Madras, a city that has always expanded its language to welcome words into its fold
If you look down the rabbit hole of how words travel from one language to another, just listen to this dialect of Tamil which is Madras bashai. It is built on loanwords because Chennai is not only made up of Tamil speakers; Telugu, Urdu, Hindi, Kannada, Sanskrit, English and Dutch found their way into Madras Bashai, a dialect shaped by the many communities that called Madras home.
When Tamil absorbed the Urdu word ghaliz, it became galeej in urban slang. Historian V. Sriram traces its origin to the time of the arrival of the Nawab of Arcot or the arrival of the Golconda Sultanate in Santhome. Like galley, the basic Madras word for money, duttu, is thought to have evolved from the Dutch duit, a small coin used in the colonial era. Then there is mabbu, bejar, assault and a whole host of words that make up the mixture called Madras bashai.
“It’s not something unique to our city. It’s part of the evolution of every city because many people come and leave their own impression,” says Mr. Sriram. And the languages don’t naturally fit. “Machan and machi as a colloquial term would not have existed a century ago, even though machan as a proper relation existed. This kind of addition will continue to happen. But what is interesting is that we have this ancient Tamil word, poromboke, adopted in Madras bashai because it perhaps best describes the situation in which it would be used,” he adds, also noting that Chnai will never become a property of Madras bashai. it. Needless to say, it is the language of the city itself, with Triplicane, George Town, Royapuram and Perambur contributing to its development.
When Kollywood’s big crossover came, the dialect reached Tamil-speaking audiences far and wide, and many actors, including Kamal Haasan, popularized the word gaandu through Pammal K. Sambandam, scripted by Crazy Mohan.
Saradhambal, a consultant who has lived in Chennai for 13 years, says she was introduced to Madras bashai through actor Manorama’s dialogues in old Tamil films. “Growing up in Coimbatore, I only heard this kind of Tamil in old movies. Something like ‘Naastha thuntiya paapa’ is so special. When I think of this dialect, I immediately think of Manorama Aachi,” she says.
Lyricists from the younger generation like Rokesh of Vyasarpadi took the dialect to the masses with Danga Maari of Anegan, which leans heavily on slang. Speaking of movies, the dialect found another cultural outlet in Gaana, a genre known far beyond Chennai. Rooted in Madras baashai, it tells the stories of working-class communities, especially north Chennai.
Apart from this specific dialect, the everyday slang of Chennai colleges takes on a life of its own, with each generation having its own little linguistic starter pack. Generations before millennials had their kadi, enthu chops, chappa mass and peter. Then came the millennials who grew up during the analog to digital world and brought lol, cool bean, yolo and dude into everyday conversation, influenced by pop culture and internet spaces. For Gen Z, much of their slang is influenced by the urban English-speaking Internet. Delusion has become delulu, suspect has become sus and there is brainrot, rizz, chatter to name a few. What sounded effortlessly cool to millennials may sound ancient to Gen alphas.
For 21-year-old graduates Raghav and Sukesh, slang is also a kind of code, a way to make sure the people in the room are in on the joke. “We use words like ‘fanum tax’, which is about how we are entitled to take some of our friend’s food. Now they are part of our everyday vocabulary,” they say.
However, Gen alpha has a different rulebook that will likely leave everyone else scratching their heads. Nine-year-old Prakrithi S. says she knows some Gen Z lingo, but only uses words taken from her generation’s online communities. At school, skibidi, gyatt and even numbers like 6-7 became part of the vocabulary. “When our teacher asked us to read the sixth and seventh stanzas in school, some of us would secretly move our hands up and down and show the numbers. It’s just a meme online that doesn’t mean anything but makes us happy, like an inside joke,” he shares.
Nekhaa N., an MA in Linguistics at the University of Manchester, explains how slang, although short-lived, is constantly evolving. “Perceptions of language change as generations change, and that changes the way we use words,” he says, adding that slang comes from what we’re surrounded by and is a product of exposure. Perhaps that is where the parallel lies. Just as Tamil absorbed words from the many languages it encountered and adopted them in the Madras bashai, today’s youth are adopting slang from the unfettered, overwhelming digital spaces they inhabit.
Published – 27 Aug 2026 23:37 IST