THE AMERICANISMS I NEVER UNDERSTOOD

I went to a college in Bangalore where your social standing depended on your Americana quotient. Remember this was pre-internet, so you built your quotient reading Archie comics. But there was a subtlety to it : saying 'gee' was over the top. Not knowing who Jughead was relegated you to 'Kannada medium'.

Before going to college, I lived in a small town which did not have Archie. And I had only watched Jitendra-Sridevi movies. But I did want to be accepted. So I pretended like I knew, though I did trip up often. For instance, I once said 'Dow Glass' when referring to Michael Douglas. My friends laughed so loudly and for so long, my face went from red to crimson to burgundy.

The world has changed hugely since. My friend Rishi, who was all-American except for his passport, now wants me to certify that his Kannada is as good as a Kannadiga's. He even has a Karnataka ration card. I recently attended a meeting in Boston where the meeting room was named Bangalore. Redemption for all who are reluctantly Indian was when Sundar Pichai, with his thickly Tamilian accent announced the launch of Google Duo.

So I ask you this. Can you share the Americanisms you never understood but pretended to? My list goes

- never understood The Matrix, Pulp Fiction or any American or English movie until I watched it with subtitles.

- don't know most of the words for almost any English song. For instance, what the hell is Led Zeppelin saying at the end of stairway to heaven or U2 saying at any time. Or what did Deff Leppard mean when singing Pour Some Sugar On Me. When I first heard Beyonce sing Halo I was dead sure she was saying 'hanging low'.

- 'throw the kitchen sink at it' - what does that mean. Under what circumstances would someone throw the kitchen sink at something? Even in the few American houses I have been to, the kitchen sink was about as big as the bathroom sink. I am nonplussed !