Relax, Refresh your English knowledge 49
241. What is the meaning and origin of `baker's dozen'?
Number 13 is believed to be an unlucky number by a lot of people. Many hotels, in fact, do not have a room which is numbered 13. In some high rise buildings, you may find the 13th floor missing! When you say that you want a baker's dozen of something, it means you want 13 pieces of it. Baker's dozen means 13. How many loaves do we need? I'd say a baker's dozen. This is an idiom which owes its existence to a practice that was started during medieval England. In 1266, a law was passed in Parliament which specified exactly how much each loaf of bread must weigh. When a baker sold a loaf that was less than the specified amount, a heavy penalty was imposed on him. To prevent this from happening, a baker always added an extra loaf. If you bought twelve loaves of bread, the baker gave you 13: just to make sure that he wasn't penalised.
242. Does the word ‘breakfasted’ exist?
Yes, it does. The word ‘breakfast’ can be used as a verb, and when used in this manner, it means ‘to eat breakfast’. For example, Ananya prefers to breakfast alone. The children breakfasted on idlis and puris. The words ‘lunch’ and ‘snack’ can also be used as verbs. My wife lunched with her clients in a five star hotel. While watching the movie, I snacked on potato chips. Strangely enough, the word ‘dinner’ is not used as a verb. We don’t hear people saying they ‘dinnered’ with their friends.
243. What is the meaning of ‘handsome is as handsome does’?
This is an expression that has been around for several hundred years, and it has the same meaning as ‘pretty is as pretty does’. Not very helpful, is it? What the expression literally means is that it is not the looks of the individual that are important, but the good deeds that he performs: in other words, good behaviour and chivalrous deeds are much more important than good looks. *Venu may not be much to look at, but he is always helping those who are in need. Handsome is as handsome does. According to some scholars, the expression was first recorded by the English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. In the movie ‘Forrest Gump’, the main character comes up with his own version of the proverb: ‘stupid is as stupid does.’
244. How is the word ‘askance’ pronounced?
The ‘a’ in the first syllable is like the ‘a’ in ‘china’, and the ‘a’ in the second sounds like the ‘a’ in ‘ant’, ‘pants’, and ‘hat’. The word is pronounced ‘es-CANS’ with the stress on the second syllable. It is also possible to pronounce the second ‘a’ like the ‘a’ in ‘park’, ‘dark’, and ‘stars’. The word is normally used to talk about the kind of look that you give an individual. When you ‘look askance at someone’, you usually look at him with disapproval or distrust. In most cases, you don’t look at the person directly; you choose to glance at him sideways. The word can be used with things as well. *Raju looked askance at her with his big eyes.
245. What is the difference between ‘crisis’ and ‘crises’?
‘Crises’ is the plural form of ‘crisis’. There is a difference in the way the two words are pronounced. The final ‘is’ in ‘crisis’ is like the ‘is’ in ‘fist’, ‘mist’, and ‘gist’. The word is pronounced ‘CRY-sis’ with the stress on the first syllable. The ‘es’ in ‘crises’ rhymes with ‘eeze’ in words like ‘breeze’, and ‘freeze’, and ‘sneeze’. The word is pronounced ‘CRY-seez’; the stress remains on the first syllable.
A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper
Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above
Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above
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