Relax, Refresh your English knowledge 110
493. What is the meaning of "dickens" in "Who the dickens are you?"
If you are a great fan of the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens, let me put your mind at rest by saying that the "dickens" that you find in the expression has nothing to do with the author. "What the dickens" has been around for over five centuries. In the old days, people refrained from using words like "hell", "devil", and "Satan" in their speech. They felt that if these words were uttered, their souls would immediately go to hell; as a result, they coined euphemisms for these words. "Dickens" was one of the words they came up with. The expression "what the dickens" has the same meaning as "what the hell?" and "what the devil?" So when someone says, "Who the dickens are you?" what he is saying is, "Who the hell/devil are you?" According to some scholars "dickens" refers to Satan. One of the terms used to refer to the devil is "Old Nick". Since "dick" rhymes with "Nick", the word began to be used to refer to the devil. There are a number of expressions in the English language with the word "dickens". Some are, "go to the dickens", "raise the dickens", "play the dickens" and "the dickens take you".
494. How is the word "alumnae" pronounced?
This is a word which is mostly used in American English. The "a" in the first syllable is like the "a" in "china"; the following "u" sounds like the "u" in "cut", "hut", and "but". The final "ae" is pronounced like the "ee" in "see", "knee", and "bee". The main stress is on the second syllable. "Alumnae" is the plural of "alumna". A former female student of a school/college/university is referred to as an "alumna".
495. What is the meaning of "Page 3"?
"Page 3" became famous when Rupert Murdoch bought over the Sun in 1969. The following year, every edition of the paper carried a picture of a topless woman on page 3; and as you may expect, the circulation went up dramatically. The bare breasted women began to be called "page 3 girls" and many of them became famous. So the original page 3 contained pictures of naked women. Nowadays, the meaning of the expression has changed somewhat. In addition to including some pictures of questionable taste, the page also informs the reader as to what is happening on the social scene — it tells you who is going out with whom and who is throwing the next big party. It provides the local gossip.
A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper
Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above
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