Urdu : Faarigh

[Cilquiestsuens]

Salam,

I have a series of around 20.000 questions ready for this forum, and they are all on the same theme.... my daily thoughts about the language I hear every day... gulaabi urdu as we call it here.... Urdu spoken by Punjabis.... (the future of Urdu in PK ???)

So I am asking the proper Urdu speakers such as FAylas or BP or others....

Woh banda faarigh hai (= bekaar).... Is this proper Urdu ????

Or another translation from PUnjabi wela ( = faarigh)

 

[Faylasoof]

Salam,

I have a series of around 20.000 questions ready for this forum, and they are all on the same theme.... my daily thoughts about the language I hear every day... gulaabi urdu as we call it here....

Urdu spoken by Punjabis.... (the future of Urdu in PK ???)

I hope we'll have 20,000 answers for you! ... I've already had a taste of it from PTV programs... but other Urdu forms are heard too and shall stay around.

So I am asking the proper Urdu speakers such as FAylas or BP or others....

Woh banda faarigh hai (= bekaar).... Is this proper Urdu ????

Or another translation from PUnjabi wela ( = faarigh)

In its literal (and most common) meaning: "woh bandah faarigh hai " = That person is free / unoccupied.

This is indeed proper Urdu. The second meaning <bekaar = unemployed> is also proper Urdu. It does depend how it is being used.

But translating this English sentence back to Urdu we won't use <faarigh فارغ>

That man / guy is (totally / utterly) useless!

Here we'll say: woh shakhs / bandah / aadmii (bilkul) bekaar hai!

In Urdu <faarigh فارغ> is also used in poetic sense of <being free of bias and bigotry>, e.g.:

< یہ تحریك ہر قسم كے تعصب سے فارغ ہے = yeh teHriik har qism ke ta3assub se faarigh hai = This movement is free of all kinds of prejudice / bigotry >

Same usage here in this Persian verse:

خوش بود فارغ ز بند كفر و ايمان زيستن

 

[panjabigator]

But can you use <welā> to call someone <bekār>? I'm unfamiliar with this usage.

Cilqui, I really benefit from your posts. Hopefully my future trips to Pakistan will bring many good questions as well.

 

[Cilquiestsuens]

Thanks Faylasoof for your insights again..... My guess was right.... Yes pg, wela covers all the meanings of the Urdu word faarigh... + it is also a derogatory term meaning something like : useless...

 

[Cilquiestsuens]

I I've already had a taste of it from PTV programs... but other Urdu forms are heard too and shall stay around.

Well, PTV programs are a 'diet' version of that Urdu, it's half Karachite half Lahorite.....

More generally speaking, the problem is that Urdu spoken by proper Urdu speakers and Punjabi spoken by good Punjabiphones are both disappearing slowly but steadily. Both languages are quite different and have their own lazzat and beauty...

Now, Urdu waaley are shifting slowly to English or to say the least to a pidgin based on English which is, if you ask my opinion the reflection of a poor mentality of ghulaamii, and a language deprived of any interest or beauty.... while Punjabi waley are shifting to a be-rang o maza Urdu, that Gulaabi one, which they think is Urdu, but is actually just Punjabi without its beauty and its expressivity.... Let me give you a few examples of this language which drive me mad :

aapke bache soe paRe hai.N = (tuhaDe neyaane sutte peye ne.N)
mai.N kaam karne lag paRa = (mai.N kamm karan lag peya)

And these are basic examples... rather popular ones, but even the educated people are affected by expressions such as the one mentioned in this thread....

This is the curse of PUnjab I guess.... The only province of Pakistan where the native language is forbidden by law !!!! (another criminal law).... according to the law the only medium of teaching allowed in Punjab Province is.... English... It means that technically all the Urdu medium schools present in the province are... Illegal.... This is the plain truth... and it tells a lot about the will of legislators to destroy their own culture, which is still lively, much more than in any part of North India, (except West Bengal), but not for long (a sad guess!)

So if you want my opinion Gulaabi Urdu should be plainly eradicated as well as this unnecessary pidgin English. And legislators should be...

 

[Faylasoof]

You are welcome Cliqui!

So wela = bekaar = useless. Don't remember hearing this when I was in Pakistan, but that was a long time ago and my Punjabi is pretty basic! However, all these are different to at least some way we use faarigh - as discussed above.

Anyway, now it is time for me to be bekaar for a while - I mean I have to sleep!

Edit: Just saw your latest post. We were writing at about the same time! Yes, I see the problems you are talking about. We have a serious language problem in the country as a whole and I see an indifference to any language reform!!

 

[panjabigator]

aapke bache soe paRe hai.N = (tuhaDe neyaane sutte peye ne.N)
mai.N kaam karne lag paRa = (mai.N kamm karan lag peya)

Interesting - any other good ones?

 

[Koozagar]

Interesting discussion. I think it is true that aesthetics of both Punjabi and Urdu have been compromised since partition, a result of the imposition of Urdu as a language ( self-imposed in case of West Punjab). Pakistani Punjabis embraced it and speak it more or less like Punjabi; and in that entire process, the common speaker forgot Punjabi, some of its most expressive idioms, words and expression became archaic.
However, I believe that there is always a constructive aspect to intermingling of languages and cultures. I would like to hear you guys' views on this last comment.

"woh farigh insaan hai"
"O banda wela ay"
as many have commented above, the expression is used to designate someone as utterly useless, of no use, a bum who never does anything etc.