Know your English
“Mr. R. Saravanan, Golden Rock, wants to know the meaning of the idiom ‘to paint the town red.’”
“‘To paint the town red’ means ‘to have an enjoyable, noisy time; to cause some disturbance in town by having a noisy and a disorderly spree.’ It is a colloquial expression of American origin.
After the final examination, the students painted the town red.”
“Mr. G. D. Sharma, T. Nagar, Madras, wants to know which is correct: (a) dispossess of (b) dispossess for.”
“It is ‘dispossess of’. It means ‘to deprive.’
They were dispossessed of their property.”
“Mr. R. Sundar Raman wants to know the meaning of ‘Man Friday.’”
“‘Man Friday’ is a helper or a follower. This expression is from Daniel Defoe’s
Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe finds a young savage on a Friday on the desert island. The savage becomes his faithful and willing servant and he was called Man Friday.”
“Mr. L. Krishnaswami Bharati, Anna Nagar, Madras, wants to know the exact meaning of: riches, wealth, opulence.”
“‘Riches’ means ‘abundant means, valuable possession.’
He amassed riches in a short period. Wealth also means ‘riches.’ ‘Wealth’ implies a style of living in keeping with one’s riches. ‘Opulence’ means ‘very great and splendid wealth.’ Opulence implies a showy display of wealth.”
“Mr. C. Nagananda Rao, Triplicane, Madras, wants to know the origin of ‘rightists’ and ‘leftists.’”
“In the French National Assembly of 1789, the reactionaries sat on the right, the democrats and the extremists on the left, and the moderates in the middle. The term leftist is applied now to socialists and communists, and rightist to conservatives. I do not know whether the words will undergo some change in meaning in the light of the recent ‘revolutions’ in East Europe. The people were against ‘farleft hardline’ communists. Are they, therefore, rightists? Mr. Gorbachev has introduced some changes, but his opponents want to conserve communism. Who is a reactionary here? It is all confusing! Has left become right and right left? Is ‘left’ equal to ‘right’? I would like to have readers’ views on the present meaning of ‘right’ and ‘left.’”
“Ms. Jayashree Pathak, Bhubaneswar, wants to know whether ‘visit’ and ‘visit with’ mean the same.”
“No. ‘Visit with’ is an American expression. It is not an alternative to
‘visit.’ ‘Visit with’ means ‘to chat,’ ‘to converse.’ When you visit with someone, you take the trouble of going to someone for a friendly talk. ‘Visit with’ has connotations of friendliness.
I visited with him for an hour.
‘Visit with’ originated in the southern U.S. in the 19th century. Some British writers’ have criticised ‘visit with’ without realising that it is an American idiom. Occasionally ‘visit with’ is used to mean ‘to chat’ without any visit!
I visited with him over the phone last week.”
Published in The Hindu on June 18, 1991.