Know your English

WHAT IS the meaning of "neck to neck"? (Mukul K. Ranjan, New Delhi)

First of all, it's not "neck to neck", but "neck and neck". Although there is a tendency to say "neck to neck" within India, it is wrong to do so. When you say that a particular race or contest between two participants was neck and neck, what you are implying is that it was very even or very close; either of the two participants could have won it.

* The survey shows that the two political parties are running neck and neck.

* At the two-mile mark, Mohan and Shyam were running neck and neck.

* Atul and Vishnu were running neck and neck in the quiz competition.

"Neck and neck" comes from the world of horse racing.

What is the meaning of "You scared the daylights out of me"? (Siva Prasad Viswanatha, Hyderabad).

This is an expression which is mostly used in informal contexts. When you "scare the daylights out of someone", you succeed in frightening the person quite badly. Remember the James Bond movie, "Living Daylights"? Well, it is also possible to say, ``scare the living daylights out of someone". Here are a few examples.

* The little boy scared the daylights out of his mother.

* The bombing of the World Trade Center has scared the living daylights out of most Americans.

* Vijay's Halloween mask scared the daylights out of Sadhana.

Other expressions which mean more or less the same thing are "frighten the daylights out of someone", "scare the wits out of someone", and "scare someone out of his wits".

Which of the following sentences is correct? ``The driver of the bus was expired in the accident'' or ``The driver of the bus expired in the accident"? (V. Murali Krishna Rao, Bhimavaram)

It is grammatically incorrect to say, "was expired". The first sentence is therefore definitely wrong. As far as the second sentence is concerned, well, usually in an accident, people "die", they do not "expire". Therefore it's better to say, "The driver died in the accident", instead of "The driver expired in the accident". The word "expire" carries with it the sense that things came to an end gradually along expected lines. In an accident, things do not happen gradually; they happen suddenly, unexpectedly. Therefore "died" is a better word in this context.

What is the difference between "placebo" and "panacea"? (V. Revathi, Srirangam)

First let's deal with the pronunciation of the two words. The "a" in the first syllable of "placebo" is like the "a" in "china"; the following "e" is like the "ee" in "see", "bee", and "free". The final "o" sounds like the "oe" in "toe", "doe", and "Joe". The stress is on the second syllable "ce".

The first "a" in "panacea" is like the "a" in "act", "pact", and "fact", while the second is like the "a" in "china". The final "cea" rhymes with the words "fear", "dear", and "cheer". The main stress is on the third syllable.

The Greek word "panacea" means "universal remedy". During the old days it was common practice for some people to claim that a certain herb could cure all diseases; they claimed that it was a panacea. We now know that there is no such herb. Though the word "panacea" continues to be used, the focus now has shifted from curing bodily ills to social ills. Here are a few examples.

* America thinks that getting rid of terrorism is the panacea for the world's problems.* Borrowing money from the World Bank may help. But it is not a panacea.

* Marrying someone rich is not the panacea for your problems, Krishna.

A "placebo", on the other hand, is a substance that is given to an individual instead of real medicine. We have met people who keep complaining about their health all the time. Every time you meet them, they have a different ailment. Most of the time the problems are imaginary. Some people visit the doctor and take great pleasure in explaining to him the various aches and pains. The doctor knows that the patient's illness is imaginary, but in order to please the patient he gives him tablets, which he recommends, should be taken every day. The tablets are not medicine, but sugarcoated pills.

The tablets are a placebo; they have no medicinal value. The patient after taking them, however, begins to feel better. As far as he is concerned he has become well because of the tablets that the doctor has given him. The imagined aches and pains disappear because the patient feels that he has been taking genuine medicine!

* The doctor kept his coloured placebos in the bottom drawer.

* He began to feel better after a couple of days. He didn't realise that what the doctor had given him was nothing more than a placebo.

* Namratha wasn't given the real drug, but only a placebo.

Is it wrong to say, "Protest against something"? (Smita Chandra, Lucknow)

No, it isn't. It is possible for one to "protest against" or "protest about" something. Here are a few examples.

* We protested against the increase in student fees.

* Prabhakar is always protesting about something.

* The workers decided not to protest against the downsizing of the company.

* Most of us were planning to protest about the increased workload.

In American English it is possible to "protest" something. For example,

* We protested the increase in working hours.

* The students protested the indiscriminate firing by the police.

* The unions were protesting the war.

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"The only imaginative fiction being written today is income tax returns." — Herman Wouk

S. UPENDRAN

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