“I ran into one of your old teachers at the supermarket. Can you guess who?”
“Just tell me who it was. It’s too early in the morning to play guessing games.”
“You seem to be in a bad mood. It was your maths teacher, Mr. Das.”
“Ah, Das! Terrible teacher. He was a real stick-in-the-mud. He couldn’t...”
“Did you say that he was stuck in the mud? When did he get...”
“I said ‘stick-in-the-mud’. When you say that someone is a stick-in-the-mud, what you’re suggesting is that the person is rather old fashioned. He’s very resistant to change.”
“In other words, the person is rather narrow minded. He is very set in his ways.”
“He is very stuck in his ways, I’d say. He’s like a person whose feet are stuck in mud...”
“And is therefore unable to move. Can’t make any progress.”
“That’s right! The expression also carries with it the sense that the individual is rather dull or slow. He’s someone who doesn’t know how to enjoy himself.”
“He probably doesn’t let others enjoy themselves, either. I guess the expression is mostly used to show disapproval.”
“Very good! My father’s uncle was a real stick-in-the-mud.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be a stick-in-the-mud.”
“You never know! The students came up with interesting ideas for the annual event. Unfortunately, the stick-in-the-mud Principal shot them all down.”
Too much talk
“Gopi, Mr. Das’ son, was with him as well. He’s working for some bank now.”
“Gopi was fun. He was bit of a windbag, but fun. Unlike his father.”
“Windbag? Does it mean the same thing as ‘gasbag’? Someone who...”
“That’s exactly what it means! When you refer to someone as a ‘windbag’, what you’re suggesting is that he talks a lot. Unfortunately, there’s very little substance in what he says. Usually, a windbag bores people.”
“In other words, he’s like a politician. He talks a lot, but has nothing interesting to say.”
“I guess you could say that. Some of the people in my office are boring windbags.”
“Our college annual day was ruined because the Master of Ceremonies was a windbag. His so-called jokes fell flat.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I have a nice group of friends. None of them is a gasbag.”
“Lucky you! We have quite a few windbags in my family.”
“Every family has one or two gasbags, I guess. So, you changed your mind about going to the annual day event, did you?”
“I wasn’t planning to go, but my friends insisted that I go with them.”
An estimate will do
“Was there a big crowd? How many people turned up? Any idea?”
“I really don’t know. I don’t know the exact number.”
“Oh, I don’t need the exact number. Just give me a ballpark figure.”
“Ballpark figure? Does it mean to give a rough estimate?”
“That’s right! The expression is mostly used in informal contexts in American English. The word ‘ballpark’ is frequently used to refer to a stadium.”
“And since it’s difficult to figure out the exact number of people present in a stadium...”
“The expressions ‘ballpark figure’ and ‘ballpark estimate’ are used to mean ‘an approximate figure’. For example, the flat will cost you ₹60 lakhs. It’s a ballpark estimate.”
“There must have been over a thousand people at the annual event. It’s a ballpark figure.”
*********
Money is like the sixth sense — and you can’t make use of the other five without it. Somerset Maugham
The author teaches at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com
