If you go down the rabbit hole of how words travel from one language to another, you just have to listen to this dialect of Tamil that is Madras bashai. It is built around loanwords as Chennai is formed not just of Tamil speakers; Telugu, Urdu, Hindi, Kannada, Sanskrit, English, and Dutch have all found their way into the Madras bashai, a dialect shaped by the many communities that called Madras home.
When Tamil absorbed the Urdu word ghaliz, it became galeej in the city’s lingo. Historian V. Sriram traces its origin to the time of the Nawab of Arcot or the Golconda Sultanate’s arrival at Santhome. Just like galeej, the quintessential Madras word for money, duttu, is believed to have evolved from the Dutch’s duit, a small coin used in the colonial era. Then there is mabbu, bejar, assault, and a whole roster of words that make up the medley called Madras bashai.
“This is not something unique to our city. It is a part of every city’s evolution as multiple people come and leave their own impress,” says Mr. Sriram. And naturally, languages don’t sit still. “Machan and machi as a colloquial term would not have existed a century ago, though machan as a proper relationship did. This kind of addition will continue to happen. But what is interesting is we have this ancient Tamil word, poromboke, find acceptance in Madras bashai because it, perhaps, best sums up the situation in which it could be used,” he adds, also observing that Madras bashai will never become Chennai bashai because nobody wants to take ownership of it. Needless to say, it is the language of the city itself, where Triplicane, George Town, Royapuram, and Perambur have all contributed to its evolution.
When Kollywood’s big crossover came, the dialect travelled to Tamil-speaking audiences far and wide, with many actors, including Kamal Haasan, popularising the word gaandu through the film Pammal K. Sambandam, scripted by Crazy Mohan.
A consultant who lived in Chennai for 13 years, Saradhambal, says she was introduced to Madras bashai through actor Manorama’s dialogues in old Tamil films. “Being raised in Coimbatore, I have heard this kind of Tamil only in old films. Something like “Naastha thuntiya paapa” is so quirky. When I think of this dialect, Manorama Aachi comes to mind immediately,” she says.
Lyricists from the younger generation such as Vyasarpadi-based Rokesh took the dialect to the masses with Danga Maari from Anegan, which leans heavily into slang. Speaking of films, the dialect has found yet another cultural outlet in Gaana, a genre known far beyond Chennai. Rooted in Madras baashai, it tells the stories of working-class communities, particularly of North Chennai.
Beyond this specific dialect, the everyday slang of Chennai’s colleges has a life of its own, with every generation having their own little linguistic starter pack. A generation before millennials had their kadi, enthu cutlet, chappa matter, and peter. Then came the millennials, who grew up during the transition from analogue to digital worlds, bringing lol, cool beans, yolo, and dude into everyday conversation, influenced by pop culture and internet spaces. With Gen Z, much of their slang is influenced by the urban English-speaking internet. Delusion became delulu, suspicious became sus, and there is brainrot, rizz, yapping, to name just a few. What sounded effortlessly cool to millennials can sound ancient to Gen alpha.
For 21-year-old graduates Raghav and Sukesh, slang is also a kind of a code, a way of making sure the people in the room are in on the joke. “We use words like ‘fanum tax’, which is about how we are entitled to take a little bit of our friend’s food. They are now part of our everyday vocab,” they say.
However, Gen alpha has a different rulebook that is likely to leave everyone else scratching their heads. Nine-year-old Prakrithi S. says she knows some Gen Z lingo but uses only words picked up from the online communities of her generation. At school, skibidi, gyatt, and even digits like 6-7 have become part of the vocabulary. “When our teacher asked us to read the sixth and seventh sloka at school, some of us were secretly moving our hands up and down, indicating the digits. It is just about a meme online that doesn’t mean anything, but it makes us happy, like an inside joke,” she shares.
Nekhaa N., a linguistics Master’s graduate from the University of Manchester, explains how the slang, though short-lived, keeps evolving. “The perception of language changes as generation changes, and that changes the way we use words,” she says, adding that slang comes from what we are surrounded by and is a product of exposure. Perhaps this is where the parallel lies. Just as Tamil absorbed words from the many languages it encountered and made them its own in Madras bashai, today’s youth pick up slang from the unhinged, overwhelming digital spaces they inhabit.
Published – August 27, 2026 11:37 pm IST
