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That's a loaded title that the site doesn't really address at all! What does it mean for a dialect to be correct? It may sound weird and we've wrong to American

That's a loaded title that the site doesn't really address at all! What does it mean for a dialect to be correct? It may sound weird and we've wrong to Americans and such but Indian English is as valid as any other English dialect, there are so many people speaking it for such a long time that it's evolved in a fascinating way, keeping some expressions that have falling out of use elsewhere and making up entirely new ones as well. I hoped for an analysis on that aspect of Language.

jt2190 3y ago
Yes what would be interesting is to compare the phrase in English to the same phrase in a few widely-spoken languages in India, to see if the English phrasing is mimicking, say, Hindi or Telegu or Tamil or… [long list of languages omitted for brevity.]
- SanjayMehta 3y ago
  I have never heard it spoken in any language, even in English, only started seeing it in “formal” emails post 1996.
famouswaffles 3y ago
"Do the needful" is used in Nigeria as well. So i feel like it is almost certainly an extinct British phrase.
- ignoramous 3y ago
  TFA agrees: Do the needful originated in India, is commonly used in African countries, and was once heard frequently in the United Kingdom as well. After the Victorian period, its usage in the West died out, but with the increase in outsourcing to and from India, it started catching the ear of English speakers in the West again.
- _delirium 3y ago
  You can definitely find it in 19th-century UK books on Google Books. Doesn't seem to be very common, but it is used in a pretty similar way to the way Indian English uses it today. From an 1833 English court opinion [1]: > This letter was immediately given by the bankrupt to the defendant, with directions that as the voyage was altered, he, the defendant, would do the needful. The opinion then spends several additional pages trying to determine what precisely was legally "needful" in this situation. [1] https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Law_Journal_Reports/cP9QAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq="do+the+needful"&pg=RA3-PA211 https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Law_Journal_Reports...
OldGuyInTheClub 3y ago
> I hoped for an analysis on that aspect of Language. Likewise. I have AdBlock turned up to 11 but all I saw on that page was a couple of lines of trivialities between Grammarly ads and filler. Regrettably it does not appear in "World Wide Words" which did look into global English phrases during its run. https://www.worldwidewords.org/genindex.htm https://www.worldwidewords.org/genindex.htm
howinteresting 3y ago
I think correct in this context just means standard in at least one dialect of English, which "do the needful" definitely is. As descriptivist as linguistics is, there is a real distinction between standard and non-standard language.

jt2190 3y ago

Yes what would be interesting is to compare the phrase in English to the same phrase in a few widely-spoken languages in India, to see if the English phrasing is mimicking, say, Hindi or Telegu or Tamil or… [long list of languages omitted for brevity.]

SanjayMehta 3y ago
I have never heard it spoken in any language, even in English, only started seeing it in “formal” emails post 1996.

famouswaffles 3y ago

"Do the needful" is used in Nigeria as well. So i feel like it is almost certainly an extinct British phrase.

ignoramous 3y ago
TFA agrees: Do the needful originated in India, is commonly used in African countries, and was once heard frequently in the United Kingdom as well. After the Victorian period, its usage in the West died out, but with the increase in outsourcing to and from India, it started catching the ear of English speakers in the West again.
_delirium 3y ago
You can definitely find it in 19th-century UK books on Google Books. Doesn't seem to be very common, but it is used in a pretty similar way to the way Indian English uses it today. From an 1833 English court opinion [1]: > This letter was immediately given by the bankrupt to the defendant, with directions that as the voyage was altered, he, the defendant, would do the needful. The opinion then spends several additional pages trying to determine what precisely was legally "needful" in this situation. [1] https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Law_Journal_Reports/cP9QAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq="do+the+needful"&pg=RA3-PA211 https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Law_Journal_Reports...

OldGuyInTheClub 3y ago

> I hoped for an analysis on that aspect of Language. Likewise. I have AdBlock turned up to 11 but all I saw on that page was a couple of lines of trivialities between Grammarly ads and filler. Regrettably it does not appear in "World Wide Words" which did look into global English phrases during its run. https://www.worldwidewords.org/genindex.htm https://www.worldwidewords.org/genindex.htm

howinteresting 3y ago

I think correct in this context just means standard in at least one dialect of English, which "do the needful" definitely is. As descriptivist as linguistics is, there is a real distinction between standard and non-standard language.