Pukka sahib
Pukka sahib (/ˈpʌkə ˈsɑː(ɪ)b/ PUK-ə SAH(-i)b)[1] is a slang term taken from the Hindi words for "substantial" and "master". Among English users, "pukka" came to signify "first class" or "absolutely genuine", so that the combined phrase can be translated as "true gentleman" or "excellent fellow". The expression was used in the British Empire exclusively to refer to White people of European extraction and frequently to describe an attitude which British administrators were said to affect, that of an "aloof, impartial, incorruptible arbiter of the political fate of a large part of the earth's surface."[2]
The word "pukka" is still used informally in 21st-century Britain to describe something as excellent.[3]
Occurrence in literature[edit]
The term is frequently referenced in E. M. Forster's A Passage to India and in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot series, as well as in Why Didn't They Ask Evans? Alexandra Fuller uses the term in her book Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, as does John Galsworthy in Flowering Wilderness.[4]
In his anti-Empire novel Burmese Days, George Orwell refers to "pukka sahib" as a "pose," and one of his characters talks of the difficulty that goes into maintaining it. In Nevil Shute’s The Chequer Board, the term is used in the manner of a backhanded compliment by those wanting Burmese independence from the British: "They’ve spent the last two years getting rid of all the pukka sahibs from the civil service as quick as they could, and then they came along and wanted me to join it. They sort of count me as a Burman now, I think." Paul Scott uses "pukka sahib" sarcastically in The Raj Quartet to describe comically overbearing behaviour.
In her poem "All One Race", the Indigenous Australian writer Oodgeroo Noonuccal employs "pukka sahib" as an example of how language can be a barrier that prevents different types of people in the world from living in harmony.
In the 1938 film The Young in Heart, Roland Young's character Colonel Anthony Carleton assumes the title to enable his career as a card sharp and con man.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ OED.
- ^ "Race against Time", M. Freedman, Phylon, 1953.
- ^ "Meaning of pukka in English". Lexico. Oxford University Press/Dictionary.com. 2022. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
- ^ FLOWERING WILDERNESS
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