13 Comments
Yes. In Hindustan (wink), vegetarianism is sometimes privileged with the default position rather than being the exception. So rather than talking about "food" and then having a special category "vegetarian food," there's a greater likelihood that food is already vegetarian and therefore the exceptional category that should be marked is "non-veg." This isn't to say that all or even necessarily most people in an area are vegetarians, but rather speaks with a sort of greater respect and acknowledgement of vegetarians. Sometimes, un-chaste (for lack of a better word!) things in general are referred to playfully as "non-veg." Drinking alcohol could be non-veg, or a movie for adult audiences could be non-veg.
This despite the majority of people being non-vegetarian. Vegetarianism is very much a caste thing with upper caste people being traditionally vegetarian and this being used to justify a superior moral and social position.
501
I went with carnivorous, not really expecting it to be accepted, but I think I'll chance my arm and report it as acceptable. Non-veg is a widely used and understood term in India, but not in most other English-speaking countries.
- 1450
I went with 'meat-eaters', no luck. RanzoG breaks this issue down very well. This is Indian culture and it has refreshingly the opposite convention from Western culture.
However, shouldn't 'carnivorous' etc. be an acceptable alternative?
I feel like saying "non-vegetarian" in English sounds like dogs are not part of a vegetarian diet. Which is true, but a very odd thing to say.
"Dogs are not vegetarian(s)" feels more natural to me.
Hotha is masculine singular. Hothi is feminine singular. Hothe is plural. Since it's Kutthe here, meaning it's referring to dogs and not just one dog, it's Hothe.
- 1376
Why is, “Dogs are non vegetarians,” not accepted. In English we’d use the singular and plural interchangeably in a sentence like this. In fact we’re speaking of the plural - dogs.
As you said "In ENGLISH we'd use..." and since this is the Hindi course, where (s) and (pl) are not to be used interchangeably, it will only accept the correct one
- 1376
The exercise is to express the Hindi phrase in English. Just because it’s a course in learning Hindi isn’t to the point. As it is, “Dogs are non vegetarians,” has now been accepted.
