Hobson-Jobson

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Hobson-Jobson is the alternative (and better-known) title of the Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words and Phrases, a popular collection of Hindustani terms written for a British audience by Henry Yule and Arthur C. Burnell and published in 1886.

According to Simon Winchester in his book The Meaning of Everything the title is classically British Indian. It is a cockney corruption of the Shi'a Muslims cry "Ya Hasan! Ya Hosain!" heard during the Remembrance of Muharram, a natural title for Yule and Burnell's splendidly enjoyable compendium.^{[citation needed]}

Hobson-Jobson is also used as a term for the modification of names and phrases in the languages spoken in the vicinity of the former British colony of India into English sound patterns, a phenomenon of which Hobson-Jobson is itself an example.^[1] Generally such borrowings were used exclusively in British India, forming a unique Anglo-Indian lexicon that contributed to the cultural divide between Britain and her colony.

A number of words that were originally Hobson-Jobson have become mainstream in English spoken worldwide. Some examples include shampoo, pajamas, pundit, pariah, veranda, thug, and calico.

[edit] Notes

^ It should be noted, however, that English words with pre-colonial origins are also sometimes considered Hobson-Jobson if they were used with meanings exclusive to British India. Such examples include "collector" to mean the governor of a district and "cantonment," a word which fell into disuse outside of British India.