“I ran into Saketh at the supermarket yesterday.”
“I really miss his cheerful presence in the office. Every office should have a happy-go-lucky person like him.”
“Happy-go-lucky? What does it mean?”
“A happy-go-lucky person is someone who remains happy most of the time. He is a content individual who doesn’t really become anxious or worry about things. Doesn’t really plan for anything…”
“He’s someone who thinks that everything will work out fine — even though he hasn’t done the required work. Someone who depends on Lady Luck quite a bit.”
“And when things don’t go the way he’d expected them to, he doesn’t panic. Instead, he merely accepts the outcome. Gets on with life.”
“Not many people are willing to put up with that kind of attitude.”
“I know! My former boss fired Saketh because she didn’t like his happy-go-lucky attitude.”
“Oh, by the way, have you read your favourite author’s latest book? It’s got some great reviews.”
“I’ve bought the book, but just haven’t found the time to read it. Really busy with office work.”
“Saketh was raving about it. Critics have been praising the author’s chatty style. Tell me, how can someone’s writing style be chatty? The word chatty is normally associated with speech, isn’t it?”
“It’s true that the word chatty is usually used with someone’s speech. When you describe someone as being chatty, what you’re suggesting is that the person is very friendly, and talks a lot. The language she uses is rather informal. The chatty girl sitting next to me was full of questions about our new product.”
“My grandmother was never a chatty person.”
“That’s true. The word chatty can also be used to refer to one’s style of writing. For example…”
“When you refer to someone’s writing style as being chatty, what you probably mean is that the individual makes use of the spoken language rather than the written.”
“I guess you could say that! The person makes use of an informal style of writing. It’s more a conversation between the writer and you. The writer sounds as if he were talking to you.
Here’s an example. I enjoy reading emails from my boss. They are always written in a chatty style.”
“My uncle wants to write a chatty book about his life as a film distributor.”
“I’m sure a lot of people would be interested in reading it. I hope he uses the kind of salty language he normally uses in his daily conversation.”
“Salty language? What are you talking about? Language cannot be…”
“When you say that someone uses salty language, what you mean is that the person uses rather offensive language. He uses a…”
“In other words, the person curses a lot when he speaks.”
“Exactly! Here’s an example. When he was young, my cousin Bharath specialised in telling salty jokes.”
“Politicians using salty language is not anything new.”
“When Geetha gets angry, her language become really salty.”
“That doesn’t really surprise me, you know.”
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