Know your English
MR. N. S. Mani, Maraimalai Nagar,
Madras, want to know the exact meaning of ‘flak’ and how to use it.
‘Flak’ literally means ‘antiaircraft fire.’ Figuratively, it means severe criticism or abuse.
The proposal to increase the price of petrol has come in for a lot of flak.
It means that the proposal has been severely criticised.
Her recent speech came in for a lot of flak.
The ‘a’ in ‘flak’ is pronounced like the ‘a’ in ‘fan’. ‘Flak’ is also spelt ‘flack’.
Mr. K. Bomma Raju, Malleswaram, Bangalore, wants to know the meaning of (a) Tom, Dick and Harry (b) cakewalk.
‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ is a Victorian term for ‘the man in the street.’ It has a derogatory meaning. It means ‘people unworthy of notice.’
Do not expect me to listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry.
A ‘cakewalk’ is a ‘dance developed from an American black contest in graceful walking with a cake as a prize.’ The prize is given to the couple who walks most gracefully around the cake. Figuratively, it means ‘an easy task.’
Winning from this constituency is not going to be a cakewalk for him.
‘Cakes and ale’ means ‘merry making’, ‘a good time.’
Life is not cakes and ale.
Cakes and ale is the title of a novel by Somerset Maugham. ‘It’s a piece of cake’ means that it is something that can be done with little effort, something that is easily done. ‘To take the cake’ means ‘to be conspicuously foolish, amusing, annoying, astonishing, outrageous.’ This expression is from ‘cakewalk’. It originally meant ‘to win a prize.’ Now it is used ironically.
He takes the cake for sheer stupidity.
‘To take the cake’ or ‘to take the biscuit’ is used informally in British English.
Mr. M. P. V. Shankar, Channapatna, wants to know how to pronounce the past tense of ‘beat’.
It rhymes with ‘feet’ and ‘seat’. Most people in this country pronounce it ‘bet’. It is incorrect. There is no difference in pronunciation between the present and past tense of the word. Their spellings are also the same. Beatbeatbeaten. The ‘ea’ in ‘beaten’ is pronounced the way ‘ea’ is pronounced in the present and past tense of the word.
Mr. V. Sankaran, S.P. Hospital, Madras, wants to know what is meant by ‘backformation.’ development is a linguistic term. It describes the formation of a new word by the removal of the prefix or suffix of an existing word. Generally, verbs are formed in this fashion from nouns and adjectives. The word ‘enthuse’ was formed from ‘enthusiasm,’ ‘laze’ from ‘lazy,’ ‘burgle’ from ‘burglar,’ and ‘edit’ from ‘editor’. Other backformations are legislate, televise, automate, diagnose, liaise, and selfdestruct.
Ms. D. Sailaja Sarma, Ukkunagaram, Visakhapatnam, wants to know the meaning of ‘primrose path’. It means ‘the pursuit of pleasure, especially with disastrous consequences.’ Be careful.
The primrose path appears attractive. But you will be ruined eventually if you take that path.
Published in The Hindu on June 4, 1991