TV Stoned? - article on The Hindu

Today I whilst trying to find the origin of the phrase 'off the wagon' I came across an article in The Hindu - which is an English-language Indian daily newspaper :

After explaining 'off the wagon' and how to pronounce 'lambaste' there was this:

Some of my friends can’t take their eyes off the TV whenever there is an IPL match going on. Is there a term for this?
(M Bhasker, Chennai)

When they watch their favourite programme on TV, some people manage to tune out the world. They are unaware of what is happening around them, and if you disturb them, they become angry. Such people are said to be ‘TV stoned’. Like a drug user, they are experiencing the effects of a drug — in this case, TV.

*Hema can’t talk to you right now. She is TV stoned.
www.thehindu.com...

In fairness, they've got a pretty accurate description of someone watching the TV there, but I can honestly say i've never heard anyone use the term 'TV stoned' ever before.

Now I may just be showing my cultural ignorance here, but i'm english and always have been, i've been brought up in multi-cultural areas and have spent enough of my adult life online talking with and reading from english speaking people all over the world and i've never heard this term.

I know this is no ground breaking news or anything, but i'm just interested in if anyone out there on here uses this term?

For me, the term would be 'glued to the TV', whether this is a regional or country dialect I dunno, but never 'TV stoned'. Maybe it's a modern thing due to drug culture and i'm just a bit left behind.

This article amused me for the afternoon anyway, and I now imagine english speaking hindus sparking the term 'TV stoned', well it's certainly got me saying it anyway

I can see this but instead of televisions it's cell phones. Just to give background I'm nineteen, so a lot of my friends are really sucked into Facebook/Instagram/all those apps or whatever you'd call them. But yeah, I couldn't even tell how many times I've been in mid-conversation with someone and their phone will go off, and the person doesn't even check their phone but that initial notification always makes them tune out.

I see this every time I'm with one of my lady friends. Face buried in the glow of a phone, ignoring everyone around them. So I can absolutely see this being the case, and albeit not necessarily 'breaking news' it's interesting.

Cool article. Good thread OP.

reply to post by RomeByFire


Aye I know what you mean. Really pisses me off when i'm talking to someone and they get a text message and just stop conversing in order to reply to it... hang on a minute, i'm stood here in front of you waiting for a response and whoever's text you is elsewhere, expecting a response in, ya know, text time, or something like that.

Suppose thanks to Upendran we can loan this term to the facebook-stoned, text-stoned, twitter-stoned... man, the whole of the west is stoned.

I really liked the guy's response who commented on the article : "I am "Know your English - stoned". Thank you for all these great tips which are rather difficult to come by." - just pure warms my heart.

reply to post by melancholiflower

Aye I know what you mean. Really pisses me off when i'm talking to someone and they get a text message and just stop conversing in order to reply to it...

This is also a major pet peeve of mine, that and people throwing cigarette butts out of their car.

These same people, who have little regard for others, would throw a total hissy-fit if they couldn't have access to their gadgets. Like all spoiled children.

I've never owned a cell phone, iPod or other handheld device and have no plans to get one.