zombie words

Zombie account:

A bank account  with zero balance or long back forgotten.The word also goes for facebook and mail accounts that we forgot about.

Zombie debt:

It is a debt too old so that the person who lent himself would forget or it could also be a debt that can’t be recollected with legal support becoz it is too old.

Zombie lie:

Even after proving that something is  not true, some lies go on gaining the trust of others. such lies are called Zombie lies.Watch out!

Is love nothing?

BEHIND THE WORD:

Why score zero is called love in tennis was a question that kept my eyes wide open gooogling though I am in ……zzzzzz….. mood after a heavy lunch.www.oxforddictionaries.com  banged with two maybe reasons.

Reason 1:l’ouef is the French word for egg.So as love in French refers to egg and egg resembles cipher, I think the point is made.

Reason 2:’to play for love’ is a phrase meaning to play for just fun and not for winning or anything else.So ‘to play for love’ can be taken as ‘to play for nothing’.And thus love became a hint word for nil or nothing.

5'o clock shadow

  BEHIND THE WORD: 5'o clock shadow
        
 A well kept secret is that the world is full of funny and silly  people trying to hide their good own ridiculous humour just like you and me.With a resolution to lose weight ,we carefully plan our dinner and go with the plan but just after dinner we ride our fridge and eat all that in our mind and in the fridge.Everyone I know has the habit of eating in evening and night.
          
           Some of the English people disliked the habit of eating during evening times.They called it 5’o clock tea or 5’o clock dinner.This phrase quickly got into peoples’mind.So Gem safety Razor Company in an intention to popularise their product used this catchy phrase '5'0 clock shadow' to refer to quick regrowing of beard in the evening after a morning shave.And thus a phrase has been added to the English language.

BLUE... BLUE....BLUE

                                                           

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

 

Blue Ice:

This is going to be the easiest definition of all.Ice in blue colour is called blue ice.Next time when you look at glaciers (I do, on T.V) ,do a mini search for them.If by any chance you develop questions of hows and whys ,theories of  crystallisation and scattering have to be explained which is beyond the scope of my blog and myself.

Blue Peter:

Blue Peter is a flag in blue colour with a white square at the center hoisted in ship .It indicates that the ship is ready to sail.Is it because the ocean is icy and blue, the flag is coloured in blue and white?

Blue norther:

It is a strong wind (…wizzzzz…….)that flows over Oklahoma,Texas,Kansas and most Temperate zones that rapidly brings the temperature down.Many say that blue could mean cold and icy since people turn blue in cold. Now look at its other names: Blue Blizzard,Blue whistler,Blue darter .

 

 

PROTEUS PHENOMENON

Behind The Word:

Proteus Phenomenon

                           Once again in our blog while speaking of the stories behind the words,we come again (Tan tadan tadan tadan-introduction music) Greek mythology.In Greek mythology,  Proteus was the god of sea.Sea is ever changing.So is proteus or vice versa.Proteus is capable taking any forms.Ever changing stands as a hint for nothing could be stable so that it could be proved.

                           So any early findings that disprove the already established facts is called Proteus phenomenon.This word is frequently used by researchers.Anyone who aspires to be a scientist  can keep this phrase in their mind.Good luck!

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS

NEW WORDS RELATED TO INTERNET

Nonliner-People who don’t have internet facility.Just the opposite of onliner.

Noogler-New to google  as an employee.

Notspot-Places with no or less signals for net accessibility.Just the opposite of hotspot.

Outernet-media other than internet or traditional media.

Outersharing-Giving more and more personal information about oneself in internet so 

that one might land in trouble.

Webrage- well, you might have experienced.

Sofalise-socialising with the outsiders through internet while you are sitting in the sofa in your home.I think this word tops all.

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS

                                                  

                              NEW WORDS FOR PROFESSIONALS

Crowdworker

It may happen that there could be more people allocated for that job so that each one gets a very small part of the task and so the salary.He/she just becomes a one of the crowd working.

Safe shake

Touching each other’s elbows with a gentle hit like doing cheers with wine glass. That way,it is more hygienic and safer.

Overworking

To earn more money and name and to keep up what is earned, it seems some people themselves develop a desire to work for longer time.

