Leap day/year vocabulary

As on any other day a good number of people across the world are celebrating their birthday today (29th February). But what is so special about today? Yes. You guessed it right. It’s 29th February – the unique leap day which comes only once in four years. And the year is called a leap year.

As a matter of fact, I am a leaper. I am what? Yes. I was born on a 29th February. A newborn leap day baby is called a leap year baby or a leapling. Some popular colloquial terms used for a person who was born on a leap day are leaper, leapy, leapster and leapean. The terms can be used not only for children but also for anyone of any age. Many people look at leapers sympathetically . Why? Because they are said to be so unlucky that they can’t celebrate their birthday every year! But the leapers retaliate that they are born in a perfect year (leap year) which has 366 days. Remember a normal year has only 365.25 days. Grrr... you sons of handicapped years out there

Pope Paul III, Morarji Desai (former Indian prime minister) and Gioacchino Rossini (Italian composer) are a few to name among many world famous leapeans. John Byrom, the inventor of the revolutionary system of shorthand was also born on a 29th of February.

A few interesting leap day facts:
According to the Guinness Book of Records, Norway's Henriksen family holds the record for the highest number of children born on February 29 – Heidi (b. 1960), Olav (b. 1964) and Lief-Martin (b. 1968). Believe it or not, Sir James Milne Wilson (a 19th century politician, brewer and landowner) achieved the extremely rare feat of being both born on a 29 February (making him a leapling) and dying on the same date (29 February 1812 – 29 February 1880)!

www.leapyearday.com lists a few interesting words related to this day:

Leap-couple = two leapies married to each other

Leap-twins   = twins born on a leap day

Leapless       = anyone not born on February 29

Leapship      = a friendship or relationship between two leapers.

(Visit the website for more leap day related vocabulary)

USED TO and USE TO...

You can speak about your past habits in two different ways. One using ‘used to’ and the other using ‘would’. E.g. ‘When I was a child I used to swim well’ or ‘when I was a child I would swim well’.

More examples:

Whenever I shouted at her, she would cry. (past tense)

Whenever I shout at her, she cries. (present tense)

I used to speak French fluently in my childhood. (past tense)

I speak French fluently. (present tense)

I would go to gym regularly during my college days. (past tense)

I go to gym regularly. (present tense)

Whenever I asked her any doubt she used to ignore me. (past tense)

Whenever I ask her any doubt she ignores me. (present tense)

Now, the question is, if used to expresses a past habit, can we use use to for a present habit? No. From a structural point of view, used to does not have a present tense form. So, to speak about present habits, we should just use the simple present tense e.g. I swim well (not I use to swim well), She speaks English fluently (not She use to speak…..), Jane gets up late every day (not Jane use to get up late….) etc

What about theses sentence?

'I am used to sleeping late at night'.

Is it a correct sentence? And what tense is it in? Yes. It is a correct sentence in simple present tense. The sentence means I am habitual to sleeping late at night. More examples: Tom is used to talking loudly. We are used to living in such conditions etc. Here do remember the way in which used to is used: [am/is/are+used to+gerund (ing form of verb)]. Compare this formula with the other previous examples and understand the difference.

Types of meats

Here are some words that might interest the non-vegetarians. We all are quite familiar with such words as beef (meat of cow), pork (meat of pig), mutton (meat of sheep) chicken etc. A little more knowledge about meats might be of use.

Beef, as we all know, is the flesh of a cow used as food. Eating beef or even talking about it is considered taboo in some parts of the world like India due to religious reasons. The meat of a bull or ox is also called beef. When the flesh of a young calf used as food it is termed veal. Another delicious meat lamb comes from a young sheep. Lamb also refers to the animal itself.

Though pork and ham are synonymously used by some people, there is a difference between the two. Pork is the flesh of pig used as food, especially when uncured*. Ham (bacon) is a cut of pork that is taken from a pig's upper hind leg. Ham is usually eaten cured*.

Many other birds and animals are also used for food: duck, deer, buffalo, rabbit, and bear – to name a few. While meat of deer is known as venison the other meats have no particular names.

Cure = preserve meat, fish etc by salting, drying, or smoking.

