She was on cloud nine yesterday

I have to give the children a bath before they go for their extracurricular activities

What it the meaning and origin of the expression ‘on cloud nine’? ( Jyothi Hariharan, Secunderabad)

When someone says that they are on cloud nine, they are implying they are on top of the world. They are extremely happy with the way things are, and as far as they are concerned, God is in his heaven and all is right with the world! The idiom has more or less the same meaning as another popular expression — ‘in seventh heaven’. According to scholars, the expression ‘in seventh heaven’ gave rise to ‘on cloud seven’; it was only years later that ‘seven’ became ‘nine’.

When Sheba heard she had been promoted, she was on cloud nine.

Meteorologists, who take special interest in clouds, label thunderstorm clouds as ‘cloud nine’. These clouds, also known as ‘cumulonimbus’ clouds, rise to over 40,000 feet. So, if you are ‘on’ one of them and looking down, there is every reason for you to be ecstatic — for you will be on top of the world! Radio buffs believe that the weekly series about a private investigator, ‘Johnny Dollar’, broadcast in the 1950s, popularised the use of the idiom.

Can the word ‘bath’ be used as a verb as well? (K. Chethan, Madurai)

Yes, it can. It is much more common, however, to hear the word being used as a noun. We very often hear people say, ‘I take a bath around seven in the morning’ and ‘During summer, I have a bath twice a day’. The British and the Americans tend to spell the word differently when it is used as a verb. The Americans tend it spell it ‘bathe’ — the ‘ba’ rhymes with ‘may’, ‘hay’ and ‘say’, and the final ‘the’ sounds like the ‘th’ in ‘though’, ‘this’ and ‘that’. The British, on the other hand, do not make a distinction between the noun and the verb forms of the word — both in terms of pronunciation and spelling. When you ‘bathe’ or ‘bath’ someone, you give them a bath.

During winter, Srilatha bathes/baths her children every other day.

How is the word ‘riposte’ pronounced? (K.V. Naresh, Ongole) The Americans pronounce the second syllable like the word ‘post’, and the vowel in the first, like the ‘i’ in ‘bit’, ‘sit’ and ‘kit’. The English, on the other hand, rhyme the second syllable with the words ‘cost’ and ‘lost’. In both cases, the stress is on the second syllable. There are some people, who when they are criticised, come up with a quick, witty response. This clever comeback or response is referred to as a ‘riposte’. This word of French origin, which can be used both as a noun and a verb, comes from the sport of fencing — the quick thrust that a swordsman makes is called a riposte.

Be careful with Veda. He’s well known for his witty ripostes.

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