How is the word ‘robot’ pronounced? (Samuel Lawrence, Madurai)
The first syllable rhymes with ‘so’, ‘no’ and ‘go’, and the second with ‘cot’, ‘got’ and ‘hot’. One simple way of pronouncing the word is ‘ROW-bot’ with the stress on the first syllable. Americans tend to pronounce the second vowel like the ‘ar’ in ‘park’ and ‘dark’. They pronounce the word ‘ROW-baat’. We know that a robot is a machine that is capable of performing complex tasks. When you refer to a person as being a robot, what you are suggesting is that the individual shows little or no emotion.
Some of our former champions played like robots — highly skilled, but rarely displayed any emotion on the tennis court.
Karel Capek, a Czech playwright, coined the word in his play ‘R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots)’. In Czech, ‘robota’ means ‘forced labour’.
What is the meaning of ‘beef up’? (TS Karthik, Chennai)
Given the present political climate, perhaps this is an expression that is best left alone! This phrasal verb, which can be used with people and things, has several different meanings. When you beef up security at the airport, for example, you increase it. When you say that your friend has beefed up, what you are suggesting is that he has put on weight and become stronger. It can also be used to mean ‘to make something more interesting’. The expression is mostly limited to informal contexts.
If you want to publish this paper, you need to beef up the section on literature review.
If Dev wants people to vote for him, he must do something to beef up his image.
Is it correct to say, ‘He informed about his promotion to me’? (K Jayashree, Mysore)
No, it isn’t. You don’t ‘inform about something to someone’; you usually ‘inform someone about something’. In this case, the correct sentence would be, ‘He informed me about his promotion’.
The children informed their parents about their plans for the weekend.
I would like to inform you about the meeting I had with the Minister.
What is the meaning of ‘dog days’? (Arjun, Kurnool)
‘Dog days’ is a translation of the Latin ‘caniculares dies’. The term was coined by the Romans to refer to the hottest days of summer — which in Italy was usually in the months of July and August.
The hottest days were referred to as ‘dog days’ because during this period, Sirius — also known as the ‘Dog Star’ — rose along with the Sun. The ancient Romans believed that it was this star that caused the temperature to rise.
During the dog days of summer, there is an acute shortage of power and water. The expression has acquired an additional meaning as well. Nowadays, the term is used to refer to a period of inactivity; a period when you are unsuccessful in everything you do.
Many movie theatres across the country failed to survive the dog days of the 1990s. Some were converted to shopping malls.
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Let’s not kid ourselves here, robots already run most of our world. We’ll be their butlers soon enough. — Eric Stoltz
The author teaches at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com
