Kamat's Potpourri: Indian Campus Lingo

Indian Campus Lingo

A Collection of Campus Expressions and Slangs of India

First Online: November 04, 2006
Page Last Updated: February 17, 2024

Freshy -- Freshman student in college
Passed Out -- graduated; example: "I passed out in 1998" means I graduated in 1998.
Far Out -- very good, cool; example: The tandoori chicken at that dhaba is far out.
Fudging -- cheating as in a test; example: I finished my homework after fudging.
Bunking -- skipping a class, playing hooky; example: "Let us bunk the labs today and go to a movie instead"
Funda, Fandu -- a slang for fundamentals used with numerous connotations. "What's the funda?" can mean "What are you up to?" or "How does this work?". "He gives absurd funda" means, "His explanations are vague". "Srini's presentation was fundu" would mean "The essentials of Srini's presentation were very good".
Machcha -- A pal or buddy (from Tamil, meaning brother-in-law)
Othla -- Wasting away time, loitering; example: "This semester, all did was othla" means "I didn't study well this semester"
Labass -- A laboratory assistant
Princi -- Principal of the institution
Grub -- Campus food, fast food
Joint -- A hand rolled cigarette mixing tobacco and marijuana
Ennada -- What's up (from Tamil)
420 -- Unreliable guy, popularized by a Hindi movie Shree 420, called so after the section 420 of Indian Penal code.
By Two -- Short form of "one by two", where you buy one cup of tea of coffee and ask it to be divided into two parts so it can be shared.
Freak Out -- A gala time. Example: "We freaked out on the beach" means "We had a lot of fun on the beach".
Gandhi -- A good student who doesn't smoke, drink or eat meat. Example: "He was a Gandhi till 3rd semester, but now doing joints".
Maal -- A good looking girl
Prepone -- Opposite of postpone; advance a prior appointment
Ragging -- Hazing, Indian campuses have a tradition of welcoming the freshmen with harassment and pranks.
Tiffin -- Breakfast or a midday snack.
SCST -- A person belonging to Scheduled Caste (Dalit community) or Scheduled Tribe (Tribal communities of Inda). Typically used in an offensive tone to connote "quota system", and "incompetence". Example, "Our history professor is no good; must be SCST"
Blue Film -- a pornographic movie. It is a common pastime among boys to watch pirated movies while lampooning the characters of the movie. Porn movies are also referred as "pondy" or sarcastically as "Shyamchi Ayi" after a popular family movie.
Fag -- A cigarette. "Give me a fag" means "Please give me a cigarette". "Let's go for a fag" is very commonly used for "Let's go for smokes".
Hazar -- (from Hindi, a thousand) In large quantity. Example: "There will be hazar chicks at the Jyoti Nivas college festival"
Chumma -- (from Tamil, popular in Southern India) Just like that, without an apparent cause or reason. Example: "I chumma stopped by"
Crib -- to complain. A cribber is an eternal complainer. Example: "Ravi is cribbed hazar that we didn't invite him to the party."
Apping -- The process of applying to foreign universities. Example: "He is apping for fall of 2007"
Arbit -- arbitrary or vague. Example: "I gave an arbit reason to dad on why I needed more money".
Despo -- A desperate man
Slog -- work very hard at. Example: "The Prof. made us slog for extra credit"
Batting -- The process of talking to the opposite sex. Example: "Srini is not in his dorm room; he must have gone batting"

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Indian Campus Lingo

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