“Rapunzel’s tresses”

Rapunzel is a character who appears in a fairy tale. According to the story, Rapunzel is a beautiful girl who has lovely long hair (tresses). Unfortunately for our heroine she is locked up in a castle by a mean old witch. One day a young Prince sees Rapunzel standing near a window and falls in love with her. He asks her to let down her hair so that he can use it to climb up to where she is! Every time he wants to see her, he shouts “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair for I may climb the golden stair.”

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 17, 2002 

“innuendo”

Pronunciation: The “i” is like the “i” in “it”, “sit”, and “hit”. The following “u” is like the “u” in “university” and “unique”, while the “e” sounds like the “e” in “set”, “bet”, and “pet”. The final “do” rhymes with “so”, “go”, and “though”. The main stress is on the third syllable “en”.

An innuendo is a statement in which you indirectly say something uncomplimentary about someone. It is often a statement which has a double meaning. The plural can be spelt either “innuendoes” or “innuendos”.

Here are a few examples. *The author instead of focussing on facts has resorted to innuendos. *Both the candidates have resorted to innuendoes.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 17, 2002

“… a half hour… ” or “… an half hour… .”?

Since the “h” is usually pronounced in “half”, we tend to use “a” instead of “an”. In the case of some words we can use either “a” or “an”. For example, in the case of “hotel” we can either say “an hotel” or “a hotel”. Those who tend to say “an hotel” tend to drop the “h” in “hotel”. They pronounce the word “otel”.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 17, 2002

“to tie the knot”

As everyone knows “to tie the knot” means to get married.

Here are a few examples. *Sekhar and Rubina tied the knot long time ago. *Prahalad has no intention of tying the knot.

In India people literally tie a knot of some kind when they get married. The groom puts a knot on the “thali”; sometimes the garments worn by the bride and the groom are knotted together. But in Europe and America couples exchange rings. So why does “to tie the knot” mean to get married?

Scholars have come up with different explanations for this. Many believe that the expression goes back to the Roman times. On the day of the wedding, the bride used to spend a lot of time tying knots on her bridal girdle. And it was the “duty” of the groom to untie all of them!

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 17, 2002

“death” and “demise”

Both are used to refer to the “end or ending of life”. Of the two, “death” is more common. One can use it with people, animals, plants, and things.

*Sunita went into a depression after the death of her pet parrot. *If the bill is passed, it will be the death of communism.

“Demise”, unlike “death”, is mostly used in formal contexts. When used with people, it is normally used with those who are fairly well known. One can talk about the demise of a President or an actor, but one does not talk about the demise of a beggar. Unlike “death”, “demise” is generally not used with animals. One does not generally talk about the “demise” of a dog.

Some scholars argue that “demise” is a pretentious way of saying “death”. They suggest that this is a word which is best avoided. But we Indians use it quite a bit.

*The President’s untimely demise led to all kinds of complications.

Like the word “death”, “demise” can be used to indicate the failure of an enterprise.  

Pronunciation: the “e” in “demise” is pronounced like the “i” in “it”, “bit”, and “sit”. The “i” is like the “y” in “my”, “by”, and “fly”. The “s” is like the “z” in “zip”, and “zoo”; the final “e” is silent. The main stress is on the second syllable.

 S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 17, 2002

`enamoured of’ or ‘enamoured about’?

Pronunciation: The “e” is like the “i” in “bit”, “hit”, and “sit”; the following “a” sounds like the “a” in “bat”, “cat”, and “fat”. The final “oure” sound like the “a” in “china”. The main stress is on the second syllable.

One can be “enamoured of” or “enamoured with” someone or something, but one cannot be “enamoured about” something. When you are “enamoured of” something or someone you are extremely fond of that person or thing.

 Here are a few examples. * Someone told me that Naila is enamoured of Bruce Willis. * Sreetilak wasn’t enamoured with the idea of walking ten miles.* Unlike many people I know, Gauri isn’t enamoured of the United States.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 10, 2002  

“donkey’s years”

When you say that someone has been around for “donkey’s years”, what you are implying is that he/she has been around for a long, long time. The expression is mostly used in informal contexts.

Here are a few examples. * It’s been donkey’s years since I talked to Sarita and Ganesh. * The project has been going on for donkey’s years. * Ranjeet has been with this company for donkey’s years.

 The expression seems to suggest that donkeys live for a long time. I don’t know how many years a donkey lives, but this expression has nothing to do with the life span of a donkey. What is it that donkeys have that are extremely long? Ears, right? In fact, that’s where the expression comes from. The original expression was “donkey’s ears” and not “donkey’s years”! Makes sense now doesn’t it?

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 10, 2002  

“to draw first blood”

When you “draw blood” you make your opponent bleed. Therefore, when you “draw first blood”, you hurt your opponent before he hurts you.

 According to some scholars, the idiom “to draw first blood” comes from the world of boxing. The expression is also used metaphorically to mean, “to score a victory over someone”.

Here are a few examples.* In the debate, it was the visitors who drew first blood. * We were hoping to draw first blood. Unfortunately, we didn’t.

The expression “draw blood” has another meaning as well. When you “draw blood” you succeed in hurting someone’s feelings.

 Here are a few examples. * The teacher’s caustic remarks clearly drew blood. * Sailaja’s remarks were intended to draw blood.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 10, 2002

“figure something out” and “figure something up”

When you figure someone out, you begin to understand the individual better. Similarly, when you figure something out, you begin to understand it better.

Here are a few examples. * Rohini was able to figure out the problem. * Varsha is a new student in class. No one has been able to figure her out. * It took Balaji some time to figure out what Malar was trying to say.

When you “figure something up”, you add up the numbers. You total the amount of something.

 Here are a few examples. * Neha and Nandita took turns figuring up the bill. * I am in a hurry. Could you figure the bill up, please? * Jyoti, please figure up how many bags of cement we will need.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, December 10, 2002