. MACGILL Gt. Push xix. 238 I’ll send out the money and fags when I go back to blighty. 1968 J. R. ACKERLEY My Father & Myself vii. 60, I was not happy in Blighty.
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/7 "2008-05-21T16:48:25Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/8 "2008-05-21T16:52:15Z")
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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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/9 "2008-05-21T16:58:21Z")
[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.
[/QUOTE]
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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Hindi_origin) 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”.
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### Author:  [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/10 "2008-05-21T16:59:41Z")
[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.
[/QUOTE]
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::
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### Author:  [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/11 "2008-05-21T17:59:26Z")
Shampoo? Really?
I might also point out the obvious: that it’s a great self-mockery to call your own country “blighted”
> [@](#):
>
> affected by blight–anything that mars growth or prosperity; “a blighted rose”; “blighted urban districts”
[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]
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/12 "2008-05-21T18:09:08Z")
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?”
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### Author:  [@Saratoga\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saratoga_Sam)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/13 "2008-05-21T18:16:01Z")
[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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_J._Lerner) idea of cockney slang…
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/14 "2008-05-21T18:17:24Z")
[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.
\
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### Author:  [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/15 "2008-05-21T18:46:00Z")
[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”.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/16 "2008-05-21T18:55:56Z")
[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.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/17 "2008-05-21T19:24:26Z")
[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](http://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]
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### Author:  [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/18 "2008-05-21T19:28:36Z")
[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”.
[/QUOTE]
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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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/19 "2008-05-21T19:42:03Z")
[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).
[/QUOTE]
Your argument is specious, but, uh… citey?
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-why-do-you-call-england-blighty/450117/20 "2008-05-21T20:32:52Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
Your argument is specious, but, uh… citey?
[/QUOTE]
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.
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