Why 'Chutiya' Is Not An Expletive.

For Reader's Discretion: The following is an attempt to explain the usage of the beloved, much loved, adored and most commonly  Indian remark Chutiya. If the word sends the yucky feel down your spine, please read the other 61 posts on my blog ;)
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When most of us listen to the Hindi word Chutiya and its two most commonly used derivatives, Chutiyapa and Chutiyagiri, we get a little uncomfortable.

A lot of these people take offense because literally, it means, 'born through the vagina' and the profane 'cunt born'.

Unfortunately the people who take offense don't know that the word may have come into existence from the above explanation, but it does not mean the same thing!

For ex. the exclamation 'Oh  Shit' is not uttered when someone encounters faeces in it's innumerable sizes, shapes, textures, smells and forms! Is it?

Chutiya can be defined as 'a uniquely Indian expletive which is endearing and rather harmless compared to other abuses, classifying the recipient as an idiot, ignoramus or someone behaving stupidly'. (definition sourced from www.urbandictionary.com) 

Chutiya is a word which is often found in the lexicon of many households, which is equally uttered by women. This should not surprise you. These people know that the word is not a verbal abuse, but a term to describe a moron. The usage is similar to the American slang word 'dumbo' to describe a stupid and especially dim-witted person.


We must understand that our Hindi word is very dynamic and usage is prolific. Our word is neither an expletive nor a verbal abuse, it is slang-ish. verbal banter.

We are smart enough to understand the difference between an expletive and a verbal exclamation.

A person will take offense of this friendly world, depending on the context in which it is spoken. Let me exemplify it for you give you a few examples.

Ex. 1: An employee has been asked by his boss to do a simple task, and yet he keeps on failing to complete it, and the boss in frustration says, "Abbe Chutiye", then the recipient will get angry because in this case, the boss is directly commenting on this employee's intelligence and capability, leading to anguish in employee's mind.

Now, see the same word when spoken in a different context .

Ex. 2: A group of friends decide to watch the latest release 'Babloo Can't Dance' and Pappu volunteers to get the tickets, but when he reaches the venue he realises that he has forgotten to bring money to buy the tickets. When Pappu calls one of his friends, he yells at him, "Abbe Pappu, kya chutiya hai be tu! You wait, I''ll come there with the money". In this case the recipient won't get angry and most probably when the friend comes, Pappu himself will have a good laugh at his stupidity.  

In both the cases, the doer acts stupidly. When the word is uttered in a formal setting (Ex. 1) it is interpreted as a verbal abuse; but, in a casual setting (Ex. 2) it is interpreted as a remark highlighting the doer's stupidity, which the doer himself, in all probability, would laugh at.

The most common derivative of Chutiya is Chutiyapa and Chutiyagiri. Both the derivatives mean the stupid action of a stupid person. So Ex.1 could have been, "Kya chutiyagiri kar rahe ho?" and ex. 2 could have been, "Kya chutiyapa kia yaar?"

Why am I trying to write a 'scholarly article' on this word? The word which the society dubs as an expletive but yet the people living in it love to speak? Because words in itself do not have a meaning. One word has different connotations depending on it's usage, context, setting, tonality, etc. We cannot blatantly penalize people for using a word!

The matter here is not of this one word, but words in general. Think about it...


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1) Thanks Mihir for pointing the grammatical errors.
2) This shows that I should not post the first draft or in haste!