“umpteen”

The pronunciation: The first syllable “ump” rhymes with “bump”, “pump”, and “lump”. The “ee” is like the “ee” in “fees”, “bees”, and “sees”. The main stress is on the second syllable.

 

 

Umpteen can mean “many” or “a lot of”.

 

 

Examples *I emailed Janani umpteen times, but she never responded. *Bhaveen revised the paper umpteen times before submitting it. *Naila has seen the movie umpteen times.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, Feb 11, 2003

Pronunciation: “moustache”

An Englishman would pronounce the “ou” in the first syllable like “a” in “china”. The following “a” sounds like the “a” in “path”, “bath”, and “pass”, while the final “che” is like the “sh” in “sheet”, “sheep”, and “shoot”. The main stress, as you have probably guessed, is on the second syllable.  

 

As for the Americans, well, they always do things differently. First of all, they spell the word differently. It’s spelt “mustache”. The “u” is like the “u” in “cut”, “but”, and “gut”. The “a” in the second syllable is like the “a” in “act”, “pact”, and “fact”. The main stress is on the first syllable.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, Feb 11, 2003

“residence” and “home”

Both these words have several different meanings. I will limit myself to one — the place where one lives. Home is usually a place where one stays and to which one is emotionally attached. “Home”, as the saying goes, “is where the heart is”. There is a lot of sentimental value attached to a home. A millionaire may have several houses, but he usually has one home. Not every house can become a home.

 

 

As for the word “residence”, we Indians are terribly fond of it. We use it synonymously with “house” and “home”. According to the dictionaries, “residence” is a formal word for “home”. But it’s no ordinary home either. It’s usually something huge and imposing; like the Raj Bhavan. We therefore talk about the “Governor’s residence”. A native speaker doesn’t usually refer to a one bedroom apartment, or a two bedroom house as his “residence”.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, Feb 11, 2003

“blue blood”

When you say that someone has blue blood running in his veins what you mean is that he comes from a royal family. He is a person of high or noble birth.

 

*Raju is a blue blooded aristocrat. *Don’t be crazy. There’s no blue blood running in her veins.

 

“Blue blood” is actually a translation of the Spanish term “sangre azul”. At one time, the Moors (people of the Arab race) ruled over much of Spain. The Moors were dark complexioned and during the seven centuries that they ruled Spain, a lot of interracial marriages took place. But the Spanish aristocrats who lived in Castile did not intermarry with the Moors. As a result, they remained extremely fair and began to distinguish themselves from their rulers and fellow aristocrats by calling themselves “sangre azul”. What they meant by this was that because of their very fair complexion, the veins in their arms looked blue. It was as if blue blood was running in their veins. How vain can one get! Anyway, this term was borrowed by other European countries to describe a nobleman. In England, the expression was borrowed to refer to prestigious institutions as well. Did you know that universities like Oxford and Cambridge are called “blue brick” universities in England?

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, Feb 11, 2003

“de facto”

It means “actual, though not official”.

Examples * *English is the de facto language of the software industry.  * Every one knows that he is the de facto Chief Minister of the State.

 The first word can be pronounced in two different ways. The “e” can either be pronounced like the “ay” in “day” or like the “ee” in “feed”, “need” and “deed”. The “fact” is pronounced like the word “fact” and the final “o” sounds like the “oe” in “toe”, “foe”, and ‘hoe”. The main stress is on the first syllable of “facto”.

S. Upendran , The Hindu- ‘Know Your English’ Series, Feb 11, 2003