Why not Grammar obsessive/fetish instead of Grammar nazi?

 

 

 

 

The word Nazi in 'Grammar nazi' leaves me a bit disturbed. Whenever I come across that phrase, I stop and completely oblivious of the first part of the phrase, start contemplating the second part. 'Nazi' brings to my mind holocaust, gas chambers and The Boy in Striped Pyjamas. It makes me sad and gloomy. Not always but most of the times. I wonder who coined this phrase! Yes, I can hear you when you think that I am making a mountain out of a mole-hill but aren't words powerful? Don't they have the power to bring memories? Don't they pierce?

Words are powerful and make a deep impact, if you know what I mean. There are many such terms which evoke gory memories and ill-fated times. A word is enough to transport the mind to memories that are tinged with sorrow and hurt. The words, ''rainbow,'' alongside bringing the picture of seven lovely stripes set in a curve also bring pictures of the LGBT community and their struggles. So the rainbow is not a rainbow alone!

Many of us know the oft-quoted saying, ''Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,'' but the pain caused by sticks and stones will pass unlike the hurt caused by words. It sears, lives and throbs within the crevices of the mind.

So, next time you utter something, dear reader, pause. think. utter.

Leaving you with a personal favourite number, Words by Boyzone

 

 

When nostalgia gets a tad boring

I often wonder how long can one get nostalgic over and over the same bit that happened some time ago in our lives. Won't the nostalgia stop? Will one nostalgia replace another? Will we stop getting nostalgic after we have exhausted the emotion so much like the cassette that finally wears out due to overuse.

This is a fairly recent happening and I find it pretty amusing. I think about a beautiful memory and find that I keep returning to it every single day and by the time I've thought about it for some time now that I feel tired to think of it anymore. Succeeding that 'boring nostalgia' phase is an aversion to that memory. It is then I realise that overdoing nostalgia also gets boring. But isn't nostalgia something sweet and beautiful. Maybe when it strikes once a while to refresh the bygone years and moments but feelings of longing that strike very often lose their appeal over time. Well, the etymology of nostalgia is from the word, 'nostos' meaning homecoming. Now, I guess that during the time the word was coined, it was meant for someone who was away from home and was longing for home - the physical home and the emotional security that is often associated with the home. But now the word has evolved and comes to mean memory and longing for something that was once part of our lives, not necessarily the home itself. That's what I love about words - they evolve, wrapping in the mood and the times and mould according to the context. They change but still retain their spirit.

Coming back to nostalgia, I wonder how long will something remain so precious and lovely that each time we are filled with yearning, we feel nostalgia. I guess even nostalgia changes, rather it evolves to something else before going through a few steps: Initially the memory is beautiful and comes to our mind when we yearn for the past. Then we start clinging so much to that specific memory that nostalgia becomes the norm each day. Finally we are done looking at that memory from a trillion angles that we have explored every fine fabric of that particular memory. Then we break forth and no longer relish that memory. The nostalgia of that memory gets boring and we don't feel like returning to that for quite some time. Perhaps after a long time, the cycle will begin again.

Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps.

Dear reader what do you have to say on this?

Image 1: Internet
Image 2: Internet

This thing, that thing, which thing

The word thing, I guess, should be the winner of the contest "One word for all." It is much easier for anyone to say 'that thing' rather than the actual word that should be used in a particular context. Take this example:

X: I like that thing in your T-shirt

Y: Which thing?

X: That yellow thing

Y: You mean that smiley?

X: Yes, that smiley thing

Well, every object, emotion, idea is reduced to a 'thing' or 'thingy.' Lets's see another example,

A: I think I have a thing for Josh Groban

B: Same here. Even I have a thing for him. Do you think we should write a thing for him?

And, it is not only young people who use the word 'thing' as a substitute for words but also adults. And, I must hasten to add that yours truly is also found guilty of using the T word for lack of memory of the original word.

The usage of the word in certain contexts almost ends up in double meaning. For example, the T word is used as a euphemism for sexual organs and sex itself. People saying, 'my thing is itching' or 'we did the thing' is not quite uncommon. But it does get hilarious when people say, 'My book is on your thing' (here, thing refers to bed). But the beauty of this kind of 'thing' communication is that the speakers who are part of the conversation perfectly understand the connotation of the word 'thing.'

Using the word 'thing' for almost every object or feeling, the literal meaning of the word is forgotten. But, that is secondary because communication is what matters and so anything is fine!

Now, let me leave you with the video of the song That Thing You do! from the movie of the same name. And why did I choose this song? Well, you guessed that one, quite right.

