How is the word ‘saccharine’ pronounced? (Vivek Rao, Bengaluru)
There are several different ways of pronouncing this rather formal word. The first syllable ‘sacch’ is pronounced like the word ‘sack’, and the following vowel sounds like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. Some people rhyme the final syllable ‘rine’ with ‘mine’, ‘dine’ and ‘shine’, while others rhyme it with ‘mean’, ‘dean’ and ‘clean’. The word can be pronounced ‘SACK-e-reen’ or ‘SACK-e-ryne’ — in both cases, the main stress is on the first syllable. It comes from the Greek ‘sakkharon’ meaning ‘sugar’, and in everyday contexts, the word is used to show disapproval. When you say that the movie was saccharine, what you are suggesting is that it was overly sentimental, and that it lacked in sincerity. A ‘saccharine’ smile is a fake smile — one that people put on in order to please others.
I am told that Hemanga enjoys watching movies with saccharine love songs.
Don’t give me one of your saccharine smiles — just answer the question.
What is the difference between ‘nepotism’ and ‘favouritism’? (Ravinder, Chandigarh)
In both cases, you are showing preferential treatment to a person or a group of people. In the case of ‘favouritism’, you could be showing your support to someone who may or may not be related to you. When we were in school, we often felt that the teacher was showing favouritism towards a certain student — in other words, she gave him special treatment; treated him differently from the way she treated others. Parents are often accused of showing favouritism when it comes to their sons. We are all guilty of showing favouritism. The word, ‘nepotism’, on the other hand, comes from the Latin ‘nepos’ meaning ‘nephew’, and it is mostly used in the context of business and politics. When a politician uses his power in an unfair manner to promote his children or people who are related to him, he is accused of nepotism; it is favouritism based on kinship.
The Chief Minister was accused of nepotism when he appointed his daughter as Deputy Chief Minister.
My maths teacher never showed any favouritism towards anyone.
What is the meaning and origin of ‘spick and span’? (Prathiba, Shimoga)
When you say someone’s house that you visited was ‘spick and span’, what you are suggesting is that the house was very well maintained and very clean; you could not find dirt or dust anywhere. The expression is a shortening of ‘spick and span new’, and it was originally used to refer to things that were brand new. According to the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, the word ‘spick’ referred to a new nail — one that had not rusted and was still shiny. The word ‘span’ came from the Old Norse ‘span’ meaning a chip that had recently been cut from a block of wood. With the passage of time, the word ‘spick’ began to refer to a ‘spike-nail’ and ‘span’ to a wooden board. So in the old days, when you talked about a ‘spick and span ship’, you were actually talking about the new nails and the new wooden boards that had been used to build the ship. With the passage of time, however, the expression took on a new meaning — it referred to qualities normally associated with things that were new — tidiness, freshness, and so on.
Naushir always keeps his car in spick and span condition.
The bathroom in Malini’s house is always spick and span.
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Nepotism: we promote family values here almost as often as we promote family members. — Larry Kersten
The author teaches at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com
