effendi

[TRex]

This is classified as a common word, but doesn't seem very common to me.

[ensiform]

I beg to differ, effendi. 

I've read it, all my life, in various books.

[mkenuk]

I think I have to agree with ensiform. Growing up as a young lad (and an avid reader) in the 50s, boys' literature largely consisted of adventure stories set in the far-flung reaches of the European empires; 'Beau Geste' (P.C. Wren) and 'Sanders of the River' (Edgar Wallace) are two which come to mind; many of these books would now be condemned (justifiably) as racist; however, they were full of words like 'effendi', 'sahib', 'bwana' and 'pasha'. At the time, of course, I didn't really know what these words meant: - they were just things that people said in foreign countries. The words have stuck with me, however. How common they are today is another matter. I doubt very much if they would be used in children's literature today.

[Alan W]

Maybe the word will make a come-back, if only because it's so easy to abbreviate for texting or Twitter: FND.

[birdy]

I read the same books as Mkenuk, apparently* - add Kim and the rest of Kipling, and H. Rider Haggard to the mix.  So the word didn't strike me as uncommon.


*No Nancy Drew or Sue Barton for me!  Our library had virtually no book budget, so as a child, I read all the books donated by readers of an earlier generation - Tarzan, Hopalong Cassidy, Tom Swift, Mark Tidd.

[mkenuk]

I suspect Birdy grew up on the other side of the Atlantic, so a couple of the names he mentions are unfamiliar. We used to watch cowboy films, but hardly ever read cowboy books. Tarzan, of course, was a favourite; G.A Henty wrote (seemingly) hundreds of 'boys own' historical adventures with titles like 'With Clive in India'; among others that I devoured were Conan Doyle's 'Challenger' adventures and  (more 'adult' and 'daring') the Bulldog Drummond stories by 'Sapper' and the Fu Manchu tales by Sax Rohmer. All incredibly jingoistic and racist, aimed at perpetuating the idea that 'the sun never sets on the British Empire'. Most of them would be banned now, of course. They culminated in the 50s in the James Bond novels of Ian Fleming; Bond was above all things, the defender of British values, and would expect to be addressed as 'effendi' or 'sahib' depending where he was.

[ilandrah]

I have to agree with you TRex - I had never seen the word before and needed to google the definition.
I guess from the other responses here though that age plays a major part in the differentiation on what is common to me or to others - certainly as much as location.

[pat]

I reckon you're on to something there, Alan. I'm surprised it hasn't already caught on.

 

[anonsi]

I'm with TRex and Ilandrah on this one. I've never heard of it.

[technomc]

Me 3....

[Alan W]

It seems that some know the word quite well, while others don't know it at all. That makes it not common, I think, so I'll change its status.

Incidentally, I spotted this article, stating that Kipling gave the nickname Effendi to the head of the Doubleday publishing firm, Frank Nelson Doubleday, alluding to his initials.

The word is from the Turkish, but its ultimate source is Greek, and it's related to authentic.