What do you think about thing and do you do the thing thing (winks) always?

Image: Internet

Why the word ‘simple’ baffles me everytime I hear it

Usually while describing a learned professor, the word which is oft used is ‘simple.’ Sentences like, “He is quite brilliant but very simple,” is something which I hear quite a bit. What exactly does this word mean? Simple, I see, is used in different contexts. For example, “Today I have cooked a simple meal,” “My thoughts are always simple,” “They are very rich, but quite simple,” She has a way of dressing very simple;” I am a simple person with not many ambitions.” Mind boggling, isn’t it? This word has almost seeped into many contexts.

In the context of food, it could mean a preparation without many spices and that which requires less cooking time; in academics, it could mean that in spite of having qualifications which run up to two lines, the individual is not proud; in terms of societal standing, it could mean that in spite of having abundance of wealth, the people live lives devoid of pomp and glory. Well, . . . I have even read blog posts which begin with, “Today’s post is a simple one.” 

Now I have a problem with this usage. Take this context, for example:  if a woman has no wealth, but tries to act rich by the way she dresses and talks, she is spurned by many but if people who are rich don’t display their wealth, they are called ‘simple.’ How does one digest that? Does simplicity reveal itself only through the exterior? Just because one does not dress extravagantly or uses less spice, does the individual/object become simple? It has to be something more that, I reckon.

By using the word ‘simple,’ does one categorise people, food, film, character, etc.? Can one word be used to signify different traits? Are we lazy to exploit the other words in the English language and therefore use a single word to describe heterogeneous contexts? 

My professor always says: “There are no synonyms in any language. Every word has its own context and cannot be replaced by another.” I think he is right. What do you think?

Image: Internet

Accidentally . . .

Yesterday, I was collecting words.

One was up there, sitting in the bo tree.
Another was in the banyan.
One was wandering in my street.
Another was lying in the earthern jar.
A green word lay in the fields.
A black one was eating flesh.
A blue word was flying
With a grain of the sun in its beak.
Every single thing in this world looks like a word to me.
The words of eyes.
The words of hands.
But I do not understand words I hear from a mouth.
I can only read words.
I can only read words.

~ Shiv Kumar Batalvi

After my evening walk, I straight walked into the Library where a book called out to me. The title: A little book on MEN by RaHuL RoY. Accidentally I flipped the pages and arrived at the very last but one page where the poem was waiting for me. I thought I would share it with you. So, what do you think.

Image: Internet

A strong woman, she is!

What makes an individual strong? Well, I'm not talking of physical strength but emotional and mental. I often wonder at the usage of the word 'strong.' Often checking on the background of the individual, I realise that one is strong if:

1. he/she has been through failed relationships
2. deaths in in the family
3. extreme financial loss and coping through it
4. unsound emotional health at home caused by either parents, siblings or extended family

If the above reasons have been part of an individual's life and he/she has managed to stay sane inspite of all that, then the person is labeled as 'strong.' Now if a person has not been through the conditions mentioned above, then is that person not strong enough. We love to admire people who are 'strong.' I don't know why but the word has been abused over time. The tag 'strong,' though is highly motivating and encouraging, it creates a certain standard by which one is pigeon-holed. Every bout of failing constantly echoes the line: 'You are a strong woman.' Sometimes this creates a feeling of fear of failing. Just because a person is labeled strong, it becomes imperative that the person keeps up to the standard of being 'strong' always.

But the label does wonders to the self-esteem as well. On many a days when the spirit is down, lines like, 'You are a strong woman/man' and 'I know that you are quite strong to handle that' is always uplifting. But an overdose of motivating words can sometimes work on a reverse gear.

Another meandering as I start on with another year. Do you also think this way, sometimes?

Image: Internet

The enigma that is the song-writer's mind

The last five years or so, or is it six. Ah! no worries about that. For quite some time now, I have been very interested in the lyrics of some of the songs I would like to listen to. Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and the like have wonderful lyrics and I always want to know more about the process of the creation of some of their lyrics.

Now if I call them poets, I can't be more right. Sample this:

It's a still life water color, 

Of a now late afternoon, 

As the sun shines through the curtained lace 

And shadows wash the room. 

And we sit and drink our coffee 

Couched in our indifference, 

Like shells upon the shore 

You can hear the ocean roar 

In the dangling conversation 

And the superficial sighs, 

The borders of our lives.

