# Urdu/Hindi: teri aisi ki taisi



## lcfatima

How would you translate the expression "aisi ki taisi" into English?

As in "teri aisi ki taisi"

Could one also say "aisa ka taisa" to a male?


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## Illuminatus

The expression is one used to express a sort of anger, as in, erm...
A is talking lots of rubbish about B. B listens quietly at first, and then mumbles, _Teri aisi ki taisi_, and starts hitting A.

I gave a very crude example, the first one that came to my mind.

I can't think of any English translation. But, the term is gender independent. You won't say _tera aisa ka taisa_ to a guy.


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## huhmzah

Haha, nice example Illuminatus 
And yes, aisi ki taisi stays "aisi *ki* taisi"  cuz grammatically it's "aisi's" taisi and "aisi" is feminine.
I dno if I can do any better than Illuminatus at explaining the expression but it means something like the english expression "I'll deal with you" or "I'll deal with him" but not exactly very polite 
Example:

Amir: Chalo, Football khelén?
Salim: Nahin, Karim ki team hamén hamésha harâ déti hê (harâ déna = to beat / defeat)
Amir: Unki aisi ki taisi! aj unki bâri hê, hârné ki...

(Amir: C'mon, (wanna) play Football?
Salim: No, Karim's team always beats us!
Amir: Their "aisi-ki-taisi", today it's their turn, to lose...)
(as in -- "we'll show them!", or "we'll deal with them!")

You can either use the verbal expression: "Kisi-ki aisi ki taisi karna" (doing  someone's aisi-ki-taisi)
OR you can use just the expression "Kisi-ki aisi ki taisi" -- "Tumhari aisi ki taisi, uski aisi ki taisi, unki aisi ki taisi" -- in which case its more of an "exclamation!" 

Another example:

Shehzad (m) and Feryal (f) are walking down the school's corridor when Feroz (the bad guy) walks up to Feryal and tries to flirt with her. Shehzad's super annoyed and goes:

"Oye! Feroz! Tum agar phir iske qareeb aye to mên tumhari aisi ki taisi kardûn-ga, samjhé?!"

"Hey! Feroz!  If you come near her again, I'll aisi-ki-taisi you, got it?!"
(deal with you, beat you up, show you who's boss etc..)


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## Illuminatus

Wonderful examples!

Let me say that, in some cases, the term can be the Hindi equivalent of _Screw You/Him/Them!_


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## huhmzah

Yeaaaaaaaaaah! That's the word! You've got it -- bravo 

"Teri aisi ki taisi!!" = "screw you" + words you say right before you pounce on someone.


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## Illuminatus

I will just add a minor clarification. Although the examples we have given have a physical element in them, that is not necessary. You might say this while discussing how somebody regularly beats you in some test or something


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## lcfatima

Main tumhari aisi ki taisi kar doongi! That's a nice one.


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## panjabigator

How would you say that in Panjabi?


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## Rishiraj

The expression "aisi ki taisi" can be translated as "Go to hell", "let them go to hell", "Damn it" etc.


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## Not.A.Linguist

I'd associate the phrase with English equivalent words like "Damn", "Hell", "Fuck" etc. For instance in English you'd say "Damn it", "What the hell", What the fuck". These are the place where the phrase would be used.

When said directly to someone by prefixing "teri to", it would mean "Fuck you", "Damn you".


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## Subhash Kumar

I think "they/he/she/you had it" would be a short translation of "aisi ki taisi".
Example; If he behaves badly again, then he had it!


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## Qureshpor

lcfatima said:


> How would you translate the expression "aisi ki taisi" into English?
> 
> As in "teri aisi ki taisi"



un kii aisii kii taisii = To hell with them!


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## Qureshpor

lcfatima said:


> How would you translate the expression "aisi ki taisi" into English?
> 
> As in "teri aisi ki taisi"



un kii aisii kii taisii = To hell with them!


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## Abu Talha

I would like to disagree a little with some of the replies. To me the phrase implies an imminent counteraction to someone's initial aggressive action. 
I don't think it would be used in a dismissive nature like "to hell with you", etc.

 Although mild and used often jokingly, I thought it might be the mild version of a much more offensive slur involving "teri ...". Another example would be "teri khair howe" in Punjabi-Urdu. As if the person automatically reacted with "teri", and then thought better to change the rest to a more PG version. That's why I was/am more comfortable with "aisi ki taisi" without the "teri". Anyone else has this scruple, or did I just invent it myself?


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## greatbear

daee said:


> I would like to disagree a little with some of the replies. To me the phrase implies an imminent counteraction to someone's initial aggressive action.
> I don't think it would be used in a dismissive nature like "to hell with you", etc.
> 
> Although mild and used often jokingly, I thought it might be the mild version of a much more offensive slur involving "teri ...". Another example would be "teri khair howe" in Punjabi-Urdu. As if the person automatically reacted with "teri", and then thought better to change the rest to a more PG version. That's why I was/am more comfortable with "aisi ki taisi" without the "teri". Anyone else has this scruple, or did I just invent it myself?



"aisi ki taisi karna" means simply "to make a mincemeat of"; it doesn't always imply a reaction or counteraction - it could in itself be that aggressive action.

