Aaze
June 24, 2014, 4:59pm
27
Re: Tum vs Aap
The dilemma I face is that I have ability to make the word ‘aap’ such an awkward utterance if talking to male members of my age group or slightly older. If the other person is referring to me as ‘*aap’ *andI’m referring to him as ‘aap’ in a reluctant conversation, chances arethathe’ll get full points for being such a charming gentleman whereas I’d be the sounding more like few days old newly wedded wife of an arranged marriage. Luckily, I can rely on my pride in such situations which quickly steps in and enables me to change switch the language of the conversation from Urdu to English. It’s a shame because I am good enough speaker of Urdu language by certain standards, I enjoy listening to and talking in Urdu and picking up new words and phrases, but unfortunately **I can be quite a shy speaker of Urdu if conversing with people I don’t know very well. **
So all the great readers and speakers of Urdu language, any advice on what could be the third of of addressing someone (apart from addressing them by their name) if tum or aap isn’t the option. Any stylistic device? Any linguistic trick or trip to break the ice?
I feel the same way which is a shame because sometimes people look oddly at you if they are speaking to you in urdu and you suddenly switch to another language.. or that’s just me it happens to lol.