Are you guilty of using these Indianisms?

1. 'Passing out'
2. 'Kindly revert'
3. 'Years back'
4. 'Doing the needful'
5. 'Discuss about'
6. 'Order for'
7. 'Do one thing'
8. 'Out of station'
9. 'Sleep is coming'
10. 'Prepone'

Okay, not all 10 are a problem — 'prepone' was included in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary last year, for instance. But the other nine phrases are used often in our everyday conversation (if not in our writing) without our realising that they sound bizarre to native speakers of English.

And what's so wrong about using these Indianisms? Daniel D'Mello explains in an entertaining post on the CNN-Go website: '10 classic Indianisms'.

After you're done reading and discussing about the post, you'll know when to do the needful. So kindly revert at the earliest. Unless, of course, you're out of station. In which case, it just may be a case of "sleep is coming". In other words, you have probably passed out. Capiche?

Also read:

• 50 Facebook rants to make you think about bad English vs good English
• The book you must read to rid your English of Indlish

My thanks to Pallabi Mitra (Class of 2012) and Sanchari Sinha (Class of 2011) for alerting me to Daniel D'Mello's post. 

• Commits alumnus SHIVRAM SUJIR (Class of 2011) came up with a clever riposte in his comment on Facebook about this post: 

Two years back when we joined we had no idea we would pass out so soon. Though some of us had to go out of station immediately after exams, we ordered for a pizza and then discussed about how fast the year went. The juniors' exams were preponed but they did the needful by giving us a farewell treat. Could you do one thing for me sir? Please revert if there are any Indianisms in my English. ;)

Also read: "10 English phrases that make perfect sense to Indians" (including "only", "but", and "felicitate")