"Do the needful": the Indian English phrase that works surprisingly well on AI agents

moultano · x · 2026-11-09

Grant Slatton points out that "do the needful", a common Indian English phrase, works surprisingly well for directing AI agents — it compactly conveys "do whatever is appropriate." Reposter moultano adds more useful borrowings from Indian English: "prepone" as the missing opposite of postpone, and "sleep" used as an inceptive verb.

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