The Vocabulary Project : How we deal with the world 1

Every individual has a unique way of handling the people around him. Sometimes we are outgoing and make friends with the world and sometimes we shrink back and hide in our imaginary shells. Todays post is about some common terms we use to describe peoples engagement with the society.


An introvert is a shy person , his personality is turned inwards ( intro: inside , vert : to turn) an introvert is characterized by concern primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings. Given a choice they would want to spend time with their own thoughts. An introvert may also be a loner but not necessarily.

Coy , Demure , Bashful,are some common synonyms of the word. Wallflower is another interesting synonym which means a person who, because of shyness, unpopularity, or lack of a partner, remains at the side at a party or dance.

Introversion could be a choice , where words like reserved and reticent can replace introvert. But sometimes it may also be a consequence of lack of confidence or courage, in such a scenario, timid , skittish , unassured are more suitable replacements for introvert.

An extrovert is an exact opposite of an Introvert . He is an outgoing individual , she likes making friends , reaching out to people. An Extrovert is a person concerned primarily with the physical and social environment. (Extro : outside , Vert: to turn) Gregarious , communicative , sociable , cordial are some of the synonyms of extrovert.


Lets follow up with some broad synonyms of extrovert before we wrap up this post.

Convivial :

1.	friendly; agreeable: a convivial atmosphere.

2.	fond of feasting, drinking, and merry company; jovial.

3.	of or befitting a feast; festive.

Affable :

1.	pleasantly easy to approach and to talk to; friendly; cordial; warmly polite: an affable and courteous gentleman.

2.	showing warmth and friendliness; benign; pleasant: an affable smile.

Amiable :

1.	having or showing pleasant, good-natured personal qualities; affable: an amiable disposition.

2.	friendly; sociable: an amiable greeting; an amiable gathering.

3.	agreeable; willing to accept the wishes, decisions, or suggestions of another or others.

Geniall: warmly and pleasantly cheerful; cordial: a genial disposition; a genial host

Vivacious:lively; animated; gay:

Congenial:

1.	agreeable, suitable, or pleasing in nature or character: congenial surroundings.

2.	suited or adapted in spirit, feeling, temper, etc.; compatible: a congenial couple.

Hope you were able to connect the dots , see you soon with the next post in the Project series, til then Happy words hunting!

The Vocabulary Project : Experiment 1

the slave class at takshzila was asked to come up with one word that describes them , in the coming posts we (Is there anybody out there ?) will look at their/our definition of selves while using it as an excuse to discuss words.

Juvenile comes from the latin root joven which means youth, which itself is dervied from the word jove ( which also gives us the word jovial ) which refers to the roman god zeus. One of Zeus' daugther Juventas was the roman godess of youth. The word Juvenile itself has many meanings , all pertaining to youth ofcourse but they differ slightly in what aspect of youth do they refer to.

For example juvenile may refer to the youth of an individual or it may refer to the immaturity of youth , both are acceptable meanings and further distinction comes from understanding the context in which the word is used. So there may be juvenile delinquents which means young criminals (loosely) or there may be juvenile literature which refers to books intended for youngsters. In theater juvenile refers to a youthful role or an actor playing such a role and in horse racing it rfers to a 2 year old race horse.

Callow , Jejune , Vernal , Puerile and adolescent are few words which can be used interchangeably with juvenile. Whereas callow , jejune and puerile lean towards immature , childish and inexperienced vernal just means youthful.

Weekend Workshops By takshzila

Interesting Resource

Stumbled upon this blog a couple of days back 7 Words A Day For MBA etc.

I think an extremely manageable resource if you can just focus on the 7 words given each day , can lead to substantial results over a period of time, Also look out for GD topics given every other day , all in all a good page to visit every day. Added to the resource link


happy words hunting !

Chappell's Story :TOI

A newspaper , any newspaper , even one as shady as The Times Of India is a good source of words , the advantage of chasing words in a newspaper is that you see words in their natural habitat , which makes it easier to understand and use in future.

today I pick a few words from the front page story from TOI 2nd April , "Chappell's story: How five players did India in " The sub heading of the story was Aussie coach , support staff not keen on continuing at the Helm"
Helm is an old English word , with primary connections to ships and sailing , some sailing related meanings are

a.	a wheel or tiller by which a ship is steered.

b.	the entire steering apparatus of a ship.

c.	the angle with the fore-and-aft line made by a rudder when turned: 15-degree helm.

by this connection the helm also becomes the place of control and command of a team , organization , country or any group . So when Chappell says he is not keen on continuing at the helm , he is suggesting he does not want the much coveted position anymore.

