How would an Indian say "Oh my gosh"?

December 27, 2008 11:48 PM

What would a good Indian expression of suprise be? Specifically a pleasant suprise, such as the realisation that one is going to make a large amount of money, possibly from someone who is none too reputable. The Hindi (or other language) version and a literal translation would be most useful.
posted by Artw to writing & language (6 comments total)

Actually an expression of suprise at discovering something really weird where it shouldn't be would be useful as well.
posted by Artw at 12:40 AM on December 28, 2008

Pleasant- 'Arre wah' - im not that great with phonetics but pronounced quicly like - ure (u-uncle, re-"do re mi fa so la ti do") wah (w, a-"do re me fa so", h).

Literal meaning "thats great"


Shocking - 'Are baap re" - meaning "oh my God" (although baap means dad)
posted by bbyboi at 2:16 AM on December 28, 2008

-baap re baap (pronounced "baap ray baap") (variation on what bby mentioned above). Variations on "baap re" (including "baapre" by itself) are very common expressions of wonderment, suprise, etc, colloquially might translate to anything from "oh my god" to "wow."

-"arey" ("ah"-"ray") (by itself or with other words) can connotate an enormous number of shades of surprise. From a quick "arey!?" (being startled) to a long thoughtful "areeeeeey!" (a realization of something weird and surprising) and numerous versions in between. So for instance, "arey, kya?" where "kya?" is literally "what?" might be translated as "hey, what?" or colloquially as "what the hell?!"
posted by jak68 at 2:52 AM on December 28, 2008

a muslim east indian would probably say "Subhanallah" (if good) or "Astagfarallah" (if bad).
posted by burhan at 5:45 AM on December 28, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Great answers! Are there any more slightly longer phrases that might be used?
posted by Artw at 12:31 AM on December 29, 2008

Can't think of any specific phrases as such.. But if you'd like I could translate some English phrases to Hindi.

Waah - ye lajawab hai - Literal meaning "Wow, thats incredible"

(Waah means wow - used in a happy/pleasant context)
posted by bbyboi at 12:35 AM on December 29, 2008