I was eventually bored & jobless enough at work to hit up google and was surprised to find that "kindly do the needful" was a very typically Indian phrase (Urban Dictionary calls it 'an indian term usually used in place of necessary'). What's more, it's predominantly an Indian bureaucratic term (the 7th search result was actually a good ol' Govt. of India tender notice!!!) that's been taken to heart by the Indian IT industry (first page of google results had 3/4 IT references).
For the purists, you can actually find two entries for 'needful' in dictionary.com...
- an adjective replacement for necessary
- slang; usage: They haven't the needful for a car right now
...but it doesn't seem like it's all that popular outside of India:
- 'You must be from India. All the Indian people I know write that phrase in e-mails. No offense, but we Americans do have a good chuckle over it.'
- As a speaker of English, it sounds to me as if you are asking me to use the toilet.
- Americans find "Kindly do the needful." to be insulting. We read it as "Hey Dumb *** you should have already done this, so do it now". To us it assigns blame, or makes it seem as if we have overlooked/avoided something. Just ask for what you would like done and say thank you after the request.
- 'Asking me to "kindly do the needful" could
1) get you reported to HR
2) get me fired or arrested if i really did that in public/at my desk.'
12 comments:
Haha !
Very insightful !
HAHA....I've never heard this term until recently when I received an email from one of my Indian Uncles in Dubai. I took one look at it, scrutinized it for the word 'needful' & knew instantly this was one of those Indian phrases coined up to the N American equivalent of "I'd really appreciate it if this could be taken care of", or similar variations.
Yeah, I wouldn't use it either...
heh very nice.
wow ! I'm famous! my name in lights.
Incidentally, I found myself typing the phrase a week or so ago and had to backspace my way back to the paths of normal communication.
@ms. cute pants: C'mmonnnn... use it once!
@neil: you're easily pleased aren't ya, mate? :P
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I am an Indian, and I chuckle over this too, when my fellow Indians write this crap. Helpless, cant change the entire nation's lingo.
FUCK YOU ASSHOLE !!
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