Do you speak “boring English”?

Spice up your language.......

Kith Udugama

Sometime ago I met the late minister C V Gunaratna in England when he was on an official visit. He mentioned to me when he met Prince Charles he had told him “Mr. Minister, you speak better English, than I do!!!!” and smiled. Late C V Gunaratna mentioned it to me in a lighthearted humour and he said he also returned the compliment in a more extravagant manner.

I knew the late C V Gunaratna was a very sophisticated, well informed gentleman who could hold his own in any social gathering of British aristocrats. At the same time he could be with the average man in his constituency and make them feel comfortable.

It is an astounding fact that the average cultured speaker of English knows no more than one out of ten words in his own language. Very roughly speaking, the total number of English words is about one million. Rare indeed is the man who is acquainted with more than 100,000 of that total number.

No reason

It is perfectly true that the grand total of one million is attained by summing up not only the words in general use, but also thousands upon thousands of “special” words-obscure slang and cant, dialectal and local forms, words described as archaic, obsolete and obsolescent, and above all, the numerous specialised jargons of the various trades, businesses, occupations, professions and sciences. There is no reason why the engineer or industrial manufacturer should be expected to know the thousands of medical, physiological and anatomical terms that are a must to the physician, or those other thousands of words contained in U S Pharmacopeia that the druggist or chemist must be familiar with. Conversely, there is no reason for expecting the physician to know the complicated terminology of the automotive engineer, or of the atomic scientist, or of the linguistic scholar.

Still, when all is said and done, there remains a large residue of words in common use-words which have a way of showing up in the columns of a newspaper editorial, or in the pages of a review of general culture, or even of a popular magazine.

The average man, whose practical vocabulary embraces perhaps 30,000 words, is often enough faced with many thousands of additional words which he must admit he does not know, if he is willing to be honest with himself. There are two things he can do about them: look them up on the spot in his handy dictionary, or bypass them and rely on the general meaning of the context in which he finds them.

Idioms and proverbs

The first method is time-consuming and not always feasible (he may, for example, encounter an unfamiliar word as he scans his morning paper on the train or bus on his way to work ). At any rate, even if he looks up the word, his chances of retaining it so that he will recognise it the next time he meets it are slim, human memory being the fallible tool it is. Relying on the context is frustrating at best; at worst, it may lead to an altogether incorrect interpretation of that context. Are there memory aids, or better yet, systems, whereby one may familiarise himself with entire sets of words at once, break them up into their component parts, analyze and penetrate their meaning even when they have never been seen before?Sometimes in today’s Sri Lanka when people use idioms and proverbs with who are not too fluent and conversant in the language have a tendency to laugh. They think if you say “it was raining cats and dogs in my area Yesterday” it is really funny. I think they must have pictured cats and dogs falling from the sky!!! Like we experienced rain coming down with fish in certain areas in the recent past. It is very interesting to hear somebody speaking using idioms and proverbs. It comes to them naturally and it’s a treat to listen to them. Therefore it is imperative when people speak English use these idioms, proverbs, phrasal verbs to make it more spicy and interesting. There are thousands of these idioms, proverbs and phrasal verbs.

Following are some frequently used idioms and proverbs

Beat around the bush

Meaning:

Avoid or delay talking about something unpleasant or embarrassing

If you beat around the bush, you do not say something directly to someone because you are worried about his/her reaction and do not want to upset him/her.

Some people also say “ beat about the bush. “

Example:

Do not beat around the bush! Tell me what exactly you want.

Let us not beat around the bush anymore. You’d better do this project over. It’s not acceptable to us.

Feel like a fish out of water

Meaning:

Feel uncomfortable because you are in an unfamiliar situation.

If you feel like a fish out of water, you feel awkward or uncomfortable because you are in an unusual or unfamiliar situation.

Example:

I do not like going to the big parties they have. I always feel like a fish out of water there.

Todd is a country boy raised in a small town in Idaho and was like a fish out of water when he visited New York City.

Do not let the grass grow under your feet

Meaning:

Act now without any delay.

If you say “Do not let the grass grow under your feet” to someone, you tell him/her not to waste time and to do something immediately.

If someone does not let the grass grow under his/her feet, he/she does something right now without waiting.

Example:

Now that you know what to do, act right away. Do not let the grass grow under your feet.

A: Do you think the manager’s already started to do something to solve the problem?

B: I believe so. He is the kind of guy who does not let the grass grow under his feet.

Hit the nail on the head

Meaning:

Say exactly a right thing. Answer to a question in exactly the right way. Be exactly right about something.

If you say someone has hit the nail on the head, you mean he/she has answered to a question or described something in exactly the right way.

Example:

She hit the nail on the head when she proposed her plan at the last meeting. It is exactly the thing we need to do now!

A: I think education is the most important thing we need to work on if we want to make this city a better place.

B: You have hit the nail on the head! I completely agree with you!

Be in the same boat

Meaning:

Be in the same situation or have the same problem as another person.

If you and I are in the same boat, we are in the same bad or unpleasant situation.

Example:

Nobody has any money to go out tonight. We are in the same boat.

During the Great Depression, we were all in the same boat. Many people lost their jobs all over the world.

It is easier said than done

Meaning:

It is easy to suggest, but hard to do.

You say “It is easier said than done” when someone suggests something, and you think it would actually be hard to do.

Example:

“Forget all your mistakes and start it over!”

“I will try, but that is easier said than done.”

I should just say “No” to him, but it is easier said than done.

Be in hot water

Meaning:

Be in trouble.

If you are in hot water, you are in a difficult situation because you have said or done something wrong.

Example:

He has been in hot water with his boss. He might be fired.

Her recent comment on civil rights put Mayor Jones into hot water.

(Mayor Jones is in hot water because of something she said about civil rights.)

Kick the bucket

Meaning:

Die

If you say someone kicked the bucket, you mean someone died.

This is an informal expression. (a kind of slang)

Example:

That old guy finally kicked the bucket last week.

When I kick the bucket, bury me on top of that mountain.

Rain cats and dogs

Meaning:

To rain very heavily.

If you say “It is raining cats and dogs,” you mean it is raining very heavily.

Example:

They did not cancel the game even though it was raining cats and dogs.

It will rain cats and dogs tomorrow, but he will go to work as usual.

More idioms, proverbs and phrasal verbs to continue in next articles.................

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