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I was traveling through India recently and noticed that many expressions that people used that I saw were somewhat older expressions, now disused in Standard English. Examples of these were:

Please do the needful
Out of station
HORN OK Please

– and a few others. I also saw a sign that said:

Please do not pluck the flowers.

Now I've heard of colonial lag and it seems that these are phrases that have fallen into disuse in the English language used in the west. I wanted to ask if there are other Indian English words/phrases that have retained their original meaning, but have fallen into disuse in (if I may, for said purposes) 'western English'?

Janus Bahs Jacquet
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Ash
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  • I've taken the liberty of adding some formatting to your question. Your example sentences were a bit hard to figure out, though, so you should check that I've separated them correctly. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jun 29 '14 at 00:41
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    I was in India a few months ago (for the first time), and I saw HORN OK Please on a lot of trucks. After you've driven on a few Indian roads (or, better yet, had someone else drive you, as I did), you'll understand that it means "Please honk your horn before you try to pass me, so I'll know you're trying." – John Lawler Jun 29 '14 at 02:36
  • Are you sure these are archaic phrases, and not some kind of Hindi-English creole? – Barmar Jun 29 '14 at 06:43
  • Barmar, that's a good question. I've never heard of anyone pluck flowers in England and the rest of the UK. People only pick them. The first three examples are peculiar and unheard of, in the UK. – Tristan r Jun 29 '14 at 11:37
  • Plucking flowers and someone being 'outstation' (thus written) is common in Malaysia and Singapore. I would imagine they will also be known in Sri Lanka. – Peter Jun 29 '14 at 13:18

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