Know your English
“A. Shanmugasundaram has sent the following taken from the condolence resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly on July 6,1991: “The House expresses its great awe and sorrow over the brutal assassination of Rajiv Gandhi... a leader with great stint to establish a stable government...” He wants to know whether ‘awe’ and ‘stint’ are correctly used.”
“When we are in sorrow, we do not worry about correct usage. ‘Awe’ and ‘stint’ were compelled to perform a duty they were not used to and they tried their best. ‘Awe’ means ‘reverential fear.’
He stood in awe of his teacher.
‘Awe’ means ‘feeling of respect mixed with fear and/or wonder.’ You may stand in awe of someone or something but you do not ‘express’ your ‘awe.’ ‘Awe’ is also used as a verb. It means ‘to fill with awe’.
He was awed by the Himalayas.
‘Aweinspiring’ means ‘causing feelings of awe’.
The Brahmaputra in floods is an aweinspiring sight.
‘Awestruck’ means ‘suddenly filled with awe’.
I was awestruck when I learned about the terrible tragedy.
‘Awful’ originally meant
‘aweinspiring’. It is no longer used in that sense. It has two meanings now. One is ‘very bad or unpleasant, terrible, shocking.’
It was an awful movie.
His behaviour was awful.
In informal contexts, ‘awful’ means ‘very great’.
He has an awful lot of books.
‘Awfully’ means ‘very’ and is used in formal contexts.
He is awfully good.
It was an awfully bad dinner.
‘Awesome’ means ‘causing awe’. When ‘awful’ started losing its original sense of ‘aweinspiring,’ some writers started using ‘awesome’. ‘Awesome’ is of Scottish origin. It was Sir Walter Scott who popularised the word.
To put the economy back on the rails is an awesome task.
I went to Kodaikanal from Madras last summer. The train journey was awful. But the stay in Kodaikanal was awfully good. I was struck by awe when I saw the Pillar Rocks in Kodaikanal. My friend thought the Perumal Hill was awesome. The hotel where we stayed had some awful people. Some used to come awfully late for breakfast and shout at the waiters. But the waiters never lost their temper. Two of them were awfully nice to every one.
‘Stint’ means ‘to give too small an amount of food, aid, and the like.’
Eat what you want. Don’t stint on the food. You are very weak.
She won’t stint on butter.
‘Stint’ is used as a noun to mean ‘fixed or limited amount or period of work.’
She did a twoyear stint as a teacher. You must do your stint at home.
‘Without stint’ means ‘without limits, generously.’
She helped me without stint.
He gave me money without stint.
‘Unstinting’ means ‘giving freely and generously.’
I was deeply touched by her unstinting praise of the work I had done.”
Published in The Hindu on August 6, 1991.