Greetings
السلام علیکم / Assalam-o-alaikum
as-sa-LAAM o a-LAY-kum
The universal greeting. Lahore expects it before anything transactional — walking into a shop and stating your business without it lands badly.
جی / Jee
jee
'Yes', but really a particle of respect attached to almost everything — 'jee haan' for yes, 'jee' alone as a polite acknowledgement. Lahoris use it constantly.
Social
کی حال اے؟ / Ki haal ae?
kee haal ay
'How are you?' in Punjabi rather than Urdu. Lahore's street language is Punjabi even where the written and official language is Urdu, and using a word of it opens doors.
مہمان نوازی / Mehmān-nawāzi
meh-MAAN na-WAA-zee
Hospitality, and Lahore's self-image in one word. Expect to be fed. Refusing food three times before accepting is a real convention, not a joke.
Food
لسی / Lassi
LAS-see
Salted or sweet yoghurt drink, served in a steel tumbler the size of a bucket. A Lahori summer institution and the correct answer to any July afternoon.
قلفہ / Qulfi
KUL-fee
Dense frozen milk dessert, sold from carts. Lahore takes its street food more seriously than any other Pakistani city and will tell you so.
Daily life
سموگ / Smog
smog
Used in Urdu unchanged. From roughly November to January it dominates conversation, school schedules and government policy here in a way that has no equivalent in Karachi.
کرایہ نامہ / Kiraya nama
ki-RAA-ya NAA-ma
The tenancy agreement. In Punjab, unlike Sindh, registering it is compulsory — and the registration is what gets you into a Rent Tribunal rather than an ordinary court.
چوک / Chowk
chowk
An intersection or square, and the standard unit of Lahori navigation. Nobody gives you a street name; they give you the nearest chowk and a direction.
Work
ان شاء اللہ / InshaAllah
in-shaa-al-LAAH
'God willing' — attached to every future commitment. Sincere, but also the polite delivery vehicle for 'probably not'. Read the tone.
Emergency
15 / 1122 / 1043
pandrah / gyara-bais / dus-taintalees
Police, Rescue 1122 — the Punjab Emergency Service, which handles ambulance, fire and rescue on one number — and the Punjab women's helpline.
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