Please do the needful

[Asher]

At work, we've got a very large contingent of off-site Indian employees. This phrase, "Please do the needful" is propping up constantly. I thought it was a running joke.

It turns out it's a real phrase. What the hell? I think it's a holdover from Queen's English, and apparently it's a real phrase commonly used in India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_needful

Here I was thinking it was Engrish.

What other obscure/regional phrases are there that I can use in my vocabulary?

[LordShiva]

It is very common in India. Next time you're talking to one of them, tell them that "[they] will be intimated of [your] progress shortly."

[Lorizael]

Do the neeful. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy. Every single Jedi, including your friend Obiwan Kenobi, is now an enemy of the Republic.

[Pekka]

LS, "YOU WILL BE INTIMIDATED BY MY PROGRESS SHORTLY!".. wtf?

[Blake]

So it's like "Please do the rightful"

With "needful" being a word like "goodly", a valid word but not used much.

[Elok]

Well, I know from my brief flirtation with scam-baiting that "modalities" is an adorably old-fashioned way of saying "protocols" or "ways of doing stuff." The 'mugus,' as they're called, use that one all the time, under the impression that it's how lawyers talk or something.

EDIT: I saw Firefox's spell-check didn't balk at 'modality' and looked it up...sure enough, wiki sez it has a number of legitimate uses across a variety of fields including music, law, linguistics...none of those uses are at all related to the scammer meaning of the term though.

Also, "do the needful" sounds kind of like a really weird kind of dirty-talk. "Hey, baby, let's go back to my place and do the needful!"

[Q Classic]

lol indians

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Re: Please do the needful

Originally posted by Asher

What other obscure/regional phrases are there that I can use in my vocabulary?

"Sorry. I was wong."

[SlowwHand]

Well-played, Laz.

[mactbone]

That's crazy, I just thought someone taught some broken english and since we're all working together nobody wanted to be a dick and correct them.