ghoti

plural ghoties · plural ghotis

1. humorousnonstandardrareA constructed word said to be an alternative spelling of fish.

   [Charles E.] Robinson suggested to me that William Ollier could have come up with ghoti in a parlor game of [Alexander John] Ellis-inspired silly spellings.

   [2010 June 25, Ben Zimmer, “On Language: Ghoti”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2018

plural ghotis

1. Alternative letter-case form of Ghoti.

   East Bengal registered a thumping 4-0 win over Mohun Bagan to seal the Calcutta Football League (CFL) title, and for the time being bangals have scored a point over the ghotis.

   2015 September 6, Mail Today Comment, “QUICK EDIT: AIFF needs to nurture Indian football”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Oct 2015

   3 more examples

   The bangals deride ghoti food as cloyingly sweet, bland without much oil and spices — ‘What do the ghotis know of good cooking anyway?’ On their part, the ghotis decry the bangal way of eating foul smelling shutki fish and drowning their food in too much oil and spices. ‘The bangals even put fish in their shukto, can you believe it?’ they exclaim.

   1995, The India Magazine of Her People and Culture, Mumbai, →OCLC, page 106, column 1

   Labelled with distinct identities, ghotis are the original inhabitants of West Bengal, and bangals are those who have migrated from Bangladesh. The bangals have been stereotyped as shrewd, opportunistic, greedy, parochial, and considered good enough only to become cooks or sweet-makers. The ghotis consider themselves superior to bangals.

   2005, The Indian Journal of Social Work, Mumbai: Department of Publications, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11

   Since the onset of modernity in the nineteenth century, West Bengalis or ghotis from the Calcutta area, who are generally Hindu, have enjoyed a certain cultural ascendancy within Bengal: they consider themselves more modern, more culturally refined, and more progressive than the bangals, who are dismissed as comparatively backward country bumpkins.

   2009, Bhaskar Sarkar, “Bengali Cinema: A Spectral Subnationality”, in Mourning the Nation: Indian Cinema in the Wake of Partition, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, →ISBN, part I (A Resonant Silence), page 158

plural ghotis

1. A type of small Bengali waterpot used for washing.

   His metal vessels are—of brass, a kalsi, a garu, and two ghotis; of bell-metal, three thalis, three ghotis, and four batis.

   1888, Report on the Condition of the Lower Classes of Population in Bengal, Calcutta: […] Bengal Secretariat Press, →OCLC, page 21

   4 more examples

   After this, two women bathe her by pouring seven ghotis or lotas of water over her, and they also rub her with turmeric, methi, and scented oil.

   1895, D.H.E. Sunder, “The Dobasiyas”, in Survey and Settlement of the Western Duars in the District of Jalpaiguri, 1889 - 1895, Calcutta: […] Bengal Secretariat Press, →OCLC, part I (The Tract under Settlement), chapter VII (Social Life and Religions of the People), page 175, column 2; reprinted Siliguri, West Bengal: N. L. Publishers, 2013, →ISBN

   The case for the prosecution was that at about sun-set on 7-9-1952 Aghona Kachari who is at places described as Aghona Master (a teacher) went out to a place within his compound to attend to the call of nature with a ghoti (water pot) in his hand.

   1956, The All India Reporter, Nagpur, Bombay State: The All India Reporter Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 187, column 1

   The gaonburha’s son reappeared, carrying a small bucket of water, a brass ghoti and a clean gamosa, and requested him to have a wash.

   1995, Harekrishna Deka, translated by D N Bezboruah, “The Prisoner”, in Katha Prize Stories, volume 5, New Delhi: Katha, →ISBN, page 102

   Household articles are cots, mats, metallic disces^([sic]) and tumblers (thalis, ghotis), earthen water vassels (kalsi), wooden laddles (spoons), wooden cattle-bells (tharkeas), and measures (poila), bamboo umbrellas, baskets, axes, sickles, daos, etc.

   1998, B[raja] B[ihārī] Kumāra, The Tribal Societies of India: A Macro Perception, New Delhi: Omsons Publications, →ISBN, page 280

plural Ghotis · alternative ghoti

1. IndiaA Bengali who originates from western Bengal.

   The landlords were Ghotis, like my mother’s family, meaning they were from the western part of Bengal, the part that had stayed in India.

   2017, Kushanava Choudhury, “Sealdah”, in The Epic City: The World on the Streets of Calcutta, London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Circus, →ISBN, part III, page 178

   2 more examples

   In fact there exists subtle animosity between the Bangals and the Ghotis (East Bengal immigrants are called Bangals, and the residing Bengali Hindus are called Ghotis). The cause is economic; […]

   2009, Sabya Sachi, “Of Fish and Beef, the New Recipe of the Muslim Identity: A Journey through the Cultural Prism of West Bengal”, in Ather Farouqui, editor, Muslims and Media Images: News versus Views, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part II (Transcending Boundaries), page 135

   The Ghotis are natives of what was West Bengal or the Indian side of Bengal. […] At the risk of making a broad generaliation, you can say that the general rule of thumb is that Ghoti dishes are a bit sweet, while Bangal dishes are spicy, have a strong chilli element and are savoury.

   2016, Kalyan Karmakar, “Sweet Home Kolkata”, in The Travelling Belly: Eating Through India’s By-Lanes, Gurgaon, Haryana: Hachette India, →ISBN, page 29

   Synonyms: West Bengali