Pinglish: Lost in translation

Posted on June 24, 2006
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Humor, Pinglish, Urdu
5 Comments
Total Views: 18570

This photograph was taken by Talha Masood on a Pakistan Railways train from Islamabad to Lahore. It first appeared, under this headline, in Talha’s weblog, My Cosmos, which is a wonderful chronicle on the life and times of Islamabad.

For a picture taken by a cellphone camera, its quality is very good. But more than that, here is another example on Pinglish in action. Note the space between ‘N’ and ‘K’ and how it makes all the difference.

For more on the meaning of Pinglish see ATP’s first blogpost on the subject.

5 responses to “Pinglish: Lost in translation”

  1. Asma says:

    hahaha that was Kool … I wonder if it was taken at some water filtration plant??

  2. bebe says:

    Pinglish has been around for sometime. In the 1970’s, a relative from the UK on holiday was already saying,
    “Othe bintraN vich cold nae lagdee; housaN ‘ch HeataN chchadiyaN hundiyaN ne…”

  3. There are these billboards in Karachi, which have been sponsored by the Karachi Municipality and I swear to you the say, and I quote, “Love to soil Pakistan”…

    can you believe it? lol! cracked me up.

  4. Talha says:

    :) I am obliged…

  5. Sharmeen says:

    Adil,
    On my last trip to Karachi i was horrified to read some English signboards…They were definitely in pinglish! One of the more funnier one was outside a Kebab roll place in Tariq Road “Cheeken Rolles” and the other one which i found troubling was “Erthquak Veectims blood donation” Why bother writing in english? Why not just write in Urdu?

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