Upskill

Just a word you already might have heard.

IT companies upgrade software versions and upskill the employees.And in course of time, both are outdated.

Viral marketing

A marketing strategy in which the customers’ circle of friends and family are targeted by making the acquired customers talk good of the products and services.

Work -life overload

Newly coined word for the sum of work overload and life’s own difficulties.

Soh Nuu

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

JUST NOW EVESDROPPED WORDS:

I'm definitely not going to remember the spelling of these words.Now introducing or maybe eintroduing to you,these words:  cattywhopus and kerfuttle  meaning disorder. Just the word ‘disorder’ is enough for me.

SIMPLE WORDS THAT BAFFLE ME:

If I were intelligent enough to guess if l8 means late l8r would mean later,then I would not probably be baffled by these words.

totes     -    totally

don      -do-on       -    to wear something

dof       -do-off      -     to remove some clothes off

SIMPLER WORDS I DID UNDERSTAND:

obvs     - obviously

whatevs –whatever

and

so many easiest words

SMART WORDS

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

Here are ‘smart’ words that made their entry in English Dictionary this year 2013.

Fire-smart:

If you haven’t come across this word,guess and then read.

.

.

.

.

It means providing all safety measurements to a building against fire accidents.

Smart-cookie:

It means a person who is smart and capable of handling difficult situations .There are two different opinions about the origin of this word.

They say cookie refers to cooks. And cooks did not require a degree or any other course completion before. And ‘smart cookie’ might have originated from them as they needed and possessed only practical skills  and common sense.

Others say cookie refers to women.This word was originally meant to point out their ability to manage difficult situations well. And in course of time, this word is gender-generalised.

Heart- Smart:

Pre-script: This word however has no indications to love or intelligence or intelligent loving.

Script: It means food which is good for heart i.e food with low fat and cholestral.

Post-script:  Take care!bye!

TOUCHY OR NOT

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

TOUCHLESS:

“Is yours a touchphone?

Oh no, mine is touchless”

We might be hearing something like that soon.There are people so obsessed with buying,keeping and showing off new gadgets.  The mobile companies should should thank them for now the situation has now become anyone who gets a job with salary not less than Rs. 20,000 are expected to  keep a touch phone  . The news is that touch phone may lose its value as the symbol of status and give way to touchless  ones. Gadgets  with keys only and no touch screen are not touchless . Any gadget  that needs some hand signals rather to touch is a touchless one.

BEHIND THE WORDS:

JUMP THE SHARK

Waste, utter waste or in our slang waste-o-waste.These are the reserved words for commenting on some sort of serials.When everyone almost believed that some serial is facing a disastrous failure, they ae most likely to see some last desperate attempts to keep them stuck with the serial.Jump the shark is a phrase for describing those attempts.

When  a serial called “HAPPY DAYS” faced loss of viewers, one of the character has got to water-ski and jump over a shark as a way to express his bravery.(How lucky our film heroes are.Raising t voice or some punch dialog would mean bravery here.) After this ‘jump the shark’ attempt, the serial made another seven years.

ENGLISH APPATUCKERS

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

English dictionaries welcome several words from the common people’s language.New words are always charming.Here are some words that make us wonder how only some people find them when we all  need them.

Floordrobe:

(you can omit reading this.)

I remember my childhood days.I was not exactly a very great and neat child and my parents  used to present atleast one complaint about me to my teachers.Each evening of my school day, after I change my dress my parents had to struggle, threaten and request me to make me fold the uniform that I left on the floor.Looking at this word ,I guess I have lots of people as my company.After a long time, they stopped complaining.I don’t know whether they got tired of complaining or I became a good girl.

Brainstorming:sorry , yes this word is popular and old.But I was about to type blamestorming. I just happened to be a tongue typo.If u are a team worker, then I should probably shut up or you should scroll down.But for those who have no idea (I did not have any idea  at first):

               First some team work is done.Then it gets pretty screwed up.No team member would take responsibility for it.Before they restart the work, the team members gather ,discuss at long to decide who is to be blamed. Suddenly ideas come to them like brainstorming till they are able to find out the one to be blamed.

