lexicon
Different strokes
Deepti

SINCE politics is a word game to a large extent, politicians at some time or the other give interesting words to the lexicon. While India has its own ‘India shining’ and ‘cattle class’ creativity, the US political scene is responsible for many additions. The word behindology’ meaning ‘the truth behind the spin’ has emerged with reference to the ‘spin doctor’, the person who makes the leader news-worthy. A political party is a ‘big tent’ when it accepts a range of political views within itself. ‘Dodgy dossier’ refers to ‘dubious briefings or other similar material released in support of a contentious policy’.

Effective, effectual and efficacious all mean ‘producing a beneficial effect’ of some kind but with different subtle nuances that separate the proficient user of English from the less-than-proficient. ‘Effective denotes an actual effect, not a theoretical one as in: ‘The precautions have been effective in preventing further outbreaks of the disease’. ‘Effectual’ is more theoretical, less real as, for instance: ‘Further rules were deemed necessary for more effectual prevention of absenteeism in the office’. Efficacious is used only for inanimate objects and refers to any process, solution or course of action sure to produce the required effect: ‘Vacations are supposed to be good for you and this one has been notably efficacious.’ 

Why are piggy banks called so? Well, the fact is that long ago, dishes and cookware in Europe were made of dense orange clay called ‘pygg’.`A0 When people saved coins in jars made of this clay, the jars became known as ‘pygg banks’. When an English potter misunderstood the word, he made a bank that resembled a pig. And it caught on.

While learning English at school, three types of reading works together. The first, oral reading or reading aloud is used all the time during education but is rarely used once a person starts working. Intensive reading is used to understand and analyse texts. Whereas extensive reading is the kind that is most often used in life and is also called ‘reading for pleasure’, the kind that leads to a larger number of books covered.