The Bong and Digga variations, respectively, to mean delicate, nuanced, slight....

Coy doublespeak for unrequited lau. Or indeed dau. Used to mock the fervour, bloodymindedness and sheer affrontery of one's "application" for favourable consideration, and it matters not a whit whether the favours sought are of the sacred or profane variety (minns lau or dau). Sadly (?) for bra burning feminists the world over, this expression seems limited to the male of the species preening its feathers, doing mating dance, making ass of itself and generally being an unreconstructed porki and enthu cutlet. Any usage to describe laddice applying to and being spurned by gents is, if etall evidenced, nothing but social studies field work or ethnographic thought experiment after too much yenne.

Its origins hint at the futility and torpor of beseeching our gorement offices for the doing of yanything etall, and the black hole into which those applications disappear (minns the Godrej cupboards in which they languish), without any reply forthcoming in this lifetime.

Can also be used to indicate any sort of Sisyphean attempt, not just in the dating sweepstakes.

Nothing to do with supreme court, la, liars, jokepal or Anna.

It refers to the gentle non-exercise taken by somewhat yelderly pipals to fool themselves into bleewing that the masala dosa hoovered up at Vidhyarthi Bhavan will not contribute to the ruination of their fine figar.

Minns walk. But why say like that when you can use a word connoting such gravitas and import that it hints at a lifetime of discipline and an understanding of the vagaries of the seemingly inscrutable desi digestive process?

Favourite expression of schoolteachers and moms, doled out to precocious children and downright classroom thugs alike.

Not one half of a jazz quartet.

Two of the most mispronounced words in our colourful land, doing jugalbandi in a term that connotes shamelessness, lack of moral fibre, an excess of gore (usually of the Kissan tomato ketchup variety) and all round titillation. When applied to summarise a new flick that's just been released, it practically guarantees box office success.

The direct opposite of Bengali art cinema shot in low light with a hand held camera and method actors.

One of a family of terms beloved of the print media, especially at the jingoistic end of the spectrum. One could say it's the cousin of "The situation is tense, but under control".

Sweeping in usage and grand in its scope, it can be used in every context from people's opposition to unwanted hydel dams to heightened insurgent activity to sightings of the abominable Yeti.

Our neighbourers sometimes dabbled, when describing crisis ridden Jaffna and the Tamil problem, but it moshtly graces the pages of our own rags.

Territorial monogamy when it comes to matters culinary. Transgression thereof results in contamination of nuclear proportions. A little Chernobyl in the daily life of a TamBrahm or digga. Occurs when bodily fluids are guilty of trespass and go AWOL in an extra-jurisdictional kind of way.

Prime examples involve the sharing of glasses, cutlery or crockery once they've made contact with your lips/fingers. If it's involuntary or absent minded, you may get off with a mild rebuke. If it's intentional because you're modern with modern outlook and like yanking people's chain when it comes to matters of superstition and religion, you will be on the verge of ostracism while your mummy wonders where she went wrong. And rushes off to offer a coconut to her favourite deity, a prayer on her lips....

Note to people from up north: same to same as your jootha business, woyich.

See yenjil. Same to same but with Bollywood soundtrack rather than MS Subbalakshmi.

If you were mallu and had engles in Gelf, you drank Tang.

The rest of us had Rasna.

As opposed to *what*, exactly?!

Curious term, much (ab)used by certain desis who like to give gyaan, explain fundas or make sweeping generalisations that bear little relation to reality. Most heard on college campuses, in bars and pubs and at parties i.e. any venue that involves that some tanni/yenne, a captive audience and the opportunity to liberally hand out advice, get on a soapbox or pontificate about life's lessons, banal as they might be.

Most favouritest usage (by all and sundry): What's your problem in life?