Sri Lankan English

This page contains updates to the dictionary beginning with the letter C. 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:

cal: (coll.) calculator

call: to call somebody to their home: to phone somebody at home
Try calling him to his home.

can manage: (coll.) OK, I can manage (also as a question: can manage?)

car wash: a fund-raising event where a group of people stop cars on the side of the road and offer to wash them
They’re organising a car wash on Havelock Road.

cast: to cast a horoscope: to draw up a person’s horoscope
She had had him cast horoscopes for all the children – “Did he cast one for you, too?” … “I said very firmly that I didn’t want one cast for me, …” (The Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne, page 507)
He had horoscopes to cast, a family to feed and a wife to satisfy. (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 68)
“You did not permit me to let him cast the children’s horoscopes.” (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 317)

casual leave: a single day’s holiday from work, not necessarily pre-arranged, as opposed to annual leave, which is normally taken in a single block planned in advance (> lieu leave, short leave)
“I’ve used up my annual leave, my sick leave, my casual leave.” (Serendipity, by Ashok Ferrey, page 159)

cent: one hundredth of a Sri Lankan rupee
> The Indian rupee is divided into 100 paise.

Ceylonese: (dated) Sri Lankan
They were Dutch burghers, the products of various intermarriages between the Ceylonese and the Dutch invaders, … (July, by Karen Roberts, page 12)
The tale didn’t go down quite so well with the locals: most of Rowland’s Ceylonese listeners smiled to themselves, and discreetly refrained from comment. (The Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne, page 25)
We were met by a welcoming party of the Ceylonese in Mogadiscio, all three of them: … (The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, by Ashok Ferrey, page 93)
But she must have known that I was that good little Ceylonese girl, trained to obey, … (The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, by Ashok Ferrey, page 94)

chikungunya: a viral disease somewhat like dengue, carried by mosquitoes (originated in Africa, but now common in South and Southeast Asia; from Makonde, an East African language)

chimney lamp: a kerosene lamp with a glass cover (chimney)

Cinnamon Gardens (= Colombo 7): upmarket residential area of Colombo
… the big mansions and the solidly built houses of the prosperous Tamil families in Cinnamon Gardens. (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 317)
"This is the Cinnamon Gardens Police OIC." (A Cause Untrue, by David Blacker, page 378)
…all those esoteric village dishes they were not likely to taste in other grand Cinnamon Gardens households. (The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, by Ashok Ferrey, page 191)
There were plenty of apartment blocks springing up all over Cinnamon Gardens that they could move to. (Serendipity, by Ashok Ferrey, page 143)

coat and tie: jacket and tie
… the men dressed up in their Sunday best, coat and tie; … (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 139)

coconut flower: the flower of the coconut tree, used as a decoration
(Click here to see a photograph)

coconut husker: a person whose job is to dehusk coconuts
Coconut huskers stage protest (newspaper headline)

coconut shell (= polkatu): the shell of a coconut
… coconut husks and coconut shells which fed the flames … (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 268)
… a violin made of a hollow coconut shell … (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 342)
… two discarded coconut shells; … (Their Autopsy, by Vihanga Perera, page 130)

coconut shell spoon (= polkatu handa): a spoon made from a coconut shell and used for cooking like a wooden spoon
…coconut shell spoons suspended from the spoon rack – one for the rice pot, the other for the milk, others for meat, fish and vegetables. (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 268)

coconut water: the liquid inside a coconut (often wrongly called ‘coconut milk’ in BSE)
The stone appeared to breathe through its pores as the statue was bathed with turmeric and coconut water, sandalwood, kumkumum, fruit juices. (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 262)

cowpea: a type of pulse (black-eyed pea) (also Africa, US, etc.; from Hindi kalpi?)

CR book: an A4-size lined exercise book

cross cousin: a cousin who is the child of your paternal aunt (nenda) or your maternal uncle (maama) (> parallel cousin)

cut: to cut somebody (off): to treat somebody badly, to discriminate against somebody
> This is in addition to the meanings given under cut (4) in the dictionary: to put somebody in their place, cut somebody down to size, give somebody a hard time.

cut-out: a large-scale image of a politician used for election campaigns (also India)
Cut-outs cut out: UNP Moratuwa Organizer Srinath Perera yesterday charged that an HQI attached to the Mount Lavinia police had destroyed his cut-outs which were on display at the Soysapura Flats in Moratuwa on Sunday. He alleged this HQI had come in a police vehicle and smashed the cut-outs. Mr Perera charged the cut-outs erected by the UPFA politicos in the area remained intact while only opposition cut-outs were removed. (Daily Mirror 31/12/08)
…a larger than life cut out of the Finance Minister stands for three months near the central bus stop. (Their Autopsy, by Vihanga Perera, page 102)
There were huge cut-outs of politicians along the route, oversize in their magnificence, advertising the forthcoming elections. (Serendipity, by Ashok Ferrey, page 37)

COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS:

chakgudu: not the same as gudu. Gudu is a game played with 2 sticks; chakgudu is similar to kabaddi.

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.