Instruction on the proper use of the word "Aiyo"

[leaf]

I came across Dustdevil's (I think this is you, dd) delightful Tumblr SI Film Heroes Do Your Chores and I can't help but notice that she, like many non-SIs, misuses the word "aiyo". I have a lot of North Indian friends who come up to me and ask things like, "Aiyo (not to be confused with "Ay yo"), want to watch a movie tonight?" and I'm forced to correct them. The way I use it and I've heard other people use it is as an exclamation of alarm or distress or sympathy, not of happiness or as a means to hail someone. Do other South Indians have any insight into the usage of this term?

[mala]

I'm totally in agreement with you on the correct usage of this term.

[los angeles]

Yea Leaf and Mala, I think I've been saying this wrong since my Simran SI movie days started years ago...everything with my quiet windows-up cursing out of bad drivers in LA is going all Punjabi-Hinglish-SI crazy..."Aiyohh-Marjaana-Idiot-Kahin-Ka" is very satisfying when battling crazy drivers in swerving traffic on the 101, but surely all inaccurate
Distress, or alarm or sympathy--I ought to remember now.
I can say this when a car is coming at me the wrong way though, I think, yea? Like "Oh no!!!"

Edited--shucks I need another afternoon latte to wake me up, an "Aiyohh" with a car coming would be alarm and distress, so should be totally fine. Hehe

[latishya]

This sounds like  another instance of a word from one language being adopted by by another and put to a different use. Language is the ultimate democracy, words mean whatever their users make them mean, so if enough Nth Indians use "Aiyo" differently to the way Sth Indians do, then the new meaning is correct in that setting.

[leaf]

This sounds like  another instance of a word from one language being adopted by by another and put to a different use. Language is the ultimate democracy, words mean whatever their users make them mean, so if enough Nth Indians use "Aiyo" differently to the way Sth Indians do, then the new meaning is correct in that setting.

Except most North Indians don't really use the word in their daily life like LA does, and she does so because of her exposure to SI cinema. They tend to say it as a joke to their South Indian friends or when they are talking about something related to SI. I'll give that if this becomes even a minor trend among self-identified North Indians who have nothing to do with the South that the meaning has changed, but that is not really the present state.

[dustdevil]

Heh, I just came across this thread, and have to own up that it is indeed my tumblr, that has the mispelling AND improper usage of aiyo. 

If I change it to "Aiyo, SI Film Heroes Forget to Do Your Chores", might that be more correct? 

[leaf]

Heh, I just came across this thread, and have to own up that it is indeed my tumblr, that has the mispelling AND improper usage of aiyo. 

Well, there's not proper way to transliterate and transliterate a word that is comparable to "Ugh!" in English, so that's not a problem

If I change it to "Aiyo, SI Film Heroes Forget to Do Your Chores", might that be more correct? 

Yep.

[UpendraS]

Didn't Mehmood show us the proper way in Padosan?

[anbuzan]

Aiyo means 'yes' in Armenian.  But that doesn't have anything to do with this...

[*kat]

There's something very satisfying about using 'aiyo' as an exclamation!  I've also heard 'aiyayo' as an extended form... saw the Bharatanatyam dancer Priyadarshini Govind explain one of her items "Kodi koosein aiyayo" ... a heroine has been waiting all night for her lover to arrive and when he finally does, just as she is about to embrace him, the stupid rooster outside crows  (aiyayo!) and her lover has to leave again.   

[LinKarish]

Aiyo means 'yes' in Armenian.  But that doesn't have anything to do with this...

Koreans also say 'aigoo' in a similar way to 'aiyyo'. I wonder if there's a connection. And I think I've heard something similar to 'aiyoo' being used a few times in Taiwanese dramas, but not too sure.  But the Korean 'aigoo' is hard to miss.

There's something very satisfying about using 'aiyo' as an exclamation! I've also heard 'aiyayo' as an extended form... saw the Bharatanatyam dancer Priyadarshini Govind explain one of her items "Kodi koosein aiyayo" ... a heroine has been waiting all night for her lover to arrive and when he finally does, just as she is about to embrace him, the stupid rooster outside crows  (aiyayo!) and her lover has to leave again.   

Hee! A few years ago, I exclaimed aiyayo all of the sudden when walking with some friends because I realized I had forgotten something.  At that moment I realized I had become desi-fied.

[Dil Bert]

And I think I've heard something similar to 'aiyoo' being used a few times in Taiwanese dramas, but not too sure.

In Mandarin there are:

aiya 哎呀 interjection (of wonder/admiration/shock)

aiyo 哎哟 interjection (of surprise/pain)

among others.

[LinKarish]

In Mandarin there are:

aiya 哎呀 interjection (of wonder/admiration/shock)

aiyo 哎哟 interjection (of surprise/pain)

among others.

Thanks. I've wondered if I was just projecting. Good to know the exact words and meanings/usage.

[jjake61]

So Aiyo is definetly the same as "Uff Dah" as Minnesotans use the phrase.  It's never said if happy or a happy exclaimation..only sorrow, disgust, alarm, symapathy, distres  etc...

Uff Dah! that guy is an idiot!

Uff Dah! that was too heavy to lift.  Uff Dah! My Back!

Your car got towed? Uff Dah! that sucks.

If you substituted Aiyo for Uff dah all those uses would be correct yes?  Maybe the only difference would be you wouldn't say "Uff Dah! when you saw a poisonous snake..but Aiyo would work for that.

A Minnesotan would instead say..(very dead pan without alarm) "Uff Dah..that snake really had me scared for a minute there donchya know." 

[Dariya]

Just watch Bommarillu and the correct use of "Aiyo!" will be obvious.  I started saying it all the time after seeing that, mostly because I thought it was a cute way of expressing exasperation.

[Roj Blake]

Basically the same in Cantonese and probably other Chinese dialects too ... The meaning seems the same as the Tamil usage and I wonder if it is a common expression that started during a time of cultural interchange/trade or through interaction in Southeast Asia.  It seems unlikely to be completely coincidental.

In Mandarin there are:

aiya 哎呀 interjection (of wonder/admiration/shock)

aiyo 哎哟 interjection (of surprise/pain)

among others.