Foreigners guess the meaning of Indian-English words 😂

Cribbing. Topper. Auto. Lakh. Here in India, many local English speakers use these words on a regular basis, but what do these Indian-English words words sound like to foreigners? We hit the streets of Delhi and Bangalore to find out.

The first phrase that we asked foreigners about was "passing out". In India, when someone passes out, they have successfully completed their exams and have left school. However, to most foreigners, passing out is synonymous with falling asleep due to exhaustion or alcohol intoxication.

Things got a bit more interesting with the next Indian-English word though: cribbing. In some parts of India, cribbing is a synonym for complaining. Nobody that we interviewed guessed this word correctly, even though cribbing is originally a British word. Surprisingly, many of the foreigners that we interviewed thought that it might have something to do with hunger or food. One even thought that it sounded like some sort of pancake. The most creative answer that we heard was from a woman who guessed that cribbing might mean to move out of your parents' house.

We decided to make things a bit easier with our next Indian-English word: auto. In India, auto is short for auto rickshaw. Traditionally, rickshaws were two-wheeled carts, used for transporting passengers. These carts were pulled by a person, and could usually seat no more than one person. However, as time passed, cycle rickshaws (powered by pedaling), auto rickshaws (powered by an engine), and electric rickshaws (powered by a battery) were invented. In India, the most common type of rickshaw is the auto rickshaw, and because of their popularity, the word is almost always shorted to auto. Everybody knows this in India, but outside of India, auto rickshaws are often called tuk-tuks, and the word auto is the short version of automobile, or car. This is why some of the people that we spoke with guessed that auto meant car. Those who didn't guess that it was a car correctly guessed that an auto was short for auto rickshaw.

Firangi was the next word that we told our participants to guess the meaning of. Firangi is a word that is sometimes used to refer to foreigners, especially foreigners with white skin. Once again, many people guessed that the word firangi might have something to do with food. One man guessed that you might put a firangi on a pizza. Another semi-common guess was that firangi was a type of fungus or mushroom.

Returning to school-related Indian-English words, we asked tourists what they thought a batchmate was. Many people heard the word mate and assumed that it had something to do with a friend, pair, or romantic partner. However, only one foreigner guessed the correct meaning of the word, and that is because she studied at the University of Delhi for several years. In India, a batchmate is a fellow student who is in your graduating class.

Our next word was also connected to education: topper. In India, a topper is someone who graduates at the top of their class. They have better marks than any of their batchmates, and tend to be seen as mini celebrities. However, while many of our participants understood that "topper" had something to do with being on top (e.g. a hat, a mattress cover, or the toppings on bubble tea), only one of them was able to connect the word with education. Instead, two foreigners actually connected the word with cricket.

The last Indian-English word that we asked people about comes from India's numbering system, and is a unit of measurement equal to one hundred thousand. While some of the tourists that we interviewed guessed that it had something to do with money, most of them thought that it meant ten thousand, rather than one hundred thousand.

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