1

Source

All that the proud, rooted people of Gurgaon-Gurugram now need to develop is a ’Gram Culture – apart from visiting malls and believing that microbreweries are really art galleries, minus the art. But then, cutting-edge brand-hurrahing irony that is indigenous will have to be dredged up from somewhere outside Madmen and Mad magazines.

The first one I think is a metaphor.What it intends to say I don't know.Also, a single apostrophe before Gram appears to be a typo.

1
  • 1
    I'm sure that apostrophe in 'Gram is deliberate. It's the same principle as that in earlier written instances of 'Frisco (dropping the first part of San Francisco). Your (ridiculously pretentious) writer thinks it's a "cool" style. Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 13:29

1 Answer 1

2

'Gram culture

Apostrophes can be used to mark abbreviations and contractions. So 'Gram is an abbreviation since the full name of the city is "Gurugram". Calling it 'Gram Culture is fitting since it calls attention to the name change from -gaon to -gram.

So the author believes they need to develop a culture that the author is calling 'Gram Culture.

Now, part of the sense of "culture" here is

culture
a : enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training
b : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills

In other words, there should be a level sophistication associated with this so-called Gram Culture. By writing

believing that microbreweries are really art galleries, minus the art.

I believe the author is making a joke. He is saying that microbreweries do not count as art. So having them as part of the Gram Culture does not really add sophistication to the culture.

brand-hurrahing

One of the definitions of hurrah is

hurrah
hubbub; commotion; fanfare

It is noun, but by writing "brand-hurrahing", I think the author is saying something like "making a commotion about brand(s)", or simply "brand advertising".

2
  • 1
    I disagree about the apostrophe being part of a pair (scare quotes). It's just a "cool" shortening of Gurugram (made more "natural" by the fact that after the rename, those last 4 characters can now be seen as "iconic").. Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 13:19
  • Actually, I realized that right when I posted and add a note about it.
    – Em.
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 13:20

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .