“I voted for the first time today. What about you? Did you vote for the same person as you had, last time?”
“I didn’t get a chance to vote because my name hadn’t been included in the voter’s list. I don’t know how that happened.”
“It happened to quite a few people, actually. Do you think your candidate will win?”
“She will definitely win. You can take it to the bank.”
“Why would I take her to the bank? I am sure she has better things to do.”
“When you make a statement and then follow it up with ‘You can take it to the bank’, what you are suggesting is that the statement will definitely come true.”
“So, what you are saying is that in this election, your candidate will definitely win.”
“Exactly! What I am saying is that I am positive she’ll win. Her win is more or less guaranteed.”
“In other words, you are extremely confident of her winning. How about this example? Manas will complete the project by Saturday. You can take it to the bank.”
“Sounds good. In our State, no party will win a majority. You can take it to the bank.”
Make money
“That’s what everyone is saying, but I am not so sure. The good thing is that in the last two weeks a lot of people seem to have made a lot of money.”
“That’s true. My maid’s family made bank.”
“She made a bank? What are you talking about? Why would her family...”
“The expression ‘to make bank’ is used in American English in informal contexts. When you ‘make bank’, you make a lot of money — usually, in a very short period of time. Sunny made bank when the prices of shares soared.”
“My friend Kamini has got a new job. She said she’s making bank.”
“That’s a good example. Given your qualification, I am sure you’ll be making bank as well. You can take that to the bank.”
“That is nice of you to say. Tell me, where did the word ‘bank’ come from?”
“Well, according to some scholars, it comes from the Italian word ‘banca’ being ‘bench’.”
“Bench? That’s strange. What is the connection between the modern bank and a bench? It’s true that in the old days we used to find tables and benches in all banks, but...”
“In the old days, if people needed money, they usually went to a moneylender. And this person used to transact business sitting on a ‘banca’.”
“I see. In other words, the moneylender sat on a bench when he did business.”
“That’s right! In the past, every moneylender had his own ‘banca’ or bench. With the passage of time, the word began to be used to refer to the place where business was carried out and not the bench itself.”
“That is understandable, I guess. But tell me, is there a connection between ‘bank’ and ‘bankrupt’? I mean are the two words....”
“The word ‘rupt’ comes from the Italian ‘rupta’ meaning ‘broken’.”
“So ‘bankrupt’ literally means ‘broken bench’!”
“Very good. That is exactly what it means. According to scholars, whenever people felt that the moneylender was cheating them, they became angry and very often broke his bench.”
“And without his bench, the moneylender couldn’t transact any business — and this led to his financial ruin.”
“That is one theory, anyway.”
********
I finally know what distinguishes man from beasts - financial worries. Jules Renard
The author teaches at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com
