What is the meaning of ‘burn a hole in the pocket’? (Lehar Saxena, Ambala)
In India, many people use this expression to mean to spend a lot of money. But this is not how native speakers of English use it. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, you are eager to spend it as quickly as possible — the amount spent need not necessarily be large. As the money in your pocket is literally ‘hot’, you are rather keen to take it out and spend it as quickly as possible.
The money Sneha received this morning was burning a hole in her pocket.
Stop behaving like a teenager with money burning a hole in her pocket. If you want to buy a car, you need to start saving.
How is the word ‘AWOL’ pronounced? (K Sushma, Kochi)
The first vowel sounds like the ‘ay’ in ‘bay’, ‘say’ and ‘pay’, while the second sounds like the ‘o’ on ‘cot’, ‘got’ and ‘not’. The word is pronounced ‘A-wol’ with the stress on the first syllable. It was originally used in the military and is the abbreviated form of ‘absence without leave’. When a soldier goes ‘AWOL’, he takes time off without informing or getting the permission of his commanding officer. It has more or less the same meaning as ‘French leave’. Nowadays, the term is used in non-military contexts as well.
According to Major Ram, three soldiers have gone AWOL.
During the monsoon session of Parliament, Sachin went AWOL.
What is the difference between ‘Joe Public’ and ‘general public’? (SV Murthy, Tiruchi)
In terms of meaning, there is no difference. In British English, the term ‘Joe Public’ is used to refer to the general public. The name ‘Joe’ is frequently employed in expressions to refer to the common man. For example, we have expressions like ‘average Joe’, ‘Joe citizen’, ‘Joe sixpacks’, etc. to refer to the average representative of the public. In the U.S., the common man is sometimes called ‘Joe Q Public’.
Our company needs to find out what Joe Public thinks of the new product.
The restaurant that we are planning to open is not meant for Joe Public.
What is the opposite of ‘multitasking’? (Abhishek, Bengaluru)
The word ‘multitasking’ is mostly used in everyday contexts to mean having the ability to perform or do more than one thing/task at the same time. In many households, it is common to see a mother helping her child with his homework while she is cutting vegetables for dinner. Some teachers correct their students’ homework while watching their favourite TV programme. But not all of us have the ability to multitask. If you perform only one task at a time, you are ‘unitasking’. ‘Uni’, as everyone knows, means ‘one’; if you are in the habit of doing a single thing at a time, you are a ‘unitasker’.
There are so many distractions that it’s extremely difficult to unitask.
I can’t do all those things in an hour. I’m a unitasker, not a multitasker.
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Some call it multitasking. I call it doing something else while I try to remember what I was doing in the first place. — Unknown
The author teaches at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com
