Elevator or Lift?

The English language is very diverse and different regions have slightly different vocabularies, and India and the US are no exception to this rule. Even though a vast majority of the people you will interact with in India will know English, their word usage is likely to be different. Here I wanted to go over some of these words/phrases common to Indian English.

• An elevator is almost always called a lift. e.g. take the lift to the fourth floor.
• Confusingly enough giving someone a ride is also called giving someone a lift.
  
• The floor system is also different, we call the floor on the ground level "ground floor", the next level up is the first floor, and so on.
  
• Eggplant is called Brinjal in India.
• Cilantro the leaf is called coriander, and so is the seed.
• Restroom isn't a commonly used word, bathroom or toilet will work best.
• Green peppers are called capsicum.
• Chilli in India exclusively refers to spicy chili peppers.
• 1 lakh = 100,000 (10^5) and 1 crore = 10,000,000 (10^7). Lakh and Crore are commonly used in the context of money or population.
• Eye glasses are called specs (short for spectacles)

Below are some of the phrases from a Wikipedia article (I recommend taking a look at it if you get a chance) -

• "Eve teasing" - Verbal sexual harassment women
• "to be fired" - to be yelled at.
  
• "Where are you put up?" means Where are you currently staying?.
• "Where do you stay?" is the same as Where do you live? or Where's your house?.
• "to shift" - to move (eg. to shift from one apartment to another).
• "Out of station" means out of town.
• "acting pricey" means playing hard to get or being snobbish.
• "to pass out" means to graduate, as in "I passed out of the university in 1995".
• "Timepass" means Doing something for leisure but with no intention or target or procrastinating or pastime.
• "Hill Station" - mountain resort.
• "stepney" refers to a spare tire.
• "loose motion" - diarrhea.
• "expire" - To die, especially in reference to one's family member.

There are also phrases and idioms that are used in the US that are very uncommon in Indian English, so if it appears that someone is having trouble understanding you, just break it down into simpler/basic sentences.

Lastly, be prepared for people to say W like V (yes, just like the Germans do). Not everyone will do this, but many people will (vill).