Owais Mughal
This signboard is painted on a wall at the Sukhan Police Station, Karachi.
This is what the folks at the Thanna believe are (or should be) the qualities of the Police Force in Pakistan.
The spelling mistakes (e.g., Courages) can be merely a case of Pinglish (we ourselves are not immune to these). But I do [...]
Adil Najam
What is the most appropriate word for ‘GanDeri’ in English?
I have puzzled over this for long and asked a number of friends. In fact, this is a re-post of the question I had posed at this blog 3 years ago. The best I got was ’sugarcane cut-piece’; where ‘cut-piece’ is itself a peculiar Pakistani-ism, [...]
Adil Najam
This intriguing picture from Islamabad advertises a “Child Friendly School”?
Leaves one wondering about exactly what a “child friendly school” is? Maybe our readers can tell us what that would mean in Pakistan.
By implication, it suggests that other schools are not “child friendly.” That may well be so. After all, we have written before about [...]
Adil Najam
A friend sent these to me as examples of Pinglish. Supposedly, they are examples of actual language used in letters and applications of various types. Even if they are not real, they are funny.
A candidate’s application:
“This has reference to your advertisement calling for a ‘typist and an accountant–Male or Female’… As I am both [...]
Owais Mughal
At ATP we love to talk about the language/signs/poetry written on Pakistani tansport. For example see here, here and here. Following is another example of our very own Pinglish. In case of an emergency, don’t call for an ambulance, call for Ambula Inc. !!
Photo Credits: Raja Islam
Adil Najam
I was talking to a friend yesterday about Pakistan’s traumatic politics and remembered these really funny verses from Khalid Masood:
Luch lafang elect huwa hai annay-wa
Beeba phir reject huwa hai annay-wa
Sooe pay dhaga daalnay waali nokri pay
Anna aik select huwa hai annay-wa
We had featured these in a post very early in ATP’s life and a [...]










































