Obama's British codename: Is it an insult?
By Asra Q. Nomani
Before , under the headline 鈥淐odename 鈥榮mart alec鈥�: British police label Obama with 鈥榤ildly offensive鈥� Punjabi word for visit to U.K.鈥� Scotland Yard says its computers randomly picked a codename for Obama, 鈥渃halaque,鈥� for his visit to the country. But the newspaper quoted a Sikh community leader saying the name is often used to 鈥渄enigrate鈥� someone. , featuring it on its homepage under the headline: 鈥淥bama Code Named 鈥榮mart alec鈥� in Britain.鈥�
As someone who grew up hearing chalak used to describe someone who is a notch below diabolical, I had to laugh. The West may try to assert cultural prowess economically, militarily, and diplomatically, but is yet another example of cross-cultural communication lost in translation.
I double-checked with the best person I could find on the nuances of the propriety of South Asian culture: my mother, Sajida Nomani, a native speaker of Urdu schooled in the highly mannered culture, called adab in Arabic, of Lucknow, India, a sort of Charleston, S.C., of South Asia. She is a grandmother with a discerning ear. Chalak, as it鈥檚 usually spelled phonetically, isn鈥檛 just a Punjabi word, but also found in Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali. Verbally, Hindi and Urdu are very similar, and Punjabi and Bengali are related to Hindi and Urdu.
No doubt about it, she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an insult.鈥� My mother dusted off our edition of the Oxford Practical English-Urdu Dictionary, published in Lahore, Pakistan, by the Oriental Book Society on Ganpat Road, and turned to page 156 [], where she read the definition of chalak. It read: 鈥�adj. skilful; knowing; crafty; sly.鈥� My father, Zafar Nomani, then faxed me over a copy of pages of the dictionary, including 156.
Trust me, when they mean 鈥渟kilful鈥� and 鈥渒nowing,鈥� that鈥檚 not meant as a compliment. The word is a derogatory term for anyone older than about 7. For a youngster, it can mean clever, like, 鈥淲hat a cunning boy.鈥� Think somewhere between Eddie Haskell from Leave It to Beaver and the Uriah Heep character from Dickens鈥� David Copperfield. Or Tom Sawyer from Twain鈥檚 Huckleberry Finn.
But for a grown man, especially, it鈥檚 a putdown. Think , for keeping from his wife, Maria Shriver, the secret of a baby born to his housekeeper: a real chalak. Or Bernie Madoff, for swindling foundations and the elderly out of millions: a definite chalak. Osama bin Laden for hiding out in the Pakistan military garrison town of Abbottabad, miles from the nation鈥檚 capital? Definitely, 100 percent chalak, though most of his sympathizers wouldn鈥檛 insult even bin Laden by calling him a chalak. Rather, they鈥檇 say the Navy SEALs were real chalak for keeping Operation Geronimo a secret from the Pakistanis. Meanwhile, if he knew the word, comedian Jon Stewart would say Pakistan has been a real chalak for pretending it didn鈥檛 know bin Laden was in Abbottabad.
As you can see, chalak is in the eye of the accuser, er, beholder. But Chalak in Chief is not a compliment.
If someone tries to con someone, we鈥檒l say, 鈥淥h, he really tried to be a chalak.鈥� Or if someone is trying to get out of trouble, others will say, 鈥淥h, he is being a real chalak.鈥� Or if one ethnic group wants to put down another ethnic group, they鈥檒l say, 鈥淥h, they鈥檙e real chalak.鈥� On , a Bengali speaker explains that chalak is used to talk about a swindler: 鈥淲e would say 鈥楤uddhiman鈥� for knowledgeable person, and 鈥楥halak鈥� for anyone trying to outsmart other(s).鈥�
For some real pop culture references on chalak, you need go no further than Bugs Bunny. a Bugs Bunny cartoon, dubbed in Punjabi, and called it, Chalak Khargosh, or chalak rabbit, for poor, misunderstood little Bugs.
A company based in Houston, the Chalak Group, with executives rooted ethnically in South Asia, appropriately asked the question on its website, 鈥淲hy Chalak?鈥� I鈥檓 sure more than one self-respecting 鈥渁unty,鈥� as older women are called in South Asia, clucked their tongues at the use of the word in a business name.
鈥淭he word CHALAK is Hindi鈥︹�� the website says. It talks about one meaning, which means 鈥渙verflow,鈥� if the word is pronounced 鈥渃hu-luk.鈥� 鈥淭he other meaning is 鈥榳ise or intelligent鈥� if pronounced chaa-laak,鈥� it claims. But, on its website explanation, the company can鈥檛 hide the real meaning of chalak: 鈥淭he Chalak Group is a dynamic business organization led by several young and energetic entrepreneurs. These WISE GUYS started their company back in 1998 with an OVERFLOW of energy and excitement.鈥� A caption on a photo of the five principals from the company reads, 鈥淭he Chalak Group Wise Guys,鈥� and a photo of the founder has his tongue sticking out, just a little indelicately. Nice wise guy move, letting his chalak flag fly.
Now Scotland Yard could borrow a page from the Chalak Group and claim it meant no insult but thought of Obama as 鈥渨ise or intelligent.鈥� That would be classic chalak.
is the author of . She is co-director of the , an investigation into the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Her activism for women's rights at her mosque in W.V. is the subject of a PBS documentary, . She recently published a monograph, Milestones for a Spiritual Jihad: Toward an Islam of Grace. asra@asranomani.com
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