Age and the Bengali (a slightly nostalgic poll/quiz)

[Ajfar]

I know this one for sure. Kew answer chaile amare pm koren, 5 bucks.

[Isnaad]

I know it
...
Off topic: Dilscoop 'uncle' is 40+...?!! :O

[shuziburo]

You can make the sound that this symbol made with the currently used alphabet (I would have jumped all over a statement like that!), but this symbol is no longer a part of our alphabet...

[mufi_02]

Voted. I don't know what this symbol is.

[Zeeshan]

shaad uncle pet burst hoye jache oneker uttor jante chaite...i personally have a specific q

[Nadim]

Originally Posted by Ajfar
I know this one for sure. Kew answer chaile amare pm koren, 5 bucks.

Gonopitani khaite Chan naki?

[Rifat]

I thought it was just the number 9...ouch! How do i unvote...

[Zeeshan]

How it exemplifies the lack of following instructions by so many of us.... (Shaad may be you can divert the research to that thesis? :p)

[simon]

amar mone hoy ei symbol ta hochchey, oije 90s er bangla natok e borolok baba ra kichu easy chair e boshe relax korey, ki hoisey?

[shaad]

Originally Posted by Zeeshan
How it exemplifies the lack of following instructions by so many of us.... (Shaad may be you can divert the research to that thesis? :p)

Tamely follow instructions? Us? Bengalis with our "bidrohi" natures? And on the cusp of these two months, February and March, reflecting our struggles both for our language and our independence?

But seriously, Zeeshan, I think it's a failure on my part. As the poll now stands, it's easy to become confused and check the wrong option. I wanted to include it as a 4 x 2 matrix instead, but couldn't figure out how to do that simply.

[ialbd]

last time I saw this symbol as the alphabet was a good 23-24 years back probably.... but surprisingly was able to retrieve it from my memory very quickly....

it was in one of those alphabet books for sure, but what I cant quite recall is the word/object that was used to represent this alphabet. I think it was sth random like the symbol itself with eyes or sth ('ri' te rishi boshechhe dhyan-e.... then doing sth... and then 'e' te ekka gari khub chhutechhe...).

I guess very few ppl know how to spell/read a word with this letter (I dont know either) which brought its demise. But thanks Shaad bhai for the trip down the memory lane.....

[Tigers_eye]

There were other symbols in Bangla Alphabets which were discontinued not only this one. One with "b" and then cut the pet like pet kata muddhanna shaw.

[shaad]

So, we have already had 35+ members answer this poll. Shall we end the moratorium on discussion of the symbol, or give it a couple of more days? What do you all think?

[Zunaid]

Yeah, this has run its course.

[MohammedC]

You are 30-39 and do NOT know what this symbol is

goru, MohammedC

I am stuck with this goru. Someone age 30-39 please vote in this section

[shaad]

Originally Posted by shaad
So, we have already had 35+ members answer this poll. Shall we end the moratorium on discussion of the symbol, or give it a couple of more days? What do you all think?

Originally Posted by Zunaid
Yeah, this has run its course.

Sounds good to me. ahnaf and isnaad, as the youngest members who know what this symbol is, why don't you guys do the honors of starting us off?

Bonus points for any member, not just ahnaf or isnaad, who uses the symbol in a word.

[Dilscoop]

What does this letter sound like?

[MohammedC]

I think no one knows.

[Ashfaq]

Well this may be used in spelling Brett Lee with much less fuss, but never actually saw it used. The alphabet book I read had the picture of a kathberali (squirrel) as it's applier word. My mother never used it, nor did my grandfather. Kinda fitting that it's disappeared.

[ialbd]

reminds me of Sheldon's joke .... worlds most common last name..

[NoName]

Since its not the number, no!

[ammark]

I didnt recall this letter at all until i saw Nasif bhai's unapproved post. Then I remembered my class 6 Bangla teacher telling us one day about these extinct letters and its name. But I did not recall this one being symbolised this way.

As for the pet-kata-baw/Raw, I knew that one. It is still used in Ahomiyo, and my Assamese friend showed me a notebook of his with that Raw being used to write "Jonoshadharon" only two weeks ago. I think Dhoy-shunno-raw is the next letter to disappear. I havent seen that used in any word except "Ashar" in a LONG time!

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by ialbd
reminds me of Sheldon's joke .... worlds most common last name..

He was then wrong twice.

[shaad]

Originally Posted by ammark
I didnt recall this letter at all until i saw Nasif bhai's unapproved post. Then I remembered my class 6 Bangla teacher telling us one day about these extinct letters and its name. But I did not recall this one being symbolised this way.

As for the pet-kata-baw/Raw, I knew that one. It is still used in Ahomiyo, and my Assamese friend showed me a notebook of his with that Raw being used to write "Jonoshadharon" only two weeks ago. I think Dhoy-shunno-raw is the next letter to disappear. I havent seen that used in any word except "Ashar" in a LONG time!

I would hate to see ঢ় disappear, ammark. Just off the top of my head, I can think of at least a few non-exotic ঢ়-using words: প্রৌঢ়, দৃঢ়, গাঢ় . And I dare say other members can come up with more. I don't know if it's just me, but I like hearing the subtle differences between our consonants, between শ and স for instance.

Personally, it was nice to see ঌ included in the unicode character set for Bangla. I was also rather impressed that they included two other extinct symbols that used to be adjacent to ঌ : ৠ and ৡ , which I am fairly certain were used only as Sanskrit vowels, never in Bangla.

[mufi_02]

Its been a week. Answer den plz!