Staff Rulings - 122 - Family Pension

 Relax, Refresh your English knowledge 34

166. What is the meaning of ‘natatory'?
First, let's deal with the pronunciation of the word. The first ‘a' is like the ‘a' in ‘china', while the second sounds like the ‘ay' in ‘say', ‘pay' and ‘bay'. The word is pronounced ‘ne-TAY-teri' with the stress on the second syllable. The word comes from the Latin ‘natare' meaning ‘to swim'. Natatory literally means ‘of or related to swimming'.

167. What is the meaning and origin of ‘to treat someone with kid gloves'?
There are some people who are very touchy. So when you talk to them, you are often forced to take great care not to hurt their feelings in any way; you handle these individuals with caution. When you treat someone with kid gloves, you are very tactful; you choose your words carefully so as not to upset them.

*I think it's about time you stopped treating your students with kid gloves.
The kid in the expression refers to a young goat, and not a small child. I understand that the skin of a ‘kid' is extremely soft; and in the early 1800s, kid gloves were a symbol of elegance and gentility.

168. What is the difference in meaning between ‘do someone down' and ‘do someone in'?
Both expressions have several different meanings; I will deal with only two here. When you ‘do someone down', you speak ill of the individual; you take great delight running the person down. Another meaning that the expression has is to cheat someone.
*Ever since Maya refused to help him, Ravi has made it a point to do her down.
The expression ‘do someone in' is mostly used in informal contexts to mean to kill someone.
*If you don't do what they tell you to, they're likely to do you in.
It can also be used to mean ‘to destroy or ruin someone or something'.
*Prakash did himself in by listening to the advice of his idiotic friends.

169. How is the expression ‘double entendre' pronounced?
The first word is not pronounced like the English ‘double'. The ‘ou', in fact, sounds like the ‘oo' in ‘pool', ‘fool', and ‘cool'. The ‘e' in the first and second syllable of ‘entendre' sounds like the ‘a' in ‘ask', ‘path', and ‘mask'. The final ‘e' is like the ‘a' in ‘china'. The word is pronounced ‘doo-bl aan-TAAN-dre' with the main stress on the second syllable of ‘entendre'. It literally means ‘double meaning'. The expression is mostly used to refer to a word or phrase which can be interpreted in two different ways — one of which is rather sexual in nature.
*The double entendre of the stand up comedian left the ladies embarrassed.

170. What is the meaning and origin of ‘in one's crosshairs'?
If you are in someone's crosshairs, you become his object of interest; you become the focus of the individual's attention. He has his sights trained on you.
*The spate of scandals has put most politicians in the crosshairs of journalists.
*The hunter has had the tiger in the crosshairs for a long time.
The crosshairs in the idiom refers to the two perpendicular lines you see when you view a target through the telescopic sight of a rifle. These lines help the shooter aim at the target.

A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper 
Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above