mossy
n.— «Mumbai has developed its own language (not to be confused with “Hinglish”). For example, Punjabis are “punjus,” Gujaratis are “gujjus,” Marwaris are “maadus,” Parsis are “bawas,” Sindhis are “vadi sai,” Catholics are “maakapaos,” Muslims are “mossies,” Bengalis are “bongs,” UP-ites are “bhayyas,” South Indians are also all clubbed together as “southies,” Sikhs are “serds” (an English friend of mine calls them “turbanites”) and Maharashtrians are “ghaatis” (that’s me).» —“Mumbai Memoirs: The Mallu Paan-Beedi Shop” by Karma Meet Your Karma (Mumbai, India) Oct. 9, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
League of the Lexicon is a wide-ranging trivia game for language lovers with thousands of questions on all matters linguistic. Creator Joshua Blackburn has also compiled a treasure trove of linguistic delights in a companion volume called The...
Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence developed their own hand signs, with hundreds of gestures, that are still in use today. Plus, how do speakers of different languages distinguish similar shades and tints of colors such as red, yellow...
