Know your English
“Mr. A. Sreerangan, S.S. College, Salem, wants to know the difference between ‘somebody’ and ‘someone.’” “There is no difference.
Somebody came to see you. Someone came to see you.
‘Somebody’ is also used to mean ‘a person of importance.’ ‘Someone’ is not used in this sense.
Everybody who is somebody was present at the function.”
“Mr. N. Nagender Rao, SBJ, Nalagonda, wants to know the meaning of ‘blanket’ in ‘blanket permission.’”
“‘Blanket’ here means ‘covering all cases or classes,’ ‘general,’ ‘comprehensive.’
It was a blanket ban on all meetings.”
“Mr. M. C. Haridas, Cooke Town, Bangalore, wants to know which is correct (a) curd (b) curds.” “Generally, it is used in the plural.
I like curds.
When it is used attributively, the singular is used. Curd rice. If you ask for ‘curds’ in the United States or Britain, you will be given ‘yogurt.’ This is the word that is used for ‘curds’. You have different kinds of yogurt. Some are sour, some are sweet, some are mixed with fruit. It is also spelt ‘yoghurt,’ ‘yoghourt.’ ‘Yoghurt’ is a Turkish word.”
“Mr. C. P. Ramaswamy, Sainikpuri, Hyderabad, wants to know the meaning of the expression ‘hung parliament.’”
“A hung parliament is one where no party has a clear majority.”
“Mr. R. Subramanian, Veereswaram, Srirangam, Tiruchi, writes: “‘Write the synonym of ‘angelish.” This is one of the questions in the Higher Secondary Examination (English I Paper) held in March 1991. Being unfamiliar with the word, I consulted many dictionaries but found no such word in any of them. At the valuation centres, the P.G. teachers were instructed through ‘Key for English I Paper’ that the synonym for ‘angelish’ are godly, saintly and holy! A cursory glance at the XII Std. English textbook reveals that the actual word used by the question paper setter is ‘anguish’ taken from ‘The Man with the Scar’ by Somerset Maugham (page 5). Negligence on the part of someone has resulted in this “bloomer.””
“This makes sad reading. It was ‘devilish’ to ask for the synonym of ‘angelish.’ ‘Angelish’ is yet to enter the dictionary! When it does, credit for the earliest entry will be given to the Education Department of Tamil Nadu. But there is ‘angelic,’ meaning ‘kind, considerate or gentle.’”
“I am grateful to the readers for sending me their favourite palindromes. They are: Never odd or even; Step on no pets; Sit on a potato pan, Otis; Able was I ere I saw Elba; Rats live on no evil star; Was it a car or a cat I saw?; civic, deed, level, madam, Malayalam, noon, radar, refer, toot, Rajarajar, liril, redivider, rotator, bob, dad, eve, mum, nun, pop.”
Published in The Hindu on May 7, 1991.