“economically inactive”?

“Economically inactive” is the politically correct way of saying that an individual is unemployed.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, January 21, 2003

“Nice to meet you” and “Nice meeting you”

When you are introduced to someone, you can either say, “Nice to meet you” or “Nice meeting you”. But when you take leave of an individual what you normally say is “Nice meeting you”. Although some people say “Nice to meet you”, “Nice meeting you” is the more common of the two.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, January 21, 2003

Usage: ‘cope up with’

‘Cope up with’ is a wrong usage.

 Example, Our batsmen are unable to cope with the bouncy tracks. * I am unable to cope with all this pressure.*our cricket team learns to cope with pressure in South Africa.”

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, January 14, 2003

`do a bang-up job’

When you say that someone has `done a bang-up job’ what you are implying is that he/she has done a very good job.

Example: Have you seen your school’s new homepage? Your Principal has done a bang-up job with it * Mahidhar did a bang-up job on his physics project. Even the Principal had nice things to say about it.* The captain did a bang-up job leading the team.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, January 14, 2003