KARACHI: I cringe and squirm when I hear RJs and media people on television freely use the word ‘anyways’ in preference to the correct ‘anyway’, whether they are talking in English or Urdu. Because of a complete dearth of libraries in our cities and the exorbitant prices even of paperback books, today’s teenagers have little choice but to rely on TV programmes on how to use words.
As someone who has lived and worked with people of different nationalities, the use of ‘anyways’ appears to be confined mainly to English speakers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Hindi films are largely responsible for popularising this slang word at the expense of the more dignified ‘anyway’. ‘Anyways’ does come up in Charles Dickens’s writings but it is always used by a rustic character or an uneducated Victorian city dweller with villainy in his heart, and hardly ever by a gentleman. Students seeking to improve their English-speaking ability should desist from using this word at all times, even if they see their favourite TV personality using it repeatedly.
Zahid Islam
Lecturer in English, Sindh Madresatul Islam University
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2012.
