Sri Lankan English - Updates E

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


early evening: early in the evening (> early morning)
… before they dropped me home early evening. (The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, by Ashok Ferrey, page 103)
Early evening the drawing room furniture would be pushed to the edge of the room. (The Moon in the Water, by Ameena Hussein, page 40)

eating-drinking Muslim: a humorous term referring to a Muslim who eats pork and drinks alcohol

eerashtaka (= bad time): an inauspicious period according to astrology (Sinhala)
“We have been having an eerashtaka period the last few months.” (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 90)

EGB: Elephant Ginger Beer (brand name)

elephant corridor: a migration route used by elephants and so protected from development (also India, Africa, etc.)
> Although not unique to Sri Lanka, this term is in everyday use in SLE (for example in newspaper reports), whereas in BSE it is restricted to the context of wildlife conservation.

encomium: (dated, in newspapers) a congratulatory speech (rare and archaic in BSE)

engagement ceremony: legal registration of a marriage, often held before the religious marriage ceremony

English-speaking: speaking English as one’s first language (> Sinhala-speaking)

estate Tamil (= upcountry Tamil)
“He is an estate Tamil. Wife is ill. Lives in a wooden shack near the Elu Gala, …” (Can You Hear me Running, by Lal Medawattegedara, page 10)

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.