“Come in, come in! You’re all wet. Do you need a towel to dry off?”
“That would be nice. It’s bright and sunny outside, but at the same time, it’s raining. Is there a word to describe the phenomenon — this mix of sunshine and rain?”
“Yes, there is. People refer to it as ‘sunshower’. Some dictionaries spell it as one word and others as two — ‘sun shower’. Sunshowers don’t usually last for a long time.”
“Well, this one lasted long enough for me to get completely soaked.”
“I wouldn’t complain too much. It’s a nice way of cooling off in this heat, isn’t it?”
“Who cares about the heat? Why don’t people just stop complaining...”
“What’s the matter with you? Why do you look so unhappy? Did someone say something about your terrible haircut?”
“You’re the first person to say it’s terrible. I just heard some bad news. Shravasti told me that our wonderful physics teacher has quit.”
“That was to be expected, I guess. After all, she and your Principal didn’t get along from the get-go. They were always at...”
“Get-go? What does it mean?”
“The expression ‘from the get-go’ is mostly used in informal contexts to mean ‘from the very beginning’. Your teacher and your Principal just didn’t get along....”
“That’s true. They didn’t see eye to eye about anything from the beginning. How about this example? Unlike most of my classmates, Sunitha didn’t fall in love with physics from the get-go.”
“That’s understandable. Not everyone likes physics. I certainly didn’t when I was in school. From the get-go, my boss made it very clear that he would be making sweeping changes in the department.”
“Was everyone in the department able to deal with the changes from the get-go?”
Get familiar
“Most of us managed to. But like it usually happens, there were some who had a tough time getting a handle on the changes.”
“Handle? Which or whose handle are you talking about? Are you okay?”
“When you say that someone has ‘got a handle on a subject’, what you’re suggesting is that they have an understanding of it.”
“In other words, it’s an informal way of saying that you’re familiar with something.”
“I guess you could say that. It’s also possible to say that you ‘have a handle on something’. It took the students and the staff nearly two weeks to get a handle on the new software.”
“Whenever I’m unable to solve a problem in physics, I usually go to Jai. He has a good handle on the subject.”
“Clementine said that she wouldn’t be making any immediate recommendations. She wants to get a handle on the problem before doing so.”
“That seems a sensible thing to do. How about this example? Can you read this article and see if you can get a handle on what the author is trying to say?”
“Sounds good to me. What are your plans for the summer? Are you going anywhere?”
“Yes, I am. I’m considering to go to Arunachal Pradesh. Care to join me?”
“One doesn’t normally say, ‘considering to go’. It’s always ‘consider going’. For example, Suresh is considering going to Shimla.”
“The Principal is considering taking voluntary retirement next month.”
“You should consider going home before you catch a cold.”
“That’s a good idea!”
********
Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet. Bob Marley
The author teaches at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com
