Speaking English you?
By Nisma Elias
Nowa days, especially among the youth, there has been increasing use of 'Banglish' or the combination of Bangla and English. I'm sure some of you have heard of the movie Spanglish where Flor, one of the main characters, does not try to learn English because she is so proud of her Latin American roots. Since there seem to be so many distorted forms of English, I decided to find out how many types there were.
English is an international language. But is someone speaking English when they say that 'Plane plane 6:00 go time Canada?' Yes they are. It's Globish. Globish is English spoken around the globe. It is normally spoken by non-native English speakers (you might here a lot of it here) and is so simplified that it probably would not be recognized by native English speakers.
And have you ever seen girls confused by the language spoken by Men, although it sounds like English? They should be because it is Menglish. Menglish is the language spoken by men. Yep, there's even a gender barrier in the English language. Since men are from mars and women from Venus, you'd expect them to also speak different variations of English. So if men speak Menglish what do women speak? Yes, you guessed it, woMenglish.
If you want to form your own secret clique and not want others to know what you're talking about, you can speak antilanguage. It is a collection of words and phrases used to exclude outsiders from a particular group. It could also be used to conceal the activities of the group. . One of the examples of antilanguage is Mobspeak the language of the Mafia.
What about all those words that business hot shots seem to use? They don't make sense and yet it is a language on its own. It's Spinnish and it's used by spin doctors and other corporate or political movers and shakers. Examples of words from Spinnish are 'rightsizing' and 'ballpark estimate'.
Let's not forget the language all internet users help create or spread Netspeak! Anyone who has ever chatted or e-mailed will be familiar with words or expressions like 'gr8' 'u' and 'brb'. Linguist David Crystal in his new book 'Language and the Internet' calls it 'computer-mediated language.' Experts claim that Netspeak is going to change how we write. I personally find Netspeak a big relief because you don't have to give a damn about spelling or sentence construction and forget about grammar. So if you use the computer a lot, give yourselves a pat on the back for helping to contribute to the use of Netspeak, the common lingo of internet addicts all over the world.
By Monty Python
When Dav Whatmore came to this country, Bangladesh cricket was in a sorry state. In the 2003 world Cup, Bangladesh had lost all its matches. More importantly it had lost to Canada, which is not even a Test Side. I remembered the shame that the defeat had inflicted upon me. I was studying in Canada at the time, when an Indian friend came to me and said what a shame it was for us and the Cricketers. Fast forward 4 years, and as if by magic, Dav Whatmore has turned that around. This world cup, Bangladesh has curved a niche amongst the world cricketing elitists. Bangladesh defeated not only India, but also Cup favourites South Africa, and all kudos goes to Whatmore.
What More? Goes a billboard in Dhaka alongside the picture of Dav. Really, what more could we have expected of a coach who has come from dominating the cricketing world with Sri Lanka in 1996, a minnows at the time just like we are now. But we saw the way he turned the tide of world cricket with Sri Lanka. Sure they had De Silva or a Ranatunga or a Muralitharan. But these players had been playing in the Sri Lanka team for ages before he came. So what was the one golden factor that seemed to have uplifted a group of energetic yet under achieving cricketers? That X-factor was of course Dav Whatmore. The magical coach who has the knack of turning ordinary men into extra ordinary world beaters. And when that man came to Bangladesh to make tigers out of cats, my joy was unbound.
Since he came to Bangladesh, something has stirred in the air. Bangladesh was on a losing streak for 47 matches, but under Whatmore's coaching, the team was transformed, no more did our captain go on game after game with his head down, expecting to loss no matter what. But with that one win against Zimbabwe in March 10, 2004, that too in Zimbabwe's own backyard, the whole body language had changed. The team was uplifted like no other times before. I still remember the face of Whatmore in the pages of the newspaper and the Television, the same serious nonchalant look, like he is trying to tell you, miles to go before I sleep, Miles to go…
During his tenure as a coach, Whatmore has not only produced the goods in terms of victory, but also laid the foundation of a future team. We found Rajin Saleh, Shakib Al Ahsan. During his time, Shahrier Nafeez scored all those runs, and it was during his time that Ashraful became Ashraful. But most importantly, it was during his reign that we started to be feared by teams like Australia or India. And that is a very important thing to achieve. I remembered that during world cup 2007, when Bangladesh won against India and then consequently later against South Africa, the Indian commentators said that perhaps Whatmore is going to weave his magical spell once again, just like the time he did with Sri Lanka. And that was the biggest thing one could say about the Bangladeshi Team, it was like comparing Bangladesh with a world champ team, and saying that we too have the ablitity to be there someday. That was like music to my ears.
Sure Whatmore made a mistake in his last few days, in reading the pitch. It was not his fault entirely, he was given the wrong info by the pitch maker. Moreover, he discussed it with the management about his decision. He was also much criticized for his desire to be the Indian coach even when he was with the Bangladesh team in West Indies. But what we have overlooked is his desire to stay in Bangladesh too, if he was offered a better pay. The cricket bosses of BCB should have increased his salary, something that all good employers do if their employees have proved valuable for them. So I see no fault in Whatmore's desire to coach the Indian team. After all, everybody wants bigger and better assignments and higher pay. So why wont he?
In the end, let us all say goodbye and good luck to this man who has given us the best part of his last four years. He has given us bundles of joy and he has given the country of poor a hope that they too can make it big someday. That we too can dare to dream. Cheers and goodluck Dream Merchant, Mr Dav Whatmore.
