THE tendency of our news reporters and writers to use Urdu words in their English stories is increasing to an extent that can only be termed menacing. This is as if the English language is inadequate for the expression of their thoughts, or they want to give a native touch to their thoughts.
Arifa Noor in her article ‘PTI’s Punjab dilemma’ (April 10) has gone a step further by inventing her own past tense of ‘tabdeel’ as ‘tabdeeled’. The English word ‘change’ surely would have in no manner detracted from the clarity or emphasis of her thought.
Dawn is the largest English daily of Pakistan and also, perhaps, the best; it gets to places where most others do not. Readers at home and more so abroad must not be subjected to local expressions that have appropriate equivalents in English.
Kunwar Idris
Karachi
Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018
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