30th June retirees case - Supreme Court passed comments- noncompliance costs as well as interest may be imposed.

51. How is the word ‘fortuitous' pronounced?

The first syllable is pronounced like the word ‘for', and the following ‘tu' like the ‘tu' in ‘Tuesday', ‘tulip', and ‘tube'. The ‘i' is like the ‘i' in ‘ink', ‘is' and ‘it', and the final ‘ou' like the ‘a' in ‘china'. The word is pronounced ‘for-TYUU-i-tes' with the stress on the second syllable. ‘Fortuitous' refers to any event that takes place by chance; the outcome of a ‘fortuitous meeting' can be unfortunate or fortunate. There are people, however, who use the word only when the outcome is positive; for them, the word has become synonymous with ‘lucky'.

*The unusually wet summer proved fortuitous for my cousin. He makes umbrellas.

 

52. What is the meaning of ‘tittle-tattle'?

This is a rather old fashioned word for gossip. ‘Tittle' rhymes with ‘little' and ‘brittle', while ‘tattle' rhymes with ‘battle' and ‘cattle'. The main stress is on the first syllable of ‘tittle'. When you tittle-tattle, you speak unkindly about someone behind the person's back; you are indulging in meaningless chatter.

*The editor knew that tittle-tattle about the up and coming star would help sell the magazine.

The word ‘tattle' is mostly used by children to mean ‘gossip' or idle chatter. ‘Tittle', on the other hand, comes from the world of printing. It is mainly used to refer to the diacritic or the small marks that are used when writing. For example, the small dot that appears on the letter ‘i' and on the letter ‘j' is a ‘tittle'. Since the ‘tittle' was something very small, the word was added to ‘tattle' to underline the insignificance of the talk/chatter.

 

53. Which is correct: dine in or dine at?

Both are correct; their meanings, however, are very different. When you ‘dine at' a place, you are eating at the place. People usually dine at a restaurant.

*Where does she get the money to dine at fancy restaurants?

When you ‘dine in', you don't go out to eat. You eat at home.

*I'm sick of eating out. Why don't we dine in tonight?

 

54. “What a terrific downpour we had last night. It was quite amazing, wasn't it?”

“It certainly was. The wind knocked down a couple of trees, and we didn't have power all night.”

“Really? We were very lucky, then. We didn't have power for half an hour.”

“But that must have been enough to send your sister into a postmodem depression.”

“Postmodem depression! What kind of depression is that?”

“The kind of depression that some people go into when they realise they are unable to access the internet.”

“My cousin Mohan went into a postmodem depression when he was visiting us. He wanted to update his Facebook account, and he just couldn't log in. He was so depressed, he didn't talk to us for a couple of hours.”

“When my colleague went to the village to see his parents, he went into a postmodem depression.”

 

55. “Mohan cheered up only after he got a message on his cell phone from his friend.”

“It must have given him textual satisfaction.”

“Textual satisfaction? What are you talking about?”

“What is it that most people do nowadays when they come out of a meeting or class?”

“I can tell you what I do. Usually, I take out my cell phone and check if I have any messages or missed calls.”

“And when you find that you do, how do you feel?

“I feel absolutely thrilled. I'm happy to know that someone was thinking of me while I was in class.”

“That's what textual satisfaction is. It's the satisfaction you get when you realise that you have a missed call or a new message.”

“How about this example? I had textual satisfaction on my birthday. My friends were sending me messages all day long.”

“Textual satisfaction is something that people of my generation don't understand, I'm afraid. Did you get many presents on your birthday?”

“I certainly did. Some of the gifts were extremely difficult to open. It drove me crazy.”

 

A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper

Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above