[Assam] "Non-Veg"

[Chan Mahanta]

Good explanation Uttam. Prof. Goswami is a wise man and a true scholar.

BTW, back in Upper-Assam, we all grew up saying 'muror-xitaan' and 
'bhorir  pothaan'. In fact these were further degenerated  to forms 
such as 'bhori-pithaan'. WE had no idea what the etymology of the 
words/phrases were. However they were well understood by everyone 
ands thus effective as means of communication.

It wouldn't be so, if we arbitrarily change the meaning of a word or 
a phrase  to suit a particular need, as in "Indian secularism".











At 8:22 PM +0530 2/4/09, uttam borthakur wrote:
>JS:
>
>This is an interesting question.
>
>Vegetarian used as a noun should mean one who does not take any food 
>other than vegetables or derived out of vegetables. I do not know 
>whether 'rice' is a vegetable or not. This definition would rule out 
>dairy products as well.
>
>I think vegetarian used as a noun would exclude those people, who 
>eat flesh or egg. As an adjective, as in vegetarian food, it would 
>qualify those food that are not flesh or egg.
>
>So you see, the term would convey a meaning in general (in popular 
>parlance) and the de-construction part may be that of the person who 
>takes cognisance.
>
>I found that on-line Merriam Webster dictionary has an entry for 
>this word under the prefix NON. Also, there are numerous sites 
>referring to  the term non-vegetarian. So, it is in use; and whether 
>or not used in a particular community it is a part of the vocabulary 
>of a considerable size of English speaking and English reading 
>population of the world.
>
>I do not know whether you are acquainted with the name of Professor 
>Golok Chandra Goswami. He's an expert of the Oxomiya language. Now 
>there was a controversy between us friends as to whether there can 
>be terms like "BHORIR POTHAN" and "MUROR XITHAN". Because, PADA + 
>STHAN( legs + place) are fused (xomaxbaddha roop) into POTHAN. So, 
>some people suggested that use of the word BHORIR before POTHAN 
>would be an absurdity! When the debate raged, I had chanced upon 
>this illustrious professor and placed the question for his 
>arbitration, because, such terms were used by Late Mitra Dev Mahanta 
>in "Mou-Mahabharat" at PRASTUTI PARBA.
>
>The good professor with great patience explained to me that there 
>are certain thing in a language called STREAM-ROLLER of ANALOGY. So, 
>both BHORIR POTHAN and MUROR XITHAN are correct though they are 
>apparent inexactitude.He said that it needs broader mindset to 
>enrich language and culture!
>Uttam Kumar Borthakur
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: Jyotirmoy Sharma <jyotirmoy.sharma at gmail.com>
>To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the 
>world <assam at assamnet.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, 4 February, 2009 7:05:44 PM
>Subject: [Assam] "Non-Veg"
>
>Sorry ..not an adult joke :-)
>Does anyone know if the word "non-veg" is used anywhere outside India ?
>I think it is actually a wrong use of the English language to describe
>people who eat both vegetarian and meat products. I am not aware of any word
>that describes people who fall in this category. I only hear the word from
>Indians and Indian restaurants.
>Just curious.
>JS
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