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Nice Words from the Economist

Despite its stark right-wing leaning, I am fond of the weekly news magazine The Economist. The magazine is strong on analysis and pretty good when it comes to English. I’ve been reading it on and off for decades, and recently started reading it again on a regular basis.

Indian Food Creeps into English

Dozens of Indian food items have trekked over to the English language. Some items like Samosa, Naan, Roti, Ras Malai, Idli, Chutney, Gulab Jamun and Lassi have even found acceptance in that holy of holies, the Oxford English Dictionary. Indian food is so diverse (not surprising given the diversity of

Do You Still Use Simple Words?

The Thinker's Thesaurus: Sophisticated Alternatives to Common Words by Peter E. Meltzer Why use a simple word or phrase to make your point when a "sophisticated" word is at hand. That's always been my mantra no matter what the pundits may say about the

Is it All Foreign to You?

Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words & Phrases (2005 edition) Edited by Jennifer Speake Nothing lifts up a speech or a piece of writing in English than an apposite Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi, French, German, or other foreign word or phrase inserted in the right place. Why write: The military attacked the

Cool Words from the New Yorker

The New Yorker (founded in 1925) is the classiest magazine around. When dozens of magazines have given up the ghost in the post-Internet era, the New Yorker (a weekly) thrives thanks to the consistently high quality of its content over 100 years. For the last two decades, I’ve

Indian Politics Made EZ

Guys, fasten your seat belts and sit tight. Freelance journalist Kapil S. Komireddi is on a tear in his first book, Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India. First published in 2018, a “revised and updated” edition of the book came out in 2023. The updated edition that

Grammar Daily - Good as Gold

The Grammar Daily: 365 Quick Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl (2023 edition) by Mignon Fogarty You can possess a solid vocabulary and still be a rotten writer if you failed to pay attention to grammar in school. English, with all its idiosyncrasies, provides countless opportunities to trip up

Flying Coffin & Other Indian Idioms

Indian idioms have a rich color and tang to them that other idioms can rarely equal. An article in the Economist on the Indian Air Force’s decision to retire the MiG-21 aircraft highlights how colorful our idioms can be. Flying Coffin Meaning: MiG-21 fighter jets were slammed

Shenzhen Speed? What That?

Since China is in the news following President Trump’s recent visit for a summit meeting with President Xi Jinping, it might be a good time to take a deko at some English words of Chinese origin. First, we’ll look at a term I came across in a recent

Thanks to AI, It’s All Slop

These days it’s hard to get away from the word “slop.” Every direction I turn, another “slop” word strikes my brain. This morning the Wall Street Journal (May 22, 2026) added to the slop-heap with a neologism: vibe slop. According to the Journal, vibe slop is “bad, potentially

16 Yiddish Delights

I confess to a fondness for Yiddish words that confounds me. Any chance I get, I try to slip a Yiddish word into my sentence. Here are some of my favorite Yiddish words: * Kvetch: to complain, whine Example: Gopal is forever kvetching about his kids playing loud rap music. * Chutzpah:

FOBO is the New FOMO

Who hasn’t heard of FOMO? The acronym, which stands for Fear of Missing Out, has been popular on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for over a decade now. But FOMO is so yesterday. Our current AI era has generated immense FOBO in millions of workers! FOBO?

Delightful Foreign Words

English is the greatest kleptomaniacal language. No corner of the world has been spared from the grasping hand of English. To get a sense of some foreign words that have crept into English, I recently purchased a dictionary of foreign words for $5 on an auction site: From Bonbon to

Sewer Socialism & Other Neologisms

The beauty of English is that neologisms aka newly created words are cropping up all the time in all corners of the world. Just this morning, I found an article in the New York Times with the headline “Mamdani, Leaning Into ‘Sewer Socialism,’ Gets His Hands Dirty.” Wow! I was

English – Big Daddy of Languages

What do we mean when we say English is the big daddy of languages? We often see references to big daddy in the U.S. media. Big daddy means a preeminent person by reason of seniority, power or size. For example, a journalist may write: Muhammad Ali was the big

Foreign Words Made Easy

A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" - The Origin of Foreign Words in English by Chloe Rhodes I’ve been known to insist that the best way to boost one’s vocabulary is by wide reading. But for someone who forswears vocabulary books, I can often be found dipping

Sometimes vs Sometime vs Some Time

A friend once burst out in a moment of anguish, “English is a horribly confusing language.” Truer words have never been spoken. There are so many words and expressions in English that trip us up. Take for instance, sometimes, sometime and some time. They sound so similar but their meanings

How English Greases Daily Life

Euphemisms are social lubricants. Euphemisms camouflage the unspeakable into expressions that do not cause offense to others. That’s the reason we hesitate to describe someone as “disabled” anymore. Instead, we now call the person “differently abled.” Euphemisms are the price we pay to live in civilized society. For some

Curious Compendium? Indeed So

Curious Compendium of Wonderful Words: A Miscellany of Obscure Terms, Bizarre Phrases, Surprising Etymologies (2023) by Erin McCarthy & the team at Mental Floss Let me explain word lovers for just a second. They’re a strange breed. Word lovers will use quakebuttock when coward would suffice. Instead of slamming

How Many Englishes are There?

The answer to the above question is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” (Thank You, Churchill). There are at least 100 varieties of English spoken around the word. Maybe, more. They include: * Indian English * Jamaican English * Nigerian English * Singlish aka Singapore English * American English * Trinidadian English * Australian

Japanese Treats for Indians

Ever since Love in Tokyo (Hindi), Aman (Hindi) and Ulagam Sutrum Valiban (Tamil) debuted in the 1960s and 1970s, Indians have been enamored with Japan. Most Indian baby-boomers are likely aware of the Japanese word sayonara. After all, the word features in the famous song from Love in Tokyo

This One’s a Keeper

Take My Word for It: A Dictionary of English Idioms (2022) by Anatoly Liberman A lot of us use idioms every day, in speech and writing, without grasping what exactly an idiom means. An idiom is a group of words that has a figurative meaning (apart from the literal meaning

Why Leave Out Billa & Ranga?

The Dismantling of India: In 35 Portraits (2022) by TJS George The recently departed TJS George (1927-2025) was a respected Indian journalist, striding tall in a profession with few genuine stars. Quietly and with no drama, George built a sterling reputation with quality work spread over several decades. Yet

Harmless Crank Reads the OED

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages (2008) by Ammon Shea We must be grateful Ammon Shea has restricted his crazy antics to reading the Oxford English Dictionary. What if he'd decided to take a hammer and swing it at every third person he encountered

English – Made in China?

Hell, No! iPhone, iPad, iMac and MacBook, yes! They come sailing across the high seas on massive container ships from China. Au contraire, English was not made in China! But we owe so many popular English words and expressions to the Chinese. Let’s start with an interesting expression that’