[Assam] "Non-Veg"

Wed Feb 4 23:29:04 PST 2009

> such as 'bhori-pithaan'. WE had no idea what the etymology of the 
Some of my relatives used (and they still do) to say 'kun phale thom, muror-pothan-ot ne bhorir-pothan-ot thom'? :)

I guess 'muror-xitaan' came from 'xirxho-sthaan', so only 'xi(rxho)taan' would do the job, and 'muror xitaan' is redundant, as Uttam mentioned. 

In other countries (other than India), "non-veg" are the "regular" and "normal" people (majority), so they do not need a special noun to describe them, I guess, and carnivore would be too primitive to be used to describe a human being(?).  But in India, about half of the population, may be, are vegetarians, so the 'non-veg' ones are the 'other' kind of people. 

I was not familiar with the term 'vegan' in India. My paternal grandmother who was a widow from the time that I knew her, did not eat meat, fish, egg, piyaj, or Masur-daail, was a 'pure-vegetarian' to us, but took all milk products. My father-in-law (and mother-in-law too) was a strict vegetarian (did not even take egg-plant (bengena) as it looks like fish when fried), but did take and was very fond of milk products, yogurt (doi) especially. 

 > Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 09:14:52 -0600> To: assam at assamnet.org> From: cmahanta at charter.net> Subject: Re: [Assam] "Non-Veg"> > 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> >_______________________________________________> >assam mailing list> >assam at assamnet.org> >http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org> >> >> >> > Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on > >http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/> >_______________________________________________> >assam mailing list> >assam at assamnet.org> >http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org> > > _______________________________________________> assam mailing list> assam at assamnet.org> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
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