To take an example, say I am recounting how someone insulted me in a party in front of everybody. I could say "usne sabke saamne meri aisi ki taisi kar daali!"


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## Abu Talha

greatbear said:


> "aisi ki taisi karna" means simply "to make a mincemeat of"; it doesn't always imply a reaction or counteraction - it could in itself be that aggressive action.
> 
> To take an example, say I am recounting how someone insulted me in a party in front of everybody. I could say "usne sabke saamne meri aisi ki taisi kar daali!"


Hmm... Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I would employ it in this situation. For me, the phrase is the short form of 
tu ne ye jo *aisa* kia hai, meN tere us aise ka *taisa* bana dooN ga!
OR
tu *aisa* jo karna chaah raha hai, meN tere us aise ka *taisa* bana dooN ga!
i.e. I'll render your aisa completely useless, broken and spent, so back off/beware!

However, because this is so colloquial, there may be varying usages.

EDIT: By the way, the initial aisa can be quite insubstantial, and perhaps only in the mind of the person who then utters this phrase. For example he might deem someone's speech an affront, say "teri aisi ki taisi", and then proceed to pounce on him.

After some thinking, I think I might use it in the situation you describe but only if I had tried to do some "aisi" before he turned my "aisi" into a "taisi". 

Again, perhaps there is no right and wrong here, except that the other guy is wrong and deserves to be "aisi ki taisi"ed!


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## greatbear

Your reasoning is great, but it only explains how the expression came up. Now, it is used in many more ways. The whole "aisi ki taisi karnaa" almost replaces euphemistically some other verb that would be not so great to hear at times.


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## greatbear

Oh, I didn't see the edit. Yeah, the other guy does need to be "aisi ki taisi"ed


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## Qureshpor

daee said:


> I would like to disagree a little with some of the replies. To me the phrase implies an imminent counteraction to someone's initial aggressive action. I don't think it would be used in a dismissive nature like "to hell with you", etc. /QUOTE]
> 
> daee SaaHib. I agree that "To hell with you" is not an accurate rendering in all situations of "aisii kii taisii" and one has to come up with an appropriate translation depending on the context. One could say that in one context it could mean "Who does he/she think he/she is!!" In short, it carries slightly different connotations depending on the situation but it does carry a confrontational reaction to someone else's action that is considered to be unacceptable.


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## Qureshpor

daee said:


> Hmm... Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I would employ it in this situation. For me, the phrase is the short form of
> 
> tu ne ye jo *aisa* kia hai, meN tere us aise ka *taisa* bana dooN ga!
> 
> OR
> 
> tu *aisa* jo karna chaah raha hai, meN tere us aise ka *taisa* bana dooN ga!
> i.e. I'll render your aisa completely useless, broken and spent, so back off/beware!
> 
> However, because this is so colloquial, there may be varying usages.
> 
> EDIT: By the way, the initial aisa can be quite insubstantial, and perhaps only in the mind of the person who then utters this phrase. For example he might deem someone's speech an affront, say "teri aisi ki taisi", and then proceed to pounce on him.
> 
> After some thinking, I think I might use it in the situation you describe but only if I had tried to do some "aisi" before he turned my "aisi" into a "taisi".
> 
> Again, perhaps there is no right and wrong here, except that the other guy is wrong and deserves to be "aisi ki taisi"ed!




"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" 

This is usually given as "Newton's third law of motion". People seem to forget that we thought of this a long long time before Newton! It just happens that we have put it in such a concise manner that people have failed to recognise its true significance!!

  aisii kii taisii

This is more like an equation really!

Forum members might think I am joking. Well, you might have heard of "Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle". In essence, he said ( in 1927,in terms of quantam mechanics) that no observation can be made without affecting the observed. Our Mirza Ghalib has said exactly the same but in a much more eloquent way.

un ke dekhe se jo aa jaatii hai muNh par raunaq
vuh samajhte haiN kih biimaar kaa Haal achchhaa hai!

When her gaze brings radiance and life to my face
She thinks that this sick man is quite healthy really!


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## MonsieurGonzalito

Sorry to be obtuse, but I still don't quite understand what "aisii kii taisii" or "aisii kii taisii karnaa" mean  

The following references don't seem to help much, each one seems to have a different definition.
Urdu Lughat
ایسی تیسی کرنا - Wiktionary
किसी की ऐसी की तैसी करना  kisi ki aisi ki taisi karna - Language Forums by Shabdkosh.com - Shabdkosh.com


Is it the whole idea that something is _reciprocal_?
So, to respond to an insult, _"terii aisii kii taisii"_ would mean  " ... and same to you"?

And what about _"aisii kii taisii karnaa"_? "to do things reciprocally"? "to go both ways"? "to give as much as one takes"?

[Edit: The Oxford Urdu dictionary, to which I can't link, gives yet another: "bad end"]


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## littlepond

Posts 3 and 15 give a good explanation: what don't you understand after reading them, @MonsieurGonzalito jii? (And as you can read there, it doesn't have to be, in fact usually is not, reciprocal.)


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## littlepond

MonsieurGonzalito said:


> _"terii aisii kii taisii"_ would mean  " ... and same to you"?



No. Post 15 has given a good translation: "I'll make a mincemeat of you."


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