tamil

India's link language

Since every school in India teaches English, why can't it be our link language? Why do Tamils have to study English for communication with the world and Hindi for communications within India? Do we need a big door for the big dog and a small door for the small dog? I say, let the small dog use the big door too!

India's rashtrabhasha

It is claimed that Hindi should be the common language because it is spoken by the majority. Why should we then claim the tiger as our national animal instead of the rat which is so much more numerous? Or the peacock as our national bird when the crow is ubiquitous?

The key to chave, chavi, chabi, and savi

The word for key in many Indian languages is a variant of chavi (चाबी in Hindi, চাবি in Bengali, चावी in Marathi, சாவி in Tamil, etc.) which comes from the Portuguese word for key, chave.

Free Tamil OC

The Tamil slang for something free of charge, oasi, is derived from the abbreviation, OC, which expands to On Company's Service. The company in question was the British East India Company which stamped its official mail with these letters to avoid having to pay postage.

Anaconda, the elephant killer

The name of the Anaconda, one of the most impressive snakes in the world, is said have its origins in Tamil where Anaikondran translates to something along the lines of elephant killer.

Chennai's Dhole

The Tamil word for the dhole (aka Asiatic wild dog aka Indian wild dog) is Chennai (red dog).

Orange

History
Other
A Norange hypocrisy: Did you know that the fruit and the colour have their roots in our humble corner of the world?
tamil