It is rare for an American political scientist to achieve instant brand recall in India – without ever contesting an election, chairing a panel on Times Now, or being spotted at an Ambani wedding.
But Christine Fair has managed it with a single word. And what a word! A word that has travelled from Hyderabad streets to Delhi bus stands, from Bollywood scripts to office canteens – before finally reaching the exalted orbit of Donald J. Trump, courtesy of Ms. Fair’s choicest slur.
Four years of ‘chu*ya’ on the global stage
When Fair called Trump a chu*ya, one could almost hear a billion Indians nod in bipartisan satisfaction. ‘Four years of this ch*ya,’ she declared, and the sobriquet fit as snugly as a MAGA cap on Mar-a-Lago.
Pure poetic justice
The timing was pure poetic justice. Trump’s tariffs on Indian goods made even a packet of Parle-G seem like smuggled Swiss chocolate. ‘America First’ had morphed into ‘India Last’ at the customs counter. And Fair, bless her, bestowed upon the tariff-happy Commander-in-Chief a title that truly captured the essence of his diplomacy – Most Favoured Ch**ya.
From friendly banter to road rage
The word ch**ya is a shapeshifter. In India, depending on tone, context, and decibel level, it can mean anything from ‘harmless fool’ to ‘catastrophic blunder-machine’. It is the affectionate jibe among engineering students for a roommate who misses lab submissions. The venomous dart from a driver on any Indian road at an irritating autowala. The whisper-like irritation of a politician when the mic glitches.
Intentional venomous dart
And now? It is international. Christine Fair did not stop at verbal fireworks; she even engraved it on her car license nce plate. That is commitment of the highest order. Our netas get offended when labelled naalayak, but here is an American professor proudly cruising Washington with the vehicular equivalent of a Hyderabad gully insult.
Real-world linguistic insight
Pronunciation /ˈchuːtɪ.ja/ As a note of authentic context: chutiya (or ch**ya) is indeed a Hindi/Urdu slang term meaning ‘idiot’, ‘fool’, or more harshly, ‘asshole’, depending on usage – widely used across India and Pakistan.
While it can be affectionate among close friends, it is definitely not polite in formal settings. Has any other non-native dared this before? Fair stands alone, like Vasco da Gama of bad words, opening up a new trade route in abuses.
Tariff-free intellectual property
In fact, India should immediately patent the term. If Trump can slap hefty tariffs on our aluminium and basmati, surely we can slap a royalty on every time an American drops a ch**ya at a Georgetown faculty party. After all, in the global bazaar of insults, this is our original intellectual property.
A richly deserved sobriquet
Let us salute Christine Fair – not just a scholar of South Asia, but now also custodian of its most export-worthy three-syllable word. She has conferred upon Trump the sobriquet he so richly deserves, and in doing so, gifted India something rare – truly tariff-free, laughter-fuelled diplomacy.
