Social Media User’s ‘Today Morning’ Slip Sparks Global Conversation On Indian English

When conversing in English, we use and hear a number of phrases that sound authentic because they are deeply embedded in our lexicon. Indians, for instance, frequently use the term “only” while saying things like “He is like that only” or “I told you only yesterday”. These phrases may sound strange to native English speakers, though.

That does not, however, imply that they won’t eventually pick up these phrases. Recently, an X user described how having Indian coworkers made him utter “today morning” at a meeting.

Notably, Indians frequently use “today morning” when speaking, even though the correct expression is “this morning.” “I’ve had Indian coworkers for so long I just said “today morning” in stand up,” X user shared.

The post has received over 3 million views on the microblogging platform.

A user brought up the fact that Shakespeare had used the words “today morning.”

“I should have given it to you today morning, but as a madman’s epistles are no gospels, so it skills not much when they are delivered. — Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, decidedly not Indian,” the user wrote.

Other Indian expressions like “doing the needful” were shared by a few X users.

A user commented, “I’ve had Indian co-workers for so long I tell me wife to do the needful.”

Another user humorously asked, “Do you then do the needful?”

A user mentioned, “Ever used the word “prepone”? I realized a few years ago it’s not actually a real word but something us Indians just used so much it became common.”

Yet another user pointed out, “I work with expat children & sometimes find myself saying that an item is “yellow in color”.”

Giving out an explanation, a user stated, “Haha well in Hindi for example we say “aaj subah…” which literally translates into “today morning” – I guess that’s where it comes from.”

Statista estimates that 1.5 billion people spoke English as a second language or as their native tongue globally in 2023.

India was rated #60 in the world in the English Proficiency Index (2023) with a score of around 500 out of 800.

India has over 129 million English-speaking individuals worldwide, accounting for nearly 9% of the total anglophone population. With little over 300 million speakers, the United States has the largest English-speaking population in the world, followed by India.