On Thursday 27 Aug 2009 10:12:54 am Abhijit Menon-Sen wrote: > > Imagine building a house and calling it Mane' (house). > > Oh, the horror. The horror.
Would "thing" or "woteva" do for you? I guess it helps to call a spade a spade, if possible. Reminds me of the time when Pondicherry went "dry" (of alcohol of course) and a friend and I went searching for booze. Not knowing Tamil in those days we went to a likely place and we each held up a closed fist with extended thumb to our mouths to indicate that we wanted a drink. We were made to wait for a unseemly length of time sitting on a bed, of all things. We were then taken to an adjoining chamber in which - to our surprise we found a row of sorry looking women whom we were asked to take any one we fancied to do woteva we wanted. The only time I have run out of a building faster was at 3 AM in a London basement club which a friend and I entered, ignoring warnings from a doorman that we might not be looking for what was inside, only to find a dance floor with men dancing, fondling and kissing each other. shiv
