Sri Lankan English

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

gal siyambala: velvet tamarind, a small variety of tamarind popular with children (Sinhala)

game over (= match over): (coll.) finished, failed, messed up (cricketing term)

garment factory: (less common in BSE)
I think everybody in our house expected my sister to get a job in the garment factory. (Sam’s Story, by Elmo Jayawardena, page 104)

gas bottle: gas cylinder

Gate Mudaliyar: (dated) honorary title of a senior mudaliyar in colonial times
One of these personalities was an ancestor of his, a Gate Mudaliyar of the Southern Province, … (The Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne, page 625)

gem pit: gem mine

go down: go downhill, get worse, deteriorate
The food in this place has really gone down.
It was a pity ... that King’s had gone down so much since their time at College, ... (The Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne, page 505)

go from here!: (coll.) go away!

good self: (dated) And what about your good self? (> good name)
“… I thought I should consult your good self before I turn the piece in to my editor for review.” (The Sweet and Simple Kind, by Yasmine Gooneratne, page 588)

GOSL: Government of Sri Lanka

graduate teacher: a teacher with a degree, but who has not necessarily gone through teacher training (> trained teacher)
She was proud of the fact that she was a graduate teacher. She felt above the class of trained English teachers. (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 123)

grinding stone (= mirisgala): a flat stone used for grinding chillies, spices, etc.
“Didn’t you see Heen Menike carrying away the grinding stone?” (All is Burning, by Jean Arasanayagam, page 82)
… and Ayeshamma’s stomach, despite three years of marriage, clung to her hip bones and stretched flat as a grinding stone. (Fifteen, by Ameena Hussein, page 48)
She started her chores and gave Banda a shelling because he had not washed the grinding stone the previous night. (July, by Karen Roberts, page 334)
… the stone slab next to the grinding stone … (Their Autopsy, by Vihanga Perera, page 130)
After the recitations were over, the five people followed the kapurala outside, squatted next to a grinding stone, and arranged their spices upon it. (Theravada Man, by Manuka Wijesinghe, page 314)

COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS:

gejji = bells, for example around a cow’s neck, or around a dancer’s ankles, but the word does not mean ‘anklets’ as in the definition given.

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