South Asian English is the English accent of many modern-day South Asian countries, inherited from British English dialect. Also known as Anglo-Indian English during the British Raj , the English language was introduced to the Indian subcontinent in the early 17th century and reinforced by the long rule of the British Empire . Today it is spoken as a second language by about 350 million people, 20% of the total population.
5-446: Tiffin is a South Asian English word for a type of meal. It refers to a light breakfast or a light tea-time meal at about 3 p.m., consisting of typical tea-time foods. In certain parts of India, it can also refer to the midday luncheon or, in some regions of the Indian subcontinent , a between-meal snack . When used in place of the word "lunch", however, it does not necessarily mean
10-615: A light meal. In the British Raj , tiffin was used to denote the British custom of afternoon tea that had been supplanted by the Indian practice of having a light meal at that hour. It is derived from "tiffing", an English colloquial term meaning to take a little drink. By 1867 it had become naturalised among Anglo-Indians in northern British India to mean luncheon. In South India and in Nepal, tiffin
15-547: A tiffin box. It is also used heavily in Pakistan where people use tiffin boxes in places like offices, schools or during picnic. This practice is also common in India. When used in place of the word "lunch", tiffin often consists of rice, lentils , curry , vegetables, chapatis or "spicy meats". In addition, the lunch boxes are themselves called tiffin carriers , tiffin-boxes or just tiffins. South Asian English Although it
20-411: Is fairly homogeneous across the subcontinent, sharing "linguistic features and tendencies at virtually all linguistic levels", there are some differences based on various regional factors. South Asian English is sometimes just called "Indian English", as British India included most of modern-day South Asia (except Afghanistan ). But today, the varieties of English are officially divided according to
25-415: Is generally a snack between meals: dosas , idlis , vadas etc. In other parts of India, such as Mumbai , the word mostly refers to a packed lunch of some sort. In Mumbai, it is often delivered to them by dabbawalas , sometimes known as tiffin wallahs , who use a complex system to get thousands of tiffin carriers to their destinations. In most of India, a school-going child's lunch box is fondly called
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