Relax, Refresh your English knowledge 116
512. What is the difference between "chew at" and "chew out"?
What do puppies do when they get hold of an old shoe or slipper? They keep chewing at it. Babies, when they are teething, keep chewing at things. When you chew at something, you gnaw at it. In other words, you keep biting the object for a long period of time. *The little animal kept chewing at the leather jeans all night. *While the parents were busy watching TV, the baby was chewing at the belt. "Chew out", unlike "chew at" is mostly used in informal contexts because it is considered slang. When you "chew someone out" what you are doing is scolding him. *I told Usha that I'd be late, and as expected she chewed me out. *Vinita gave the new students a good chewing-out.
513. What is the meaning and origin of "Catch 22"?
Sometimes it so happens that the two candidates contesting for the same parliamentary seat are both crooks. No matter whom you vote for, it isn't going to matter; either way, you are going to elect an individual of questionable integrity. Though it seems that you have a choice, you really don't have one. A Catch 22 situation is a no win situation. No matter what you do, you end up on the losing side. *The companies didn't want to hire Velu because he didn't have any experience. But he wasn't going to get any experience unless someone hired him. It was a real Catch 22 situation. The expression comes from the title of a novel written by Joseph Heller in 1961. Many people consider this work of fiction set during the Second World War a classic. In the story, the only way that air force pilots could get out of doing combat duty was by pleading insanity. In order to be discharged these individuals had to claim that they were insane. But the catch was that only a sane person would know that going on bombing missions was dangerous. Therefore when an individual pleaded insanity, he was doing what any sane person would! Asking to be certified was the act of a perfectly sane man! Since he was acting rationally, he wasn't insane. Result? No discharge.
514. How is the word "aisle" pronounced?
The "ai" is pronounced like the word "I"; the "s" and the "e" that follow are silent. In other words, "aisle" is pronounced the same way as "I'll" and "isle".
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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