lakhs! crores!, not smacks! whores!

 

if you should be so lucky to visit south asia

you will find it an enchanting (if at times, challenging) place

one of the many things that can baffle the gora, sudha etc

is the use of ye olde skool hindustani numbers in otherwise standard english discourse

you will hear the terms lakh and crore 

(and maybe more!)

now of course one should never be shocked to hear different names for numerals

(lest, in case of ignorance, break glass mezzanine)

the world is a big and hairy place

and undoubtedly these sanskrit based words pre-date our latin based numerical terminology

(the hindustanis were mastering mathematics while the romans were still bothering aurochs in the muddy backwoods of lower latium)

by a several tenths of lakhs!

but what strikes the gora

is it being used in outstandingly fluent use of english

poooor ejemplo

the bafflement of the highly educated, literate, multilingual locals

when you tell them you are unfamiliar with the terms

is a sight to see

(not aware of other ways to experience sights)

i even had three indian judges (in the purest manner)

declare that i should know them

they are standard english!

and refusing to take my word that those terms are unknown outside of south asia

nota bene - for eagle eyed table pedants, the use of 'arab' for billion etc has now fallen out of common usage in SA english.