Sri Lankan English

This page contains updates to the dictionary beginning with the letter B. It is divided into 2 parts: New Entries, and Comments and Corrections. Click here to return to the main updates page, or on the links on the left side of the page to go to another letter.

These pages are updated regularly; please contact me if you have any suggestions or feedback which can be included.

Latest update: July 2010. New additions are in red.

NEW ENTRIES:

backhoe: a mechanical digger (also US; called a JCB in the UK)
At the time of the raid the accused was engaged in filling the land with a backhoe. (Daily Mirror 10/06/08)

bank holiday: a holiday for banks (> mercantile holiday, public holiday)
> In the UK, a ‘bank holiday’ is a public holiday – or what is called in Sri Lanka a ‘public, bank and mercantile holiday’.

bare-bodied: not wearing a shirt
Fidelis, my brother, was barebodied. (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 409)
… bare-bodied beggars, run-down shacks, ugly women bathing at a roadside tap, … (Can You Hear me Running, by Lal Medawattegedara, page 67)
… and I see Janaka, bare-bodied in a sarong … (Arathi, by Nihal de Silva, page 293)

Basnayake Nilame: the secular head of a Buddhist temple (Sinhala)
Incident mars Basnayake Nilame elections (newspaper headline)
(Note: this word appears in the dictionary under the headword nilame)

batana: a small pear-shaped variety of pumpkin, also known in Sinhala as ‘Dubai wattakka’ or ‘rata wattakka’
(Click here to see a photograph)

bhakthi gee: Buddhist songs traditionally sung on Vesak and Poson poya days (Sinhala)
A Poson bhakthi gee ceremony was held at Temple Trees yesterday ... (Daily Mirror 21/06/08)

bhootaya: a dead spirit (Sinhala)
Scholaris observed a skeleton with a huge stomach that was being eaten by a bhootaya. (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 247)

b-i-i-g: (coll.) (a way of emphasising a word by pronouncing it with an exaggeratedly long vowel)
… wore flares, side burns and b-i-i-g collars … (The Moon in the Water, by Ameena Hussein, page 28)

biscuit packet: packet of biscuits
> Pronunciation: the second syllable of both words is pronounced with a weak ‘i’ in BSE, but with a ‘schwa’ in SLE.
Mrs. Senarath bent down to pick up the biscuit packet and the necklace. (The Banana Tree Crisis, by Isankya Kodithuwakku, page 99)
The little houses on her side of the road stood up against each other like biscuit packets. (The Mango Tree, by Anthea Senaratna, page 24)

birth anniversary: birthday, esp. of someone who has died (> death anniversary)

blue magpie: a large blue and brown bird, endemic to Sri Lanka, and commonly seen in the Sinharaja rainforest

bodhisattva: (in Buddhism) a person aspiring to be a Buddha (Sanskrit)
Tales of the several lives of the Bodhisattvas. (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 2)
That was only limited to bodhisattvas. (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 45)

body wash (2): car wash

bothal karaya (= bottle man): (coll.) a man who collects bottles and old newspapers for recycling (Sinhala)
Then there was the bothal karaya. ... That morning they had hidden themselves in the dense foliage of the tree till the bottle man was just passing the gate. (The Far Spent Day, by Nihal de Silva, page 11)

boys: the boys (= our boys): (coll.) the Sri Lankan cricket team
The boys are so dedicated and they play so much for the people of this country that even I stop … to watch a bit of the matches on television every day. (The Banana Tree Crisis, by Isankya Kodithuwakku, page 105)

break (a house): pull down, tear down, demolish
We’re planning to break the rear part of the house.

break (cobwebs): clear, get rid of, e.g. with a broom (from Sinhala kadanava)

bro: (coll.) brother (dated in BSE) (> sis)

buckled: (coll., dated) messed up, sabotaged (from Sinhala ‘bakal una’)
The whole thing got buckled.

buddy: a small bottle (of Coke, Sprite, etc.) (25cl as opposed to standard 33cl)

budu amme!: holy mother! (Sinhala exclamation)
“Budu amme, but why iskolemahaththayo?” (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 225)

budu ge: shrine room containing an image of the Buddha, e.g. in a house or temple (Sinhala)
Breath that echoed slightly across the Budhu Ge. (Learning to Fly, by Shehani Gomes, page 156)
Scholaris was singing and plucking flowers to place at the Buddha’s feet in their budu ge. (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 200)

bystander: a person (usually a relative) who accompanies a patient in hospital
A total of 226 patients in the company of their 139 relatives and bystanders have been brought to the Vavuniya government hospital from Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaittivu by UN and ICRC officials this evening (Jan 29), military sources reveal. (Ministry of Defence website, 30/01/09)
If the policy of TH Kandy is not to allow “bystanders” a solution has to be worked again meeting the Director and Consultants to accommodate them temporarily. (www.actlanka.org/2009/04/)

COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS:

baba: not only used to refer to small children; also a term of endearment between adults, like ‘darling’.

beach boy: I had two interesting comments on the same day. One person (a foreigner) said “I didn’t know the term ‘beach boy’ could mean a male prostitute!” Another (Sri Lankan) said it refers specifically to a male prostitute and would not be used in any other context!

bioscope: pronounced “biscope”

bull’s eye: an egg fried on one side only (US ‘sunny side up’)

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