Words containing 'ch' but pronounced 'sh'...

Pronunciation of certain words in English has always been a matter of confusion for many learners of English. Though English is the most powerful language in the world in terms of the number of words and ease of use, its pronunciation rules are often confusing.

The ‘ch’ in cherry is pronounced as it is written but when you say chemistry the ‘ch’ takes a ‘k’ sound. Is that all? No. Another common word chef is neither pronounced as /chef/ or /kef/ but /shef/!

Here are a few common English words with ‘ch’ in their spelling but are pronounced with a ‘sh’ sound. The approximate pronunciation is given between the slashes. Please use a standard dictionary to see the accurate pronunciation.

brochure /broshr/

cache /cash/

champagne /shampain/

chandelier /shandliyr/

chassis /shasee/

chauvinist /shauvnist/

chef /shef/

Cheryl /sheryl/

chevrolet /shevrolei/

chic /sheek/

Chicago /shikaago/

chiffon /shifon/

chivalry /shivlri/

chute /shoot/

cliché /kleeshey/

machine /masheen/

Michelle /mishel/

Michigan /mishigan/

mustache /mustaash/

parachute /parashoot/

 

Though not so common in day-to-day English, the following words also take ‘sh’ in place of ‘ch’ while pronouncing them.

cachet, chagrin, chaperon(e), charade, charlatan, chauffeur, crochet, fuchsia, machete, quiche, ricochet, chaise, chalet, chateau, chemise, douche, charlotte etc

PURSE, WALLET, BAG etc

Besides playing an indispensable role in making our travels comfortable, bags have already become a status symbol for people across the world. Though people use various types of bags in day-to-day life, many are not familiar with their names.

The pocket-sized flat folding case used by men for holding money is called a wallet. In Indian English it is wrongly called a purse. On the other hand, a purse is a small pouch of leather or plastic used for carrying money, typically by a woman. Americans use the word billfold to mean a purse.

A backpack is a bag carried by one strap or two on your back or shoulder. It is mostly used by young people who go to school /college. Backpacks are also the favourite pick of people while traveling with a little luggage.

The most commonly seen large bag which is used for carrying clothes and other personal belongings is termed a holdall. It mostly comes in large rectangular shape with handles and a shoulder strap. As the very name suggests, a holdall can literally ‘hold all’.

What about the huge pack of luggage that you have often seen carried by tourists? Such a bag with shoulder straps which allow it to be carried on someone’s back is called a rucksack, also known as knapsack. Rucksacks are typically made of a strong, waterproof material and widely used by hikers and soldiers.

When you visit an airport, the most commonly seen type of bags are the ones carried around by people which have wheels and a pulled-out handle. These bags are called rolling suitcase or roller suitcase. They are often made of a rough material such as rexin. Rolling suitcases are so helpful to the travelers who otherwise had to carry the entire luggage on their shoulder or head.

New Words of 2011

Are you really annoyed by your helicopter parents?

I’m sure you don’t like to be a boomerang child, do you?

Don’t you think robocalls must be banned by the government?

Well, these are a few out of more than 150 words which secured their place in many of the famous dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Oxford dictionaries Online etc  in 2011.

The term ‘helicopter parent’ refers to a parent who closely observes whatever their child does such as what they watch/read, who they talk to, where they go, who they befriend etc.

You probably know a young person who moves away from his family in search of a job or to start a business and so on in order to be independent and to earn money. However, he or she comes back to their family after a certain period of time to live with them because all their attempts to be successful failed. Such a person is called a ‘boomerang child’

And what about a 'robocall'? Though you may not know the meaning of this term, I am sure many of you often get such calls. Yes, a ‘robocall’ is a pesky call that you receive on your (cell) phone from telemarketing companies that want to promote their business. Such calls are mostly automated, hence the term ‘robocall’.

Some other interesting popular words of 2011 include bromance (a close but nonsexual friendship between two men), cougar (a middle-aged woman seeking a romantic relationship with a younger man),  fist bump (a gesture made famous by President Obama in which two people lightly tap each other’s fists), m-commerce (a business transaction conducted using a mobile electronic device) and so on.