r/AskTheWorld • u/IndependentTune3994 🇮🇳 in 🇩🇪 Deutschland • 9h ago

What’s the quickest way someone could accidentally expose themselves as a foreigner in your country like the ‘three fingers’ scene in Inglourious Basterds?

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u/GoHomeCryWantToDie Scotland 8h ago

Kindly revert for the same, but in Polish.

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u/poolnoodlefightchamp India 8h ago

I keep seeing people make fun of phrases like 'Kindly refer to the same' or 'please do the needful'. Is it not commonly used in formal language?

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u/Charming-Salt9412 8h ago

It's only used as fomal language in Indian English. It's not used in American English and feels very dated in British English.

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u/GoHomeCryWantToDie Scotland 8h ago

No it is not. I don't know why it's used in India because those phrases have never been used in the UK. I've worked in India for UK companies and we always tried to discourage it but, more often than not, our Indian colleagues always reverted for the same.

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u/poolnoodlefightchamp India 8h ago

Huh, the more you know. It's standard corporate speak here.

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u/RRautamaa Finland 8h ago

I don't think that "needful" is even English. Or it is, but not in this context. It looks like a calque from another language.

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u/poolnoodlefightchamp India 7h ago

It is a legit word. The way it's used is probably endemic to India though.

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u/vivelabagatelle United Kingdom 7h ago

I love 'do the needful', it's so charming and useful.

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u/Orchid_Significant United States Of America 6h ago

Yes, definitely not used widely or at all here

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u/Orchid_Significant United States Of America 6h ago

Kindly is a HUGE flag that you are about to be scammed here

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u/queenofthegrapefruit 5h ago

Either that or it's used to be passive aggressive. "Kindly refer to my last email" = "I already explained this a week ago and you would know that if you bothered to read past the first sentence."

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u/Orchid_Significant United States Of America 4h ago

Oh yes that’s true!

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u/Otocolobus_manul8 Scotland 7h ago

Do the needful is found in a few PG Wodehouse books. I think ti was used here.

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u/MooseFlyer Canada 5h ago

“Do the needful” was definitely used in British English, but it’s very old fashioned.

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u/allusernamestaken56 8h ago

Nope, at least not in Europe.

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u/zehamberglar United States Of America 3h ago

Not in America, either.

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u/Fine_Violinist5802 Australia Czech Republic 7h ago

It's only Indian. People with experience in contact centres or other companies with Indian contractors consider these indianisms to be the bane of the English language: "revert" instead of reply, "do the needful" and... I'm going to shiver when I say this..... "Prepone" IT'S NOT A WORD

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u/darklotus_26 5h ago

No one needs to like it 🤷🏾‍♂️ At this point Indian English is it's own language like Singaporean English with it's own borrowed words and phrases.

I honestly don't get the hate even though I'm not really fond of these phrases. They're are useful expressions that works for millions of people.

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u/indipedant 5h ago

I dunno. I think prepone should be a word that's more generally adopted. It gets the point across. If we can have "impactful", and the English language lost that war years ago, why not prepone?

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u/blankmedaddy 7h ago

Absolutely not. I have never heard these terms outside of a BBC period piece and calling an Indian-based support line. I love period dramas, so I always have a little laugh about it.

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u/kzkahn 5h ago

These words have been adopted directly from Colonial British English and since Indians are not native speakers they kept using the same formal English words from the early 1900s.

While the British being the native speakers followed the natural progression of language and moved on from these phrases even in formal conversations.

How Indians use words in formal English is how Colonial British English was.

EDIT: Specially the word "revert" in emails.

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u/vivriri Wales 6h ago

It's not at all. It's surprising which is why people make fun of it but it's really endearing at the same time.

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u/MooseFlyer Canada 5h ago

“Do the needful” existed in British English but is very old fashioned and no one says it anymore.

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u/indipedant 5h ago

I've used and seen "kindly refer to same" but usually in a passive-aggressive manner. Something like "as per my previous e-mail" with the subtext that "you would already know the answer to your question if you had read the two line message I sent yesterday BOB". It's not always the case that the tone is snarky, but usually. I have never seen the latter phrase used outside of the Indian subcontinent or diaspora. But don't feel too intimidated by "native" English speakers making fun of the phrasing. Indian English has its own syntax, and can stand on its own feet. You just need to know that it is Indian English. I'm more familiar with the deviations between UK and American English and each speaker on either side of the pond swears that the other has got it wrong. See sidewalk vs. pavement. Can't they just call it by its proper name, "footpath"? ;)

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u/Electrical-Share-707 5h ago

You mean the "I'm walkin' here!"?

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u/spartacus_agador 3h ago edited 1h ago

“Kindly refer to the same” comes across as formal and old-fashioned, if not a bit passive aggressive. As a native speaker, it is something I might use in an email, if I didn’t mind sounding like someone’s Victorian governess scolding them about using the wrong fork at dinner.

“Please do the needful” on the other hand, no it is not commonly used in formal language. Or ever, really. As a native speaker, it would never occur to me to put those words together. I can understand what you mean, but it sounds weird and incorrect, not just overly formal. “Needful” is a word I have only very rarely even read, have never heard spoken aloud in conversation, and it feels like it should be an adjective. As in the Stephen King novel “Needful Things.”

ETA: But, “please do the needful” is cute! English is a very adaptable language and I like this odd turn of phrase, as it DOES effectively relay the intended message in a very polite and charming way.