Laymanise:

If  you are a fan of Grey’s Anatomy, you might remember this scene.After Dr.Yang explains the patient about what he had suffered  from and about the treatment given in a very  professional way, her senior doctor would tell her ”in human please”.Laymanise is just the term for it. It got through Oxford dictionary in 2012.

             I wonder why appatucker has not got through Tamil Dictionary.

lucky or not

                                             BEHIND THE WORDS

PAN OUT:

There were great cooks breaking their heads to make pancakes for so long. All the cooks joined together in a place. They had planned to make pancakes individually as each differed in their opinions. Then came the climax. In some pans, the pancakes were a success. And in some other pans, the cakes were actually disasters. So thus came the  phrase  “pan out” .And we say in some cases, it panned out well and if otherwise, we say it did not pan out well. Sorry just tried whether I could successfully cheat anybody and many say I failed. Ok. No more blabbering.

Well, here is the true story. It was in the year 1848,James Wilson Marshal did some Indiana Jones work and found gold treasure literally in some part of California. Many rushed there. Some lucky ones found gold in big pieces. Ohers  had to find gold down the mountains where rivers settle down the  gold particles. They had to take soil from such places, put it in a pan, add water to it, wash it and let out the water hoping for the settlement of gold in the pan. This process is called panning. If they found gold ,they said it panned out well. If otherwise, they said it did not pan out well.c u soon with some more to share.

                                                    

No dilemma

Names as words:

Gerrymander:

            

              Ready to hear some political history?Elbridge Gerry was the governor of Massachusetts.In March 1812 or at the time of election he redistricted that state and it favoured his party.They won.The redistricted place when mapped looked like a dragon,like a lizard-like creature,like a salamander.From his name and the  word "salamander"they coined the term gerrymander that means redistricting for some political favour.

Hobson's choice:

               Long back, somewhere near Cambridge university,there lived a man called Hobson.He led a successful life by renting horses to the people mostly students.Lots of customers came to him for hiring horses because they thought they had a wide variety of choices looking at the horses in his shop.wait!Don't guess the meaning of Hobson's choice now.Back to the story,they did not have as many choices as the no. of horses stood there.Hodson would choose a horse and make it stand near the entance.And the customers could only take that horse.So he could serve all men equally and prevent the horses from overusing.Now guess the answer for Hobson's choice and look below:

 Hobson's choice=this or none.

Guessed?

scored.

WHAT COULD IT BE?

Let's listen to some real fun part of the english language now:

“My home is not quiet but I am not loud.

The lord has meant us to journey together.

 I am faster than he and sometimes stronger.

 But he keeps on going for longer.

Sometimes I rest but he runs on.

 For as long as I am alive I live in him.

If we part from one another it is I who will die.”

                   Honestly, I thought it was some poem written referring  to a wife.

The 1^st  line implying quarrelsome family members,

the 2^nd  line implying marriage,

3^rd line her strength,

4^th line her busy working husband and

 the rest telling us about her love and commitment.Actually I read it again and again and could not get even a marginal clue that I am going 2 b wrong.

                    

                 That was a riddle and the answer is A FISH  IN A POND.Since I  let u know d answer , just let me know how many of u were wrong about d riddle  just like me.

                Poet vairamuthu’s lines go like this:”kavithai variyin suvai artham puriyum varai”(roughly translated:til u get the meaning of the poem,u get the taste of the poem). Applies for this riddle too,right? 

  If u r ready for one more Anglo-saxon riddle here it goes:

"I am wonderful help to women,

The hope of something to come. I harm

No citizen except my slayer.

Rooted I stand on a high bed.

I am shaggy below. Sometimes the beautiful

Peasant's daughter, an eager-armed,

Proud woman grabs my body,

Rushes my red skin, holds me hard,

Claims my head. The curly-haired

Woman who catches me fast will feel

Our meeting. Her eye will be wet."

Before finalising yr answer,try 2 google anglo-saxon riddles .  

sandwich-wins in taste;wins in convenience;wins in story

NAMES AS WORDS:

BOUGAINVILLEA:

I have always expected big,interesting, even magical story behind the flower name bougainvillea  since my childhood.And it turned out that bougainvillea was named after the botanist who found it.Real honour to the botanist.About the flower, even after knowing the reason,the name is still charming.ThoughI felt a little like how I would feel when the movie for which I had high expectations flopped utterly.Anyone who wonders why Tupperware is called Tupperware?

SILHOUETTE:

The word silhouette comes from the name Étienne de Silhouette.From the name ,it is easy to guess that it is a French name.And anything more than that we can’t guess,we will have to know that  Étienne de Silhouette was a finance minister

 who had to impose heavy tax charges from the wealthy people due to an economic crisis.People were not obviously happy with his new plans that stood on the way of their luxury.Result:silhouette  became a name for anything that is cheap.It now actually refers to a painting that just shows the outline with the outlined part darkened,maybe because it took less work from a painter,it got its name silhouette.

SANDWICH:

I always liked  Sandwich and its name.The fact that it is also named after a person is not quite a story I expected.But the fact that sandwiches were prepared for a person who is so addicted in playing cards that he did not even want to get off the

table even for lunch has a great essence of a great story.

                                                            see u friends.

I thought mascara was a hindi word so far

BEHIND THE WORDS:

The next time you hear these words I hope you remember their stories too.

ECHO:

The Greeks named the phenomenon of reverberation of sound through reflection as echo.On looking for a reason and some background for this word ,I found this story.Zeus was a Greek God and his wife was Hera.Zeus asked Echo to accompany his wife Hera whenever He has to do some business that Vera does not like.And so Echo engaged in good and interesting conversations with Vera to take away her focus off of what Zeus is upto.But later Vera found out about their plan.Feeling cheated,vera cursed Echo that she could only speak only which was spoken to her.

MASCARA:

The film mummy gave a good picture of how the ancient Egypt would look.I mean desert everywhere and hot like a hell.The Egyptians in the effort to protect their eyes from the sun,applied kohl (mascara or something like eyeliner)to their eyes.Seems they did not have coolers at that time.Good for us ,we have both mascara and coolers now.But anyways we can’t show off with mascara and coolers at the same time.whatever,back to the story,the Arabs did not like the practice of applying kohl to eyes.So they called it ’masq hara’ meaning the clown.And the name stuck but people forgot what it means.

BEDLAM:

Sometimes it just takes a rumour for a word  like bedlam to be created.There is going to be a scary reason.watch out. St. Mary of Bethlehem's hospital is  in London.Long long back, there was a rumour that some of the patients of that hospital were treated badly and there were patients inside the hospital wandering with chains and this rumour spread,spread and spread till Bethlehem became bedlam and bedlam referred to a place full of chaos and disorder.End of story.

NAMES AS WORDS

There are meanings behind the names.But threre are also words with meanings that originated from the names.English names it as follows:

STEEPLEJACK:

We have seen spiderman and most of us might have seen the making of spiderman noticing all the safety arrangements but it really continue to keep us amazed. Though  for a short time Also we are  also amazed by people who stand on ladders as high as coconut trees painting some ads on the cut-out,people who repair or build something standing on an edge of  the buildings we look at with our chin upwards,people who have to climb trees which look quite promising at touching the sky.We could call them spidermen or go on with the word ‘sleeplejack’ that refers to such people.

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN:

“சரோஜா  சாமான்  நிக்காலோ ” could be one expression that could match with this one in English.Needless to say ,but it is my pleasure to say that it means to get ready to do something.

DOUBTING THOMAS:

 I have encountered this phrase while reading sujatha’s katrathum petrathum long back and I am sure it has become a popular phrase among many now.But still let me retell one more time.It is said that Jesus Christ had to appear before Thomas and to show him his wounds as he refused to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.So who ever refuses to believe in something they have not seen by themselves are called Doubting Thomas.

GREAT SCOTT:

It is just an exclamation said at times of surprise.It maybe originated from the name of sir Winfield Scott,an American general who became too fat to ride a horse.

When I think the most famous phrase  in this category all over the world ,the phrase that comes to my mind is ” Elementary,my dear Watson”. c u with more English.

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

        RANGE ANXIETY:

• Ever got in this situation? when petrol is getting over ,just when no petrol  bunk is nearby,we fall in an anxiety, feeling if we could reach the destination. This kind of anxiety if felt over the battery when driving an electric car is called range anxiety. That that technology,that that problem.

            HUMP DAY:

• Over the hump actually means 'pathi kenaru thanditom' in Tamil.so hump is somehow linked with the word 'middle'. Wednesday, the middle of the working days is called as hump day like half of the week got over and half more we will get our holidays.hurray! Just a word for my mind voice.

           SILLAGE:

•           Sometimes we just wonder if we really need a word for it.such is the case with sillage,I felt.To add-up,sillage means the duration our deo  or perfume  stays.

5 TAMIL WORDS FOR WHICH I DID NOT KNOW THE ENGLISH EQUIVALENT TILL YESTERDAY:

அமுதம்        -  elixir

அபிஷேகம் - anointment

அஞ்சறைப்பெட்டி -spice box

நகசுத்தி -agnail

எழுத்தாணி -stylus

Now for  அச்சாணி can I go with bolt or stud-bolt or is there any other word for it?Let me please know what  you think.

Hope ur weekend is fun.C u.

BEHIND THE WORDS:

                                                          KANGAROO

                     This word was accidently created and the credit goes to the English explorers and the local natives of Australia. Captain James Cook and Sir Joseph Banks were among the English explorers. They were amused to see that hopper kind of creature. So naturally, they asked the name of that new creature to the localites. And they promptly noted down what they said-Kangooroo. The beauty of this story is ‘kangooroo’ in the local language actually meant “I don’t understand” .It became kangaroo and  was accepted even by the localites later.

                             

                                                       

                                                           TAWDRY

                      St.Audry was an English princess who abdicated all the luxury. She wore chains around her neck. Then one day ,she had to depart from the Earth. Those who attended her funeral wore laces around their neck in memory of her. Soon the laces became popular in the market and the sellers were calling it as St.Audry’s lace. From what they used to call ,came the word tawdry and started to mean anything that is cheaper like the laces available in the market.

BEHIND THE WORDS:

                                                      TANTALISE

This word actually comes from a story, to be exact, from Greek mythology in which Tantalus  was a king who became famous when he received  ‘anniyan’ kind of  punishment designed for  the evildoers .The Greek Gods have put him inside a river below some tree. Whenever he wanted to eat a fruit from the tree, the height of the tree rose above his limits. Whenever he wanted to drink the water ,the river dried. .Now the story ends. The moral of the story is when something we want is off-limits for us , we say we are tantalised by it.

                                                                        

                                                     ABOVEBOARD

     For this word, we have  to thank the game of cards since this word came from it.It is said that the French insisted that the cards should be held above the table  i.e  above the board  so that the players couldn’t cheat by switching the cards. Maybe now, there are other tricks for cheating and it is not our concern .our concern is when something is done honestly, we say it is done aboveboard.

BEHIND THE WORDS:

                                                                  

                                                 BY THE GRAPEVINE

When we hear a news that has travelled from someone to someone and then again from  someone to someone and then again ……………………… okay and finally to us ,we say we heard the news by the grapevine. But why should be it ‘by the grapevine’? The answer is in the history and telecommunication. Telegraphy was seen as a  wonder boon for transfer of information .But it needed a bundle of wires to be erected near the building.During the civil War ii, people found the bundle of wires to be the only source of information and they did not know what to believe and what not to believe.And the bundle of wires looked like grapevine.So how did they get to know the information? Ofcourse, by the grapevine.

                                                                  

                                                  GREENHORN

Since the word young means something young ,people used this word  ‘greenhorn’to denote young calves that have not grown horns yet. Beautiful name,Isn’t it? Then in course of time ,this word started  to mean people who are new and without experiences in something.e.g He is a greenhorn in share market .

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

                         “people can’t resist when something is free”. I don’t  remember where I heard this. As far as I think,in reality, we actually can’t resist when anything is less than free. That’s why we use office internet for our own use . The word Cyberslacking word appears quite like a cybercrime .And it is ,in one way. It is something  we can’t resist when internet is less than free i.e using office net for personal use. Happy browsing!

BEHIND THE WORDS:

                                                      BLOG

’Web-log ‘ in 1970’s denoted the articles posted in a website. Then the word blog was born from it to give you what u r looking at now.

                                                     NICKNAME

Those  who have a friend can never escape from having nicknames that they don’t like.And Every one has a friend. And this nickname thing is nothing but having an additional name or an ‘eke’ name as per old English.Here is the thing. Eke rhymes with nick and ekename settles down with  a nickname .c u soon.

THE STORY BEHIND THE WORD:                                                                                                                                  
                         “ There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter which luckily I am”.
                            Do u remember Johnny Depp saying this dialog in ’Alice in Wonderland’?  Have u guessed ‘as mad as a hatter’ is going to be discussed now?  s? Then  let me start with Once upon a time hatters used mercury for making some sort of hats.They faced a health hazard called ‘Mercury poisoning’.Getting mad is the symptom of it and most of the hatters were really mad. Maybe as a similie ,this phrase might have appeared.

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:
                       It has become more than usual to see people spending more time in internet.And English has a name for those where 'those' include us where' us' being NETIZENS according to the English language.
                       If u come across the word ’NETBOOK’,please don’t  think that it is a book about Internet.According to the English language,it is a Small laptop computer which weighs less than 3 pounds and has a 7 to 10 inch screen.                                                                                                                                     

                        If  u already alreay come across etiquette(disciplined social behaviour) , EnglishVinglish introduces you to  wat it calls disciplined internet behaviour-NETIQUETTE.

     

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

                                            We often have to sound sweet even when or mostly when we have to point out others’ mistakes.More often we hear those talkings from our beloved superiors.These talkings as English calls them as euphemisms, sometimes make truth less bitterful and sometimes they hide the very message .Eupemism is a loan word from Greek meaning auspicious usage of words.

                                         Euphemistically speaking, we never copy in our exams. We just use peer homework help (or) we collaborate in our exams.        We never lied. some ‘terminological inexactitudes’ (I like this one)might be there in what we said.The beauty of euphemism is that it makes a second-hand car a pre-owned car (or) a pre-loved car.The term ‘correctional facility’for jail actually brings better meaning to the public and the prisoners.

                                             On the contrary,there are some euphemisms that actually take away the feelings we would have if stated otherwise.Some hospital mentioned a death of a patient by some medicine they administered as ‘therapeutic misadventure’.I heard the officials in crime department call ‘an extended interrogation technique’which is what those who are interrogated call as torture.

THE STORY BEHIND THE WORD:

                                 Excuse me as I have to go on with a phrase now and whenever applicable.                                                                                             

                                              BREAK THE ICE                   

                         We say this to mean breaking the silence and to make a good start with a conversation.Earlier, in cold countries, people had to pass frozen river to start their business in new places.what they did for a good start in their business?They broke the ice. ofcourse that’s the reason why we call starting a conversation as breking the ice.c u soon with some more English.

STORY BEHIND THE WORD:                                                                          

HAZARD

Some of u who speak Arabic would know that al zahr in Arabic means dice.And the rest of us now.u realise al zahr and hazard sound similar.The Western Europe called all the games(including gambling) that use a die by this name.since there is a chance of getting conned in gambling,this word became a synonym to danger.

ENGLISH NAMES IT AS:

  

Some people tend to make funny statements simply by using inappropriate words by mistake becoz those words are similar to the words they intended to tell.English names those funny statements as malapropism.

EXAMPLES FOR YR FUN:

1)Good punctuation means not to be late.

2)Isn't that an expensive pendulum around that man's neck?(pendulum for pendant)

3)He had to use fire distinguisher.

If u care for some History,this word is derived from the name of the character 'Mrs.Malaprop' created by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in 'The rivals'.

Still if u r in the mood of hearing some more,malapropism is almost same as dogburryism and this word dogburryism is derived from the name of the character Officer Dogburry created by Shakespeare.

Now malapropisms of Mrs.Malprop:

1)Oh! It gives me the hydrostatics to such a degree.(for hysterisis)

2)..to illiterate him,I say, quite from yr memory.(obliterate)

For more, pls google for malapropisms.