~ From  "The Dangling Conversation" by Simon and Garfunkel written in 1966

Isn't this sheer poetry? A magical weaving of words. This might not be a great example but the lyrics definitely has soulfulness in it. This quality always makes me to probe why the song was written and what were the social or emotional conditions behind it. I don't much find lyrics as this in many of today's songs. Maybe I don't listen to  much contemporary music. 

Now this leads me to ask questions like what is the difference between a poet and a song-writer? Apart from the very obvious 'song has a tune,' what are the other differences. The lyrics I have quoted above even have a rhyme pattern in some of the lines. 

The internal landscape of a poet and a song-writer are interesting to study and I am truly thankful to the internet which has enabled me to peek inside a song and travel the lanes of the song-writer to find out about the birth of a song. And I am not surprised when a University has included the songs of Bob Dylan in the literature syllabus. 

If you read how Freddie Mercury wrote Bohemian Rhapsody, it will amaze you. It was a difficult piece musically as well. It was their magnum opus. It reminds me of opium-intoxicated poets writing about ancient cities with their splendour and charm.

But after all this the question remains: What is the difference between a song and a poem? Tell me what you think.

Injecting interjections. Wow!!!

Language is wonderful and I can never cease to be amazed by it's different forms. I've been thinking of the different words I frequently use and interjections seem to be a feature that constantly appears. And in case, you did not know what interjections were: They are words used to describe emotions. But that definition does not explain it all.

Words like 'Well!' 'Geez!' 'Voila!' and others are examples of interjections. Now, well, this is not a post on grammar. I just meant to say how by injecting interjections, we save uttering a number of words. Words like 'cool' and sexy' also can be called interjections.

Just a look at the many comments I write stand example to my heavy leaning on interjections. They all have 'well,' 'aww,' 'oh,' 'hmmm' and certain other words that express how I feel.

The words above can also be called my pet interjections. How incomplete our vocabulary will be without these lovely interjections. They of course don't receive as much importance like certain other words but how can we survive without them. I tried doing a simple exercise: Writing and speaking for two days without interjections and boy! it was not easy. Well, injecting interjections have become the norm for me. Oh! so wonderful.

Well, what are your pet interjections. Err . . .

Image courtesy: Internet

The great colonisers: 'Cool' and 'Sexy'

Z: Hello there, your skirt is sexy!

S: Cool!!!

Another conversation:

G: Isn't this author cool?

J: Ah! His glasses look sexy too

Here are the two colonisers (among many) in words: 'Sexy' and 'Cool.' Almost many words in the dictionary are facing a sort of less-usage-syndrome as these two words have seeped into the vocabulary of many individuals.

The days of 'beautiful,' 'lovely,' and others seem a distant memory after the onset of these two words. Everything has to be either 'sexy' or 'cool.' I use them as well but consciously limit myself and try exploring the other possible words which seem oblivious these days.

But it is a wonder as to how these two words can be used in diverse contexts. They can be used in contexts of clothes, cooking, dancing, looks and styles among many other things. It's an automated response to something that looks good and appealing. An involuntary usage 'Cool man.' While search-engine Google sticks to the original usage by showing sleazy pictures while having typed 'sexy,' people choose to use it in every conversation. Probably using 'people' is a sweeping generalisation nevertheless . . .

Now it is all the more prevalent in this football season: 'Sexy goal,' 'cool shot,' etc.,

The two words ofcourse sum up many emotions and likings but then what about the other words and the 'real' meaning of these two words. What happens to the real definition of the word 'cool' and 'sexy?'

There are many words like this which colonise our conversation and make certain other words fade away except when it comes to writing. Some words are: 'stuff,' 'things,' (Can't think of too many now).

So now if you think that this post is 'cool,' why don't you write down a 'sexy' comment!!!

State of Mind

Sometimes when words fail to describe the meanderings of the mind, I thought I would borrow them. After all words are words and if someone has already described it the way I want, let me save my thinking power. So I let the lyrics explain. The lines that kept resonating in my mind were the lyrics of Paul Simon's and Art Garfunkel's song "The Sounds of Silence" written by Paul Simon in 1964. I thought the lyrics would suffice . . .

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence 

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turn my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence 

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools," said I, "you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence 

So we are talking about a certain kind of fetish . . .

Now when I skimmed for Google's expertise on the word 'fetish' it gave me quite a range of meanings and examples. I was not very interested. The word 'fetish' always means to me anything that one gives excessive attention to. Hmmm. Talking about that, I would like to spill forth in words the fetish that has accosted me but registered its presence only now. A fetish for expression of language in the way it is meant to be. Let me be clear about this: An obsession to write words in its full form and an irritating tendency to dislike short forms. Well now this kind of a fetish is not uncommon but in my case I go a step forward and tend to associate this attribute of writing in short forms to the writer itself.

This fetish particularly drives my friends crazy as I insist that they avoid short-forms of any kind. 'U' instead of 'you,' 'k' instead of 'okay,' 'lve' instead of 'love,' etc. I am quite fine with using standard short forms like 'etc,' 'e.g,' but shorter forms of short words is a tad annoying. This holds true with words with an apostrophe. People write the complete word but leave out the apostrophe. Why? It reflects a laziness on their part to place the symbol before a particular letter.

Talking of connecting people's characteristics and their way of writing might be far-fetched but this is what I involuntarily do once I read what they have written. I was not trained to do something like that but then it is something inbuilt. If the person uses short forms, I think: "There is another lazy individual who thinks (s)he will lose time if the entire word is written." After the advent of mobiles, this is the norm. All the words are shortened and most of the times punctuations are given the slip. Let us see a sentence like that:

Shll met by 5 k dnt b lte. 

Were you able to decipher this message. It says: Shall meet by 5 okay. Don't be late. 

Some might argue that language is meant for communication and as long as you communicate, it is fine. But a sloppy communication style is no excuse for a well-written effective style of communication. Now I am beginning to think that it all boils down to style. I am adding style and elan to my fetish. The one who uses short-forms excessively is devoid of any style or elan. Period.

Photo credit: Internet

Feral

Have you heard this word before? Well I haven't. I was reading an interesting blog today and found this word. How many words are there in this world and a life-time seems quite short to know all of them.

Coming to feral: Well, its from the Latin 'fera' and it refers to an animal which has escaped domestication and returned to the wild.

I guess this word can also exemplify me at times. I always feel wild at certain times when I am away from home and on my own. I can't identify myself as being domesticated too. Am I feral?? Strange questions like this pop at times when I am least prepared for an answer. Life is like that after all.

Feral!!!

The MULTI fascination

America is referred to as 'multi-cultural' or 'multi-ethnic.' Now that was something in use for quite some time but off late there are many such 'multi' which are in use. This word has become so ubiquitous that it has become a cliche which absentmindedly embellishes conversations. 

The idea of 'multi-tasking' is spoken about by everyone especially women who are efficient multi-taskers. When we need to go out for a decent meal, we find 'multi-cuisine' restaurants which offer delicacies from various parts of the country and sometimes this 'multi' also extends to cuisines of other countries. Whether the taste is authentic Chinese or Thai requires another post to debate!

Now for hospitals -  There are 'multi-specialist' hospitals where we can consult with the dermatologist, endocrinologist and many other logists under the same roof. How can I forget the gym which has 'multi-fitness equipments' to work on each part of the body and make it aesthetically laudable.

Take the vitamins which have almost become mandatory in everyone's diet supplementary. They are again 'multi-vitamins.' The most common of the uptown crowd - 'multiplexes.'

These are some of the 'multis' that  raise their hood everywhere that I am almost  wary of them.  The  idea of 'one,' 'single,' 'unique' is slowly losing its sheen. But why? Can't something be only one and yet offer the best. Can't a restaurant offer only South-Indian and yet be special and unique. Of course by prefixing 'multi' the idea of 'many' is stressed. Fine. When America is called 'multi-ethnic,' it portrays a picture of unity in diversity but my question is whether that unity is present in reality or the word is just another hype.

'Waiting for something nice to happen'

writing after a brief gap of sorts make me wonder if i actually did write all my posts? that's a very moony notion of the whole act of writing. the title for this post is inspired by an older post that incidentally belongs to me and brought to my notice by a kind person, ND. at that point of writing my entry, i was waiting for something nice to happen. you must be wondering (as a reflex action) 'did the nice thing happen?' well, i realise that nice things don't happen. we should make it happen by our thoughts, our words and our deeds. the given order is given consciously as first the thought occurs, which translates as words from our mouth and finally manifests as deeds. well, so when we hold the key to what we think and what we say, we can make nice things happen to us. reader, be informed that this is not an original thought but this is something which many philosophers, scriptures and wise men say. don't you agree? well, i guess you should! when we have our thoughts in control (i think 'control' is too forceful a word but still i use it for any other word would dimnish the effect) we make things happen to us. if it is so easy, then why do we always wait for something nice to happen? (as i did previously) probably we sit there doing nothing and allowing the mind to force its thoughts of helplessness, negativity and nothingness to influence us. when the same mind which can force all the negative aspects can influence us, why not try and tune the mind to a tune of positive well being and thus in the process make nice things our way of life.