Know your English

``...I MET Shivshankar yesterday and tried to explain to him....''

``...Shivshankar! I can't stand the guy. He's always in my face.''

``In your face? What do you mean by that?''

``When you say that someone is `in your face', it means that he is very confrontational. He irritates you and is ready to pick a fight with you.''

``I see. That sounds like Shivshankar all right. Can I say, I am sick and tired of my boss's in-your-face attitude?''

``Sounds great. When you meet Jamal for the first time you get the impression that he is one of those in-your-face guys. But when you get to know him....''

``....I am not interested in knowing him. Can I say that Sujatha is in my face all the time?''

``I guess you could. I generally don't like people who are always in my face about something.''

``I don't think anybody does. So, tell me. What do you think I should do? Do you think I should go? Or do you think I should stay and...''

``....I think you should go. That's my knee jerk response.''

``From the `face', we have moved down to the knees, have we? Tell me, what does knee-jerk response mean?''

``You know sometimes when you go to a doctor, he hits you on the knee with a rubber hammer. What....''

``....yeah, and when he does that the leg shoots up automatically.''

``Exactly. And that's what the expression knee-jerk reaction or response means. To do something quickly and automatically.''

``Without too much thinking?''

``That's right! Here's another example. When the politician said that he would attend the function, it was only a knee-jerk reaction.''

``Every time I see Sujatha, I wince. That's only a knee-jerk reaction.''

``Does she know that?''

``I don't know. And to tell you the truth, I don't really care. But tell me, what do you think I should do? Don't give me a knee- jerk response.''

``O.K. Well, if I were you, I would let it ride for some time.''

``Let it ride! Let what ride? I am not riding anywhere. What....''

``....when you tell someone to `let something ride', it means that you want the person to let that something remain as it is.''

``In other words, you are telling the person not to do anything about a particular situation. You are asking him not to take any action.''

``Exactly! You are telling the person not to do anything about it. You are asking him to ignore it. Here's an example.

* Don't bother about cleaning the cupboard just now. Let it ride for a day or two.''

``I wish my mother would say that. How about this sentence?

* The Chairman asked Rama to have the report ready in two days time. But she let it ride for a week before she started working on it.''

``That's an excellent example. Now then, coming back to your question, I ....''

``....forget it. Let it ride. It's not that important.''

``I think it's important. Now then, do you want a band-aid solution or a more....''

``....band-aid solution! You are coming up with a lot of strange expressions today.''

``A band-aid solution is a temporary solution to a problem. For example, our politicians always come up with band-aid solutions to our water problem.''

``That's true. How about this example? When I told Narender about the predicament that I was in, he gave me a band-aid solution to the problem.''

``I hope our Cricket Board comes up with a permanent solution to the match-fixing problem, not a band aid one.''

``Frankly, I think we should ban cricket for some time. 54 all out in the final at Sharjah. I just can't believe it.''

``Now a mosquito repellent company can come out with an ad saying, ``54 All Out''. They can show some of our great stars jumping around like frogs and catching mosquitoes.''

``Right now they are unfit to do even that.''

``That's true.

* * *

``If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.'' - Anon

S. UPENDRAN

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