Cheesy or lame, slang is a part of every guy’s vocabulary today. After Hours gets the low-down on the new city slang
Model Sahil Shroff picked up quite a bit of the Aussie slang during his seven-year stay there.
“I learnt a few words in the nightclubs where I worked, and of course they were all related to women. A hot, sexy woman is called a ‘fox’ – a term that’s not used too much in Mumbai.
Another slang word used was ‘crunched’ which is when a guy managed to do really well on his date… if you know what I mean,” he smiles mischievously.
“Mumbai lingo is a bit different. There’s a lot of Hindi slang and it’s mostly abusive, but used a lot in the modeling circuit. When my friends are bullied by their girlfriends and are under their thumb, I call them ‘whipped’ - a fairly common term here. Another one is ‘bombay docks’, used when a girl has bad body odour. But my latest one is ‘su karech bro’ – a cooler substitute for ‘wassup bro’,” says Sahil.
“I’m the king of slang when it comes to poker and sometimes use these words just to be cool,” admits Prashant Bhatt, a poker addict.
“Mostly every hand has a slang name, like if you get two aces, the slang term used is ‘bullets’ or ‘pocket rockets’ but since I’m a golf freak, my favourite one is the ‘golf bag’ which a flush of clubs.”
Actor Purab Kohli who’s born and brought up in Mumbai is very much in tune with the local lingo.
“For me, words like ‘dude’, ‘babe’, ‘bro’ and ‘chill’ are not slang; it’s a part of my everyday vocabulary. Since I’m a Bandra boy, my friends and I have grown up using a lot of Hindi slang. Our favourite phrases are ‘yeh dosti, yeh yari, baskia’ and ‘do class aur pad leta toh phir nobut nahi aati’,” he laughs.
But model-turned-actress Kim Jagtiani detests the word ‘babe’.
“I can’t stand it when guys call us that – it’s like we’re a piece of meat and have no intelligence,” states the former VJ. “‘Baby’ is still okay, but ‘babe’ is a complete no-no for us woman. It’s also the name of a piglet in a movie, so please guys refrain from using that condescending, derogatory term! And for all those who disagree, ‘take a hike’!” she concludes.
Talk about touché, eh?!
