“What are you doing here at this time of day? Isn’t it hot? Don’t you...”
“What a silly question! You know that we’ve been having a really bad weather the past...”
“We don’t usually say ‘a really bad weather’. The word ‘weather’ is not preceded by ‘a’. For example, we’ve had really good weather the past few weeks.”
“Do you really think so? They’ve been having terrible weather down in Australia.”
“Yes, they’ve been having miserable weather. Tell me, how did...”
“No, you tell me. Do you have any of the goodies you bought yesterday?”
“I’m afraid not. Ganesh came by this morning and finished off most of the things. He...”
“That doesn’t sound like Ganesh. He doesn’t usually eat between...”
“Apparently, his wife has been starving him. The poor chap’s diet mainly consists of rabbit food. You know that he....”
“Rabbit? I was under the impression that Ganesh was a vegetarian. Guess I was...”
“He is a vegetarian. When you say that someone has been eating rabbit food, it means he’s been eating raw vegetables.”
“You mean something like a salad?”
“That’s right! People who don’t like eating salad or raw vegetables usually refer to them as ‘rabbit food’. It shows their contempt.”
“It’s their way of suggesting that these things are meant for rabbits. Not for human beings!”
“Exactly! Usha is fond of rabbit food. Says she can live on salads for days together.”
“Well, Ganesh is not Usha. He sees raw vegetables as nothing more than rabbit food.”
“Good example! Some of my colleagues have rabbit food for lunch.”
“I don’t mind rabbit food, actually. I nibble on raw carrots every now and then. I see that you’re still going through the same document that you were...”
“It’s a copy of the contract our company will be signing in a week’s time. My boss wants me to go through it with a fine toothcomb to make sure...”
“With a fine toothcomb? What are you talking about?”
“When you go through something with a fine toothcomb, you study it very carefully. You examine it in great detail.”
“How about this example? When her earrings went missing, Hema went through her cupboard with a fine toothcomb. She managed to find them.”
“That’s a good example. The police realise that it’s an important case. They’ve been going through the evidence with a fine toothcomb.”
“What do you plan to do once you’ve finished going through the contract with a fine toothcomb? Do you want to go somewhere?”
“I can’t. I have to discuss the contract with my boss. Tell me, what are you doing here at this time of the day? Aren’t you supposed to be in college?”
“Our college timings have changed. So, I...”
“We Indians are fond of the word ‘timings’. But do you know that native speakers of English don’t use the word? Many dictionaries don’t even list ‘timings’. Those that do, say that it’s Indian English.”
“Really! What do native speakers say instead of...”
“They usually talk about ‘office hours’ and ‘working hours’. My office hours are between 9:30 and 7:00.”
“Those are my sleeping hours!”
* * *
“It’s so dry, the trees are bribing the dogs.” Charles Martin
The author teaches at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com