" If the board of control for cricket were to take Greg Chappell's tour report Prima Facie then some cricketers headed for serious trouble . That again if the board mandarins dare to bell the cat."

Prima Facie is one of those many Latin phrases which have become part of the English language over the millennium , the roots of the phrase are easy enough to understand , Prima means first and is commonly seen in words like Prime minister , Primary etc. and Facie means face , so Prima Facie easily enough means on face value ; at first look ;at first view ; before investigation.

The second word though is a little trickier , mandarin is the traditional Chinese language , but the word also refers to the following definitions (though all with Chinese connections)

1.(in the Chinese Empire) a member of any of the nine ranks of public officials, each distinguished by a particular kind of button worn on the cap.
2. an influential or powerful government official or bureaucrat.
3. a member of an elite or powerful group or class, as in intellectual or cultural milieus: the mandarins of the art world.
4. elegantly refined, as in language or taste.

so in the context of the article i think it means number 2 from the list above.

" It is believed that the beleaguered Team India coach ...." , we know what Guru Chappel is going through and it should not be too difficult to guess the meaning of the word , dictionary meanings though are harassed or under attack .

"According to the senior board sources , Chappell has already given a gist of what triggered the debacle in the Carribbean " , gist is a commong enough word which means summary , the central idea , the essence of something bigger. Debacle on the other hand is an interesting word with following meanings

1. A sudden, disastrous collapse, downfall, or defeat; a rout.
2. A total, often ludicrous failure.
3. The breaking up of ice in a river.
4. A violent flood.

Some synonyms of the word are , Fiasco , Catastrophe , Blunder and disaster.

Writing this post reminds me of the drubbing we received at the hands of our colonial neighbors.


not so happy word hunting!.

who is Jack Bauer ?

Well He is the super-duper-ultracool-uberhip-dashing and dangerous protagonist of the hit television series 24 . a lot of my friends were really into this extremely engaging show , but since most of the episode I caught , I caught midway , I never could make much sense out of it , and out of sheer random behaviour i picked up the DVD yesterday , and boy was I addicted. I guess when I saw the show from the very beginning , the vocabulary started making sense to me and then as they say it was love at first sight.

I guess I am still trying to convey the same point , that your vocabulary will define a lot of things in your life, I went to my former flatmate's website and it was complete hogwash (greek and latin) for me, and therefore the world of technology does not quite stoke my passions. see if you can make some sense out of Sudhanshu's Page

Anyway here is what I found on google , damm amusing Top 100 facts on Jack Bauer.


Happy words hunting and a merry weekend. !

The Sword is migtier than a pen or something like it

Was watching Highlander the source yesterday , its a movie primarily about a breed of individuals known as Immortals , who not surprisingly live among us and ridiculously enough their favorite method of passing (a very long period of time) is to cut each others head off and assimilate the powers of the vanquished. As a young lad of 15 I was easily enamored by the first highlander movie/series, especially since the first movie had Sir Sean Connery featuring as one of the immortals.

Now Highlander is a sword fighting movie , something that easily impresses young men of a certain disposition. So even though I am getting on with the years I still picked up the movie for old times sake and though the movie as lame and absolutely not worth watching it had its moments , especially in the opening sequence where one of the immortals fights the so called (quite idiotic looking) guardian of the source, now the part that got me hooked was the fact that the immortal was an Arab looking guy (immortals in the previous movies had been Caucasians) and his sword was different from the usual armory that the immortals carry , it looked something like this image.

Any guesses what this is called ? (answers at the bottom of the post) (puppy shame if you call it a sword)


My point being that a better vocabulary helps us understand the world around us more accurately, now I understand it would be rare occasion that your life would depend upon understanding the difference between a Broadsword and A Scimitar unless of course if somebody is about to attack you with one (come to think of it , at this point you would more interested in religious words ) but I hope you get the point , say you are reading a book , but if you do not understand what a pommel is you will never really SEE the images that the writer is trying to show you. Lest I get emotional , let me move on to more on swords .

My usual favorite is a sword made much popular by the KILL BILL volumes , is the ever dangerous Katana , often use with a shorter blade called the shōtō,
I remember leaving a theater with reasonable amount of anguish and disgust , when some lunatic director made Sunjay dutt and Suniel Shetty fight with katanas.








And the classic sword of all times is the one used by William Wallace in Brave heart (see image) , this beauty is called the Two-handed (Highland) claymore (thank god for wikipedia)













In recent times with remergence of the star wars saga , the Light Sabers have come back in vogue , now