It's a steal

Wordsmith / FRANK KRISHNER

“Please explain the difference between robbing, stealing, and burglary,” says Chandan Kumar from Kurji. “What does live by one’s wits mean?” asks Akansha in her e-mail. “Recently I came across the word “filch”, is it the same as pilfer?” wonders Kumar Gaurav from BS College, Danapur.

Steal is to take something that belongs to somebody else without permission and without is knowledge. If you take another person’s property illegally or without right or permission in a secret manner, you are stealing. While my brother was busy playing video games, I stole his share of cake. The act of stealing something is also known as theft. A thief is someone who steals things, usually secretly and without violence.

Pinch and nick are informal words that mean steal. Manoj was caught pinching money from his mother’s purse. Those jeans he’s wearing are far too expensive, I wonder if he nicked them!

Pilfer is to steal small amounts of anything in a way that it wouldn’t be noticed. In India, small boys can be seen pilfering coal from goods trains. I know that my servant pilfers sugar and ghee, but he’s very poor and I haven’t the heart to punish him.

Burgle means to illegally enter a house or office and steal things. The other day, a man was caught burgling the house of a police officer! We returned from holiday to find our apartment had been burgled. [Americans use the word ‘burglarized’].

Shoplift is when you take things from shops without paying for them, especially by hiding them in your clothes or in a bag. A person who shoplifts is a shoplifter.

To rob is to take money or property from a house, bank, shop, or other place by using threats or violence. Two men entered the train and robbed it at gunpoint. The gang robbed the Central bank yesterday, escaping with over a million rupees. To mug [usually used in the passive voice] is to violently attack someone in the street and rob them. Since she was mugged, Sunita has been scared to go out on her own. The number of muggings in our area has doubled since last year. A hold-up is when someone goes to a bank or shop with a gun and demands money.

Learn-a-word

Live by your wits
To exist by taking advantage of any opportunity you have. Kids thrown on the streets with no family to support them have to live by their wits.
Manage by clever expedience rather than hard work or wealth. People who ‘live by their wits’ use any means available to survive. Deepak's never held a steady job but manages to live by his wits.

wordscore: unscramble these words [they all have something in common]

AORCT WRERIT PRERFOERM ECDIRTOR

[Last week’s solution: Salary, Wages, Income, Profit]

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Colour me bad!

Wordsmith / FRANK KRISHNER

The idea for today’s column comes from an advertisement for mobile phone handsets. The ad is about colours raining down on people. Indeed, colour is an inseparable part of our lives and culture. And that’s the reason for it being an inseparable part of any language.

To be colourless is to be uninteresting, dull, and boring. When we say that a person is colourless, we mean that he lacks personality. A colourless speech is boring. “Nothing that politician said stands out in my memory. I’m afraid he’s a dull, colourless man.”

To be off colour means not to be at one’s best, or to feel slightly ill or queasy. Leander Paes usually plays brilliant tennis, but he has been a bit off colour recently. Shruti is a little off-colour this morning because she was up dancing till three a.m.! A joke or story that is meant to be amusing, but ends up offending the listeners is said to be off colour.

To give colour or to lend colour to a story, report, account or explanation means to make it more believable. The smashed windshield and the bullet holes in the side of her car lent colour to her story that she was attacked by bandits.

A highly coloured report or story is one that is exaggerated or biased. Shyam gave us a highly coloured account of his encounter with a crocodile. The highly coloured report sparked off a riot between two communities.

To paint in bright colours /to paint in dark colours means to describe something in a flattering/ unflattering way. When Ali returned from Dubai he pretended he was doing well financially and painted his life there in bright colours. Salma painted her relationship with her mother-in-.law in dark colours.

True colours is more than just the title of a famous pop-song. When we see someone in his [or her] true colours, we understand his [or her] true character, often for the first time. Abhinav appeared to be very generous, but when he made a fuss about giving his overworked servant five rupees, we saw him in his true colours. When a person shows himself in his true colours, he reveals a hidden side of his nature. We thought he was a very grumpy old man, but he showed himself in his true colours when he kept everyone laughing at the party.

With flying colours means with great success or distinction. Ravi passed the test with flying colours.

Learn-a-word

Premature
Before the usual or expected time. Use ‘premature’ especially to refer to medical conditions happening before the normal or natural time. Alcoholism is the cause for premature death. Women seem to worry about premature ageing. A premature baby is one that is born too early.

wordscore:
unscramble these words [they all have something in common]

SAYLAR SEWAG OMINCE PITROF

[Last week’s solution: Gleam, Flicker, Flash, Beam]

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Cheat, fool or mislead?

Wordsmith / FRANK KRISHNER


Recently two truly sensational events occurred in Bihar. The first was the crowning success of the ‘Super 30’ experiment. The second was that three students who were coached by the Super 30 team accepted payment to endorse a commercial coaching institute. These commercial organisations tried to deceive the public. The Super 30 teachers, stung by the ingratitude and dishonesty of these students decided to discontinue the project.

It is said that that you can fool all the people for some time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.

Fool means to make someone believe something is true or real when it actually isn’t. You may fool someone just for fun. People fool each other on April Fool’s Day. I fooled the cook by putting salt in the sugar bowl. It is wrong to fool another person by making a promise you don’t expect to keep.

Cheat means to fool a person by doing something he or she doesn’t notice. Ravi cheated Stuti out of her piece of cake by eating it when she wasn’t looking. It is dishonest to cheat at a game or cheat on a test. The three Super-30 students tried to cheat when they pretended to be from other institutes. Did they think that their teachers wouldn’t notice?

You mislead someone when you cause him or her to go in the wrong direction or away from the truth. If you are offered something free and later find that you have to pay for it, someone is misleading you. The low price of this shirt misled me into thinking it was a real bargain, but I later found out that the fabric was of poor quality.

Trick means to fool by cheating or misleading. A magician tricks his audience.

Deceive and hoodwink mean ‘give a false impression in order to fool and confuse people’. You deceive another person when you lie to him. The rogue coaching institutes tried to deceive the Chief Minister by passing off the super 30 students as their own. Hoodwink is a less formal expression. I was hoodwinked into believing that this glass stone was a diamond!

Bluff means to fool someone by pretending to know more than you really do. At a recent interview, some students said that they regularly read Shakespeare, but you could tell that they were bluffing.


Learn-a-word

Dilemma

Strictly speaking a dilemma is a choice between two (or more) undesirable alternatives. Administrators are faced with the dilemma of cutting public services or increasing taxes. It is incorrect to use ‘dilemma’ when you really mean ‘problem’. Whether to choose ‘Arts’ or ‘Science’ for a graduation course isn’t a dilemma, it’s just a perplexing situation.

wordscore: unscramble these words [they all have something in common]

GAMLE FLERICK FASLH BAME

[Last week’s solution: Expert, Crack, Fluent, Adroit]


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Accomplishing a deed?

Wordsmith / FRANK KRISHNER

Students in Patna are thrilled that a Bihari student is the All India topper of the CBSE Boards. The local newspapers put the news of his accomplishment on the first page. This brings us to some words that are so close to each other in meaning that they are often misused.

An accomplishment is something that has been accomplished, done or completed. It isn’t just anything. It must be something that took knowledge and, usually, hard work. When you have solved a hard arithmetic problem or made it to your school football team, you can be proud of your accomplishment.

An achievement is the accomplishment of something unusually dangerous or difficult. Courage and effort are needed to achieve, and an achievement is always admirable. Ken Noguchi led a team of Japanese and Nepali climbers and returned with 500 kilograms of tins, old tents, food and medicine left over decades by other climbers. He estimates he has collected some 9,000 kilograms of rubbish from Mount Everest during his five trips to the peak. Now that’s an achievement!

An attainment is the accomplishment of a goal or an objective through hard work and a plan of action. An attainment is the successful completion of an unusually challenging task. Ken Noguchi will use the rubbish from Everest to influence mountaineers against turning Everest into a garbage dump. This is his real goal. When mountaineers will stop littering Mount Everest, it will be Noguchi’s attainment!

A deed is whatever is done. You might call any kind or helpful or useful act that someone does a good deed.

A feat and an exploit are accomplishments. A feat requires more courage and strength than a deed. Learning a new skill is a feat. Bungee jumping off the Howrah bridge is a feat of skill and daring. An exploit is an accomplishment that requires even greater daring and heroism than a feat. Have you read any books about the exploits of Shivaji, Sher Shah Suri, or Prithviraj Chauhan?

Learn-a-word

Boring /Bored

Something that is boring is not interesting in any way and makes you feel tired: a boring job in an office.I thought the party was really boring. A boring person never says or does anything that is interesting. Don’t confuse ‘boring’ with bored. If you feel bored, you are not interested in something, or have nothing interesting to do. Be careful not to say ‘I am boring’ when you mean ‘I am bored’.

wordscore: unscramble these words [they all have something in common]

XEERPT ACKCR FUELNT DRAOIT

[Last week’s solution: Pretty, Lovely, Beautiful, Stunning]

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