As a teacher of English, I keep my ears open for new colourful words which enter the language. It was Pravasi Bharathiya Divas on M G Road. I accompanied my niece from the US on a shopping spree. The sales man displayed his wares – Kancheevaram, Darmavaram, Venkatagiri Cottons, Gadwal... “Can I have a look at some fun sarees?” asked my niece.
The puzzled look on the face of the sales man made my niece quickly add,” I mean party sarees.” The sales man flooded the counter with embroidered chiffons – real beauties flaunting pearls, glittering stones and sequence; breath taking sarees which can tempt the jeans generation. My niece picked a few of them. The expression “fun saree” got stuck in my mind. I began to analyse and relish the meaning of this new coinage. Usually, the word saree collocates with place names like Benaras, Kancheevaram, Dharmavaram or with the fabric out of which it is made, cotton saree, silk saree , polyester saree and so on. But the word “fun” as an adjective has never been tagged along with the noun “saree”.
A look at the “fun saree” made me realise that this age old traditional garment has transformed itself to suit the taste and needs of today's lively youngsters. The fun chiffon saree is light, easy to drape, glitters and fascinates. Slowly but surely, it has begun to replace the heavy, dignified Kancheevarams in wedding halls and parties.
I asked my niece “why do you call these chiffons fun sarees?” The answer was quite convincing – “It is fun wearing these sarees to parties which reverberate with music, dancing and dining. One cannot think of gyrating to the tunes of A R Rahman in a Kancheevaram saree. Can we?”
The creative instinct in me prodded me to try a new usage on parallel lines. I asked my niece whether she had acquired any “fun blouses?” She was puzzled and sought clarification, “do you mean “designer blouses?” I asked her, “why not fun blouses?” Pat came the reply, “Fun sarees are worn with designer blouses, fun and blouse do not gel.”
I mused for a while and concluded that strange are the ways of language use. Even a professor of English can smuggle a new word into the language; just welcome the new entrants and make them our own.