Know your English
“Grin like a Cheshire cat (C. N. Bhagavan, Hyderabad).”
“It means ‘to be constantly smiling widely for no apparent reason’. It has a connotation of ‘smugness or vacuousness.’ The expression dates from the 18th century and was popularised by Lewis Carrol through his Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. When Alice asked the Duchess why the cat grinned so broadly and inscrutably, the Duchess said, “It’s a Cheshire cat and that’s why”. The Cheshire cat in the book used to disappear, leaving behind its grin! It is believed that in the 18th century, Cheshire cheese was sold in the shape of a cat with a grin on its face. From this we get the expression.”
“Finger (C. Jeyaraj, Madras).”
“In Indian languages, no distinction is made between ‘fingers’ and ‘toes’: ‘finger’ is used for the movable parts at the end of the hands as well as the feet. In English, ‘toe’ refers to the movable parts at the end of the feet. The names of the fingers are: thumb, index finger or forefinger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger. Sometimes the little finger is called ‘baby finger.’ It is also called ‘pinkie’ by Scots and Americans.
There are no special names for the toes. They are numbered one to five. You refer to the big toe, second toe, third or middle toe, fourth toe, little or baby toe. In Latin, ‘index’ means ‘the forefinger.’ The fourth finger was used as the ring finger by the Romans and the Greeks as they thought that a nerve ran through it to the heart.”
“Letter of the 6th instant (A. G. Manoj Saldana, Shimoga).”
“‘I received your letter of the 6th instant’ means ‘I received your letter dated 6th of this month’. ‘Instant’ means ‘of the current month’. This was being generally used in commercial correspondence, though now it is rarely used in Englishspeaking countries. It is widely used in India in private and business correspondence. Like Indian English, there is also Indian business English and it has an archaic flavour.” “Putsch (G. Sedouram, Pondicherry).” “It means ‘a sudden, secretly planned attempt to remove a government by force.’ The ‘u’ is pronounced like the ‘u’ in ‘put’ and tsch’ like the ‘ch’ in ‘touch.’ It is a German word.
The current topic of discussion is the putsch in the Soviet Union.”
Published in The Hindu on September 17, 1991.