VT’s blog

Being a Northie born and brought up in small town West Bengal had it's own share of fun and pains.

My Name, to begin with. All my Bong friends used to find it really amusing how I spelled my name. They would laugh and tease me in Bengali ' "Bhikaash". They could never figure hour I spell my name starting with a "V". The Bong spelling for my name would be "Bikash". The sound "wa" as in "V" does not exist in Bengali. It's either "ba" as in B or "Bha" ' the bong sound to connote "V".  Another sound that does not exist in Bengali is "sa", as is "Sagar"; it is always "sh"; as in "shell".

I have also noticed how my friends from down South spell their names. Seeta becomes Seetha, Preeti becomes Preethi. I am told by my Southie friends that "th" is used to connote the sound "ta" as in "Tashkent" and T is used to connote the sound as in "Toss".

Interesting logic, in that case what happens to the sound "th" as in "Thumb"? We Northies use "th" to denote that sound. Or is it that this should does not exist? I have heard Southie friends trying to learn Hindi saying "toda" instead of "thoda". "Toda" means "broken", and "thoda" means "less".

Is it only popular usage and local phonetics?