Relax, Refresh your English knowledge 13

 61. What is the meaning of ‘cul-de-sac'?

First, let us deal with the pronunciation of the word. The first word rhymes with ‘dull', ‘null', and ‘gull'. The ‘e' in ‘de' sounds like the ‘i' in ‘sick', ‘pick', and ‘chick', while the ‘sac' is pronounced like the word ‘sack'. The word is pronounced ‘KUL-di-sack' with the stress on ‘cul'. ‘Cul' comes from the Latin ‘culus' meaning ‘bottom'; the expression literally means ‘bottom of the sack'. A ‘cul-de-sac' is a dead-end street.

*The young couple moved into a house on a quiet cul-de-sac.

In everyday contexts, the word is used to refer to any situation where progress is no longer possible; you have reached a stalemate or an impasse.

*The two parties have backed themselves into a cul-de-sac.

 

62. Is it okay to say, ‘I teach 18 hours in a week'?

When a doctor writes out a prescription for us, what are his usual instructions? Does he say, ‘Take these tablets three times a day' or ‘Take these tablets three times in a day'? It is usually the former. With expressions of frequency and duration, we generally don't use ‘in'. One teaches 18 hours a week, and not ‘18 hours in a week'.

*Ganesh calls his mother five times a day.

 

63. How is the word ‘repertoire' pronounced?

The ‘e' in the first syllable is like the ‘e' in ‘net', ‘met', and ‘let', while the second ‘e' sounds like the ‘a' in ‘china'. The ‘o' is pronounced like the ‘w' in ‘when', ‘why' and ‘what', and the final ‘ire' like the ‘a' in ‘bath', ‘father', and ‘path'. The word is pronounced ‘RE-pe-twaa' with the stress on the first syllable. This is just one of the ways of pronouncing the word. ‘Repertoire' comes from the Latin ‘repertorium' meaning ‘inventory'.

The word was originally used to refer to the list of plays, songs or dances that an artist or a group was capable of performing. Nowadays, the word is being used to refer to the skills that an individual has which enables him to perform different tasks.

*Surabhi's repertoire is limited when it comes to cooking.

 

64. What is the origin of ‘whistleblower'?

A whistle-blower is someone who informs his superiors of the illegal activities that are going on in an organisation. This informant, by exposing the wrongdoing, hopes to put an end to it. If the powers-that-be do not take action, then the whistleblower may choose to take matters into his owns hands and inform the media.

Jeffrey Wigan is the whistle-blower who let the world know how tobacco companies manipulated the use of nicotine in their cigarettes.

*There is a need to protect whistle-blowers in our country.

The expression comes from the practice adopted by ‘Bobbies', English policeman. In the old days, every policeman carried a whistle with him, and he would blow on it whenever he saw a crime taking place.

This was to alert the other Bobbies who were in the vicinity.

 

65. Is it true that the word ‘curds' doesn't exist in native varieties of English?

No, it is not true. Do you remember the nursery rhyme ‘Little Miss Muffet'? According to the rhyme, this little girl was sitting on a tuffet and eating her ‘curds and whey'. A tuffet, by the way, is a small stool, and dictionaries define ‘whey' as the “watery part of milk that remains after the formation of curds.” Although it exists, native speakers prefer to use the word ‘yoghurt' instead of ‘curds'.

 

A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper

Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above