Thursday, March 27, 2008 The grammar cop By Jess Saplala
EYEWITNESS to an ambush interview:
Interviewer: What can you say about greed?
Interviewee: If you’re bright, you’ll get high greed. If you’re not bright, you’ll get low greed.
How’s that again?
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What’s the most mispronounced month of the year? (See answer below.)
Idioms currently strutting around:
Keep something under wraps (Take note of the “s” in wraps.): to hold or keep something secret. Example: A government functionary has been accused of keeping a devastating evidence under wraps while the nation cries foul.
The writing on the wall: A Biblical reference to Daniel 5:5-31 in which the imminent destructions of the Babylonian empire is revealed to Belshazzar on a mysterious writing on the wall. (Source: 2007 Edition of Reader’s Digest Webster’s Student Dictionary & Thesaurus.) It means that something unpleasant is bound to occur. Example: The head of state has been warned by opinion makers and school leaders to read the writing on the wall.
To be in the wrong: to be guilty of some crime, fault or misdeed. Example: The Senate witness admitted that he had been in the wrong but decided to tell the truth to save his soul.
To have a hold over someone: to have influence over a person, usually because you know something bad about him. Example: His corrupt boss has a hold over him, that’s why he can’t blow the whistle on her.
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A beer coaster at a popular steakhouse has this rib-tickler: “My son wants to be a bartender after he finishes law school.” (Don’t be surprised if a resto-bar waiter asks: “Hi dude, now what’s your plea tonight?”)
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Answer: FEB-roo-r-rç. Also: FEB-yoo-r-rç. The second is easier for this cop to pronounce.
