[escherplex]

Interesting that a synonym for கறி is தேய் which google-tamil translates as either curry or chafe the later meaning to warm by rubbing which then may be an attempt to curry favor with someone :)

[stubish]

If you curry a horse, you are (generally) not cooking it but brushing it with a curry comb (the chafe or rubbing meaning). This would be where 'currying favor' comes from, since horses tend to like being curried.

If Google Translate is machine learned for Tamil->English, I suspect it is just confused.

[escherplex]

That was simply an amusing illustration of an English word which lacks a clean etymology or consistent usage