Boss

Meaning: It's a word that gets used, most often, for ordering food in Bombay. For instance, "Boss, do chapati lana." I don't think I've ever heard people use it anywhere else. Boss is a very Bombay word that is used when you don't actually mean 'boss'. When I use boss to order something outside of Bombay, I receive strange stares. It gets used even in arguments like, "Boss, yeh kya chal raha hai?" And then it is also used when you want to make a point, "Boss, this is not how it works." It can almost sound a bit insulting to out-of-towners in this context.

Faezeh Jalali is a theatre actor and director