Many an Indian word has made it to the prestigious Oxford dictionary over the years. The latest in that long list is 'chuddies,' the Hindi word for underwear. The word was among 650 words added to the Oxford dictionary in its latest quarterly addition.
"This quarter's update includes some new entries and senses which we've drafted in response to our recent appeals: the #wordswhereyouare request for regional vocabulary and the #hobbywords appeal for words associated with particular pastimes", Jonathan Dent, senior assistant editor at OED, was quoted as saying by PTI.
The word chuddies first became popular in the United Kingdom in the 1990s through a British-Indian television show "Goodness Gracious Me" which starred Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal and Kulvinder Ghir. One of the famous lines in the show was "Kiss my chuddies". The teenagers on the show frequently used the phrase, thus making it the show's identity.
This has got to be worth a CBE hasn't it? I came up with 'Kiss My Chuddies' when doing comedy stuff w/ @thenitinsawhney & then used it in #GoodnessGraciousMe Oxford English Dictionary adds new entries: chuddies, jibbons and fantoosh https://t.co/90Dq4XHjde
— Sanjeev Bhaskar (@TVSanjeev) March 21, 2019
The UK has seen Indian immigrants over the past few decades, especially those of Punjabi origin.
One of the reasons why the word was added was its regional nature. Dent said that "Chuddie" will be part of the regional vocabulary and is parts of the "Queen's Hinglish", which is a combination of Hindi and English.
While Oxford dictionary has said that the word originated in the 1990s, many argue that it was around way before that era. Interestingly, OED had included the word "Aiyoh" in its dictionary in 2016. They defined the word as one "used to express annoyance, pain, or surprise" and added that it was of Chinese origin. However, the word is predominantly used by Tamil speakers.
