Knowledge Spectrum English 4 Meaning and origin of ‘windfall, '‘bouquet of flowers', New York minute,

16. What is the meaning and origin of ‘windfall'

The amount of money that you win or receive from someone rather unexpectedly is called ‘windfall'. It's a sudden stroke of luck.

*When Gayathri visited her uncle after her marriage, she got a windfall of Rs. 75000.

Fruit that falls down from a tree because of heavy wind is also called windfall. In this context, we can also say ‘windfalls'.

*Sameer's garden was covered with windfalls.

In the old days in England, landowners were not allowed to cut down trees which were on their property. The law stipulated that all trees were the property of the Royal Navy, and the wood was to be used in the building of ships. If however, heavy wind made a tree fall, the ‘windfall' became the owner's property. Since in the old days such ‘windfall' was not common, the word began to mean unexpected good fortune.

17. Is it okay to say, ‘bouquet of flowers'?

Some people would argue that ‘of flowers' is unnecessary because bouquet means an attractive arrangement of flowers. But there is nothing wrong in saying ‘bouquet of flowers'. The ‘ou' in the first syllable, by the way, is like the ‘oo' in ‘fool', ‘cool', and ‘school'. The following ‘q' is like the ‘k' in ‘king' and ‘kiss', and the final ‘uet' rhymes with ‘say' and ‘bay'. The word is pronounced ‘boo-KAY' with the stress on the second syllable.

18. “What is the meaning of New York minute?”

“An extremely short period of time. It's actually less than a minute. It took the students less than a New York minute to find a solution to the problem.”

“The new CEO arrived at a decision in a New York minute.”

“Tell me what you want. I'll give you a New York minute.”

“But why New York and not some other city?”

“When people from other cities came to New York in the late 19 {+t} {+h} century, they found that life in this city was extremely fast. New Yorkers seemed to be constantly rushing from one place to another without having any time to relax.”

“It's the same feeling that some of us have today when we visit Mumbai.

19. Anyway, did you take a look at the document I gave you? Are the instructions clear?”

“The instructions are clear as mud.”

“Clear as mud? But mud isn't very clear.”

“It isn't, and that's the point. When you say something is clear as mud, you mean it isn't clear at all.”

“So what you are saying is that the instructions are difficult or impossible to understand.”

“Exactly! The directions that Sujatha gave to reach her house were clear as mud.”

“I've read his chapter twice, and it's as clear as mud to me.”

“Alok's presentation was clear as mud.”

20. “Talking about mud, there is some good news! The weatherman says we'll have a heavy downpour tomorrow.”

“If the weatherman says that, it'll probably rain kittens and puppies.”

“Kittens and puppies? You mean cats and dogs, don't you?”

“When you say it's raining cats and dogs, you mean that it is pouring or raining heavily. When the rain is light, it is possible to say...”

“You can say that it's raining kittens and puppies.”

“That's right! Now then...”

“Does the expression really exist or are you trying to fool me?”

“The expression does exist.”

“I see. How about this example, then? Forget the umbrella, it's just raining kittens and puppies.”

“That's a good example. To solve the water problem, we need it to rain cats and dogs. Not kittens and puppies.”

A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper

Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above