ToBE #43: Mafiosi and paparrazzi

In the last couple of weeks, the new government of Uttar Pradesh released advertisements in leading newspapers about, among others, controlling the “Mafiosi”.

Who or what is “Mafiosi”? What is the closest sounding word you know?
How about “Mafia”? Good! “Mafiosi” is the Italian word for “multiple mafia men”.

One male mafia person is a “Mafioso”; many would be “Mafiosi”.
One female mafia person is a “Mafiosa”, many would be “Mafiose”.

Similarly, “paparazzi” is the plural form of “paparazzo” and it would be incorrect to use “paparazzi” as a singular word even in English.

ToBE #42: ind - ound - ounded

Find-Found-Founded
Bind-Bound-Bounded
Grind-Ground-Grounded

All of the above are causes for occasional confusion, aren’t they?

Find: To discover or to locate.
Found: Past tense of the above as in “Who found this defect?”

Found, however, has another meaning too and that is not in past tense.
Found: Establish, Set as in “Oberoi is going to found a trust for the under-privileged” => He is going to establish a trust.
Founded: Past tense of the above “found”, as in “Imran Khan founded a cancer hospital in memory of his mother”.

Likewise:

Bind: Can you bind this book? (tie)
Bound: He seems bound to his job. (tied)

Bound: His behaviour is beyond bounds. (limit, boundary)
Bounded: Bangladesh is bounded by India and Myanmar . (limited or has boundaries with)

Grind: Can you grind this rice for me?
Ground: The rice has been ground and it can be mixed with water.

Ground: If one more accident happens during take-off, we will have to ground the aircraft permanently. (keep on the ground or not let normal activity take place.)
Grounded: He has been grounded because he went home late last night. (Kept to home, normal activity restricted).

ToBE #41: The earliest and the latest

One of the earliest subscribers of ToBE has sought to know the difference between ‘earliest’ and ‘latest’.

As highlit above, ‘earliest’ means ‘at an early point in time’. ‘-est’ indicates there is nothing further than that: Fastest, Slowest, Weakest, etc.

• I can give you the write-up earliest by Monday morning. => I can’t give it any earlier.
• The earliest flight to Bangalore is at 5:30 AM. => There is no earlier flight.

‘Latest’ means ‘at a later point in point’; as well as ‘the most recent/up-to-date’.

• Even if he comes late, Baba will be the latest. => Most up-to-date.
• ‘Baba’ is not the latest; Chandramukhi is the latest Rajinikanth movie. => Most recent (or last released).
• Please have the report sent to me latest by Thursday. => ‘No later than’ Thursday.

Hope this helps.

ToBE #40: WHere did you went last weekend?

The use of double past tense (…did you went…) is so rampant that this entire edition is dedicated to it. This, again, is the courtesy of a reader who frowns involuntarily every time his boss says it.

Consider this: Will you ever say “What did you did today?”
No, right? You will probably ask, “What did you do today?”

Likewise, it should be “Where did you go last weekend?”

The following table is again a suggestion of another reader.

Wrong	Correct
Did you saw the e-mail that I sent?	Did you see the mail that I sent?
What did you ate/had for lunch?	What did you eat/have for lunch?
I did not went there.	I did not go there.
Did he drank some water?	Did he drink some water?

ToBE #39: Mesdames and Missus

Mesdames

“What is ‘mesdames’?”, you ask.
Just as ‘sirs’ is the plural of ‘sir’, ‘mesdames’ is the plural of ‘madam’.

Don’t ask me why. I don’t know the answer.

As I have mentioned earlier, ma’am is preferred to ‘madam’ as a standalone form of addressing or referring to a person, due to a certain meaning associated with the word ‘madam’.

Missus

‘Missus’ is shortedned to ‘Mrs.’!
It is better to avoid saying,

• Your missus picked up the phone
• Gopal’s missus is not well
  

Instead, use:

• Your wife picked up the phone
• Mrs. Gopal is unwell
• The missus is planting saplings in the garden (notice the ‘The’ before ‘missus’)

ToBE #38: Can and May

One of our subscribers thought it might be worthwhile to cover this piece of conversation:

Student: Can I go to the bathroom?
Teacher: You can, but you may not.

‘Can’ indicates the ability to do something.
‘May’ indicates willingness or permission to do something.

In the above conversation, the teacher tells the student, “You have the ability to (walk to) the bathroom, but you are not allowed to go now”.

I can do a lot of things (=> I have the ability to do many things), but I may not do anything this weekend (=> I lack the will to do it).

On the topic of ‘can’, a particular peeved project manager requested me to write about the rampant use of “can able” and “could able” by a lot of people he interacts with everyday. This was written about earlier and is available here, but it doesn't hurt to repeat:

• As mentioned earlier, since ‘can’ indicates ‘being able’, it is incorrect to say “I can (not) able to do it” or “I could (not) able to do it”.
• The following are correct:

o I can (not) do it. (=> It is (not) possible for me to do it.)

o He could (not) do it. (=> It was (not) possible for him to do it.)

o Mbeki is able to run 5 kilometres in one hour.

o Anwar was not able to complete the task in the given time.

ToBE #37: Similar words, different meanings - Part 4

Heeding to public demand and owing to public abuse of words, “Similar words, different meanings” is back.

Moment/movement
Moment: Point in time or a very short duration of time. At this moment, I can not confirm whether I can join you tomorrow.
Movement: The process of moving. The 2000’s witnessed a large-scale movement of the companies to the IT corridor.

Confident/Confidant
Confident: Sure. I am confident that there is life beyond the solar system.
Confidant (sometimes ‘confidante’): A trusted person. Mahadev Desai was MK Gandhi’s confidant.

Say this twice: I am confident that he will be my confidant.

Intended/Indented
Intended: Meant. The gift was not intended for you.
Indented: Set back from the margin (think of indented – pushing inward, like a dent in a car). Ensure that the sub-section is indented appropriately.

Try saying this twice: That paragraph was not intended to be indented that way.

Sore/Sour/Soar
Sore: Painful or causing irritation. After a day’s play, his arm became sore.
Sour: Having an acidic taste / distasteful. Milk sours quickly in summer.
Soar: Ascend to a great height. The eagle took off the cliff and soared over the ocean.

Hence, note that when a relationship soars (flies high), it is a good thing, and when it sores (hurts) or sours (becomes rotten), it is a bad thing.

Stake/Steak
Stake: A stick, usually of wood. Your hateful words have driven a stake through my heart.
Stake: Bet, wager, issue, concern, interest.

• I have stake in the success of the event.
• It is not just money, my honour is at stake.

Surprise: Both words are pronounced the same – “stake”.

ToBE #36: Dead Man's Chest - Literary Connection

Heard about the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"?

What is a Dead Man's Chest? Is it the rib-cage of a skeleton? The answer: No!

The "chest" refers to a box (what some people call 'trunk box' - the huge metal storage box in which family antiques are kept!). The chest in question contained stolen treasures and the person who had the chest is now dead. This is as per RL Stevenson's classic, "Treasure Island".

As the pirates' song in the novel goes, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest, with a 'yo-ho-ho' and a bottle of rum" and this is the inspiration to the movie's name.

For the next two lines of the song, read: http://www.poetry-online.org/stevenson_fifteen_men_on_the_dead_mans_chest.htm or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man's_Chest.

ToBE #35: Pot pourri?

This is with reference to a recent mail that mentioned the word "Pot pourri". As the line suf\ggested Pot Pourri is a mix. Mix of either similar items (like flower petals, pieces of music) or a mish-mash of unrelated items.

How to pronounce it?

• In ‘Pot’, t is silent. Say just ‘ Po ’, rhyming with ‘Go’.
• Say ‘Pou’ like ‘Sou’ in ‘Soup’.
• ‘rri’ is pronounced ‘ree’, like ‘see’.

So, you have “ Po pooree”. (Many thanks to Balaji N.)

As an aside: Pot Pourri is a famous brand of toilet air-freshener in North America . The non-spray version consists of a mix of fragrant multi-coloured synthetic leaves.

ToBE #34: Bond, James Bond

Seen the latest James Bond movie “Casino Royale”?

Wondered how to pronounce the name? Here is some help.

Casino:

• Contrary to what you might think, ‘Cas’ is not pronounced like in ‘Cash’. ‘Cas’ in ‘Casino’ sounds like the ‘cus’ in ‘Customer’.
• In the second part, ‘i’ is long sounding like ‘ee’.

Try saying cus-eeno and you will get it.

Royale:

• It is not the same as ‘Royal’. Also, the last part does not rhyme with Yale, sale, tale, etc.
• Say ‘ Roy ’ like ‘toy’. Follow with ‘al’ like in ‘Alfred’.
  
• Another word with similar pronunciation is ‘Morale’. However, ‘Regale’ is pronounced differently.

Note that Royal and Royale are related words, but:

• Regal and Regale are not related.
• Moral and Morale are not related (usually).

Now, try repeating this rapidly at home: “Casino Royale” boosts the morale because Bond regales with his many tales.

ToBE #33: Are you dependable?

During the course of a conversation with a colleague and as heard on an FM Radio station, I gathered that there seemed to be an interesting interpretation to the word “dependable”.

Dependable: can be relied upon.

• Lina is a dependable person. => One can rely on Lina to get the job done.
• Dravid is a dependable middle-order batsman. => Dravid can be relied upon.

Quite a few people seem to have confused “dependable” with:

Dependent: relies upon; not independent.

• The whole family was dependent on Sunil for food. => The whole family looks forward to Sunil for providing food.
• Is he financially dependent on you?

As per the above meanings and example, note that ‘dependable’ and ‘dependent’ have diverse meanings and are not to be interchanged.

Do remember that ‘depending’ and ‘dependent’ are almost always followed by ‘on’ or ‘upon’.

• I am totally dependent on him for this week’s accommodation.
• She was depending on her husband for support.

ToBE #32: 'Break' dance

It is interesting how adding a different word to “break” alters the meaning. The following is only a sample. More details are available in online dictionaries.

Break in: (a) To enter illegally. (b) Use to make comfortable for regular use.

• (a) There was a break-in in my office.
• (a) The house was not locked and the thieves broke in.
• (b) The batsman took his new bat at the nets to break it in.

Please note that it is not necessary for anything to physically break.

Break out: Start suddenly.

• War broke out in Indonesia.
• If preventive measures are not taken, chikungunya will break out in the district.

Break off: To become detached.

• The handle broke off from the door.
• East Timor broke off from Indonesia.
• After two months of disagreement, the couple decided to break off the engagement.

Break away: To become separated.

• Around the last lap, PT Usha broke off from the group and steamed ahead.

As mentioned, the above is just a sample and I encourage you to look at other usages like ‘break up’, ‘break down’, etc. An interesting snippet:

“Break a leg”: This is a way of wishing a performer before a performance and it is not to be taken literally!

ToBE #31: To think or to hope

For some of you, the difference between ‘think’ and ‘hope’ may be obvious, but I have noticed that some people use them interchangeably. They don’t mean the same and they should not be exchanged.

Think:

• I think that shining light is Jupiter.
• He thinks he will clear the exam.
• The traffic was heavy and I thought I will be late.

Basically, thinking is mostly on the basis of facts or what we know for sure. If you look at each of the above examples, the first one is based on knowledge of the planetary position, the second is based on assessment of a past event and the third is based on facts around us and the effect it normally causes.

Hope:

• I hope you will get better.
• I want to study engineering, but my father hopes I will get into medicine.

From the above examples, do note that ‘hope’ is not necessarily based on facts or reality. It is based on what a person wishes to happen.

The next time you tell someone, “I hope you are not well”, remember that it means that you want that person to be unwell. Think about it!

ToBE #30: A sheet of fullscape paper

Have you seen one of it? I am sure most of us youngsters aged 30 and above will know what it means, and I am sure most of us spell it wrong as I have in the Subject above.

In mediaeval times, the court jester was also called a ‘fool’. Not a ‘fool’ as we normally use it, but it just means ‘clown’. When we say, “Making a fool of himself” or “Dressing like a fool”, it is actually meant in the sense of ‘clown’.

The clowns that we know of typically wear conical caps. The cone can be made by simply rolling a sheet of paper around the mid-point of its longer side. A sheet of paper large enough to fit a standard head-size was a “fool’s cap” paper.

No one is sure of the standard head-size, but be sure that it is “foolscap”, not fullscape.

ToBE #29: The importance of correct punctuation

Sometimes we forget punctuation, resulting in unforeseen results. At other times, we add punctuation where none is necessary. Hope this joke highlights the importance of correct punctuation.
________________________

A panda escapes from a zoo and walks into the nearest restaurant. He orders a sandwich, eats it. Then, the panda takes out a gun, shoots the waiter and leaves the restaurant. The restaurant-owner runs after the panda and shouts. “Hey! What is the meaning of all this?”

The panda turns around and says, “I am a panda. Look up the meaning of ‘panda’ in your dictionary”.

The owner did as bid by the panda. “Panda (noun). Mammal of Asian origin. Lives in trees. Eats, shoots and leaves”, said the dictionary.

The dictionary meant to say, “Eats shoots and leaves” (shoot means ‘new branch’), but the comma after “Eats” changes the meaning.

The next time you plan to add the punctuation mark, think twice.

“Never read medical books. You may die of a mis-print”. – Mark Twain.

There is a book on this subject by Lynee Truss. A must-read.

ToBE #28: Ad-hoc oppurtunity aganist temporavary caluculation

To start with, all words in the title are wrong, each it its own way.

Ad-hoc:

• Not "ad-hoc", not "adhoc". It is always two words - "ad hoc".
• It does not mean 'random', 'unplanned' or 'unstructured', though most of us tend to use it that way. It means, "For the (specific) purpose". When an ad hoc committee is formed, it is formed for a specific purpose, not in an unplanned manner. When you want to describe a set of processes as unstructured, the next time, please don't use "ad hoc".
• Of late, a new usage creep is happening: Ad hocism. Such a phrase does not exist and is best avoided.

Oppurtunity:
A common misspelling pointed out by one of our regular readers. The word is "opportunity".

Aganist:
Another common mistake made by people from a certain part of India. The word is "Against".

Temporavary:
A common mistake from another part of India. This sounds like some kind of tax like "varumAna vari" (income tax), "viRpanai vari" (sales tax). There is no "va". It is "temporary", not "temporavary".

Caluculation:
A common mispronunciation by some people is including a 'u' sound after 'Cal'. It is "Calculation", not "Caluculation".