Lexicon
All roads lead to words
Deepti

WORDS can play havoc with an over-active imagination. The word ‘pernickety’ always seems to conjure up an image of a fusspot going fussy over small details, perhaps a maiden aunt or a senile uncle. In its negative avatar, this word means ‘placing too much emphasis on trivial details’ and in its positive sense, it means ‘a precise or careful approach’.

The expression ‘all roads lead to Rome’ did, indeed, mean exactly that! The ancient Romans built such an efficient network of surface transportation that no matter what road you started from, you would ultimately reach Rome if you persevered. The expression took on a metaphorical hue when it came to be used in the sense that all ways and means of doing something end in the same result, no one method is better than the other.

English has borrowed words from so many languages that often the origin of a word comes as a surprise. The word ‘powwow’, for instance, means ‘any discussion’ but its original meaning is ‘a Native American medicine man or shaman’. By extension, it came to refer to a traditional ceremony or social occasion where the powwow would be present. From here, the leap to ‘discussion’ was a natural one.

‘Finally’ and ‘lastly’ are used to introduce the last point in a speech or essay or any such piece of writing. ‘Finally’ is also used to show that something happens after a long time, in sentences such as, ‘when the bus finally arrived it was full’. ‘Eventually’ can also be used in such sentences. ‘In the end’ and ‘eventually’ can be used to introduce the result or outcome of something as in ‘It seems more and more likely that the human race will eventually destroy itself’ or ‘in the end India won by four goals to three’. ‘At last’ is used when the situation is immediate as in ‘so you’ve stopped smoking at last’. ‘After all’ is used as ‘despite’ or in sentences like ‘why are you so upset? After all, it’s only a game’. And now, we are ‘at the end’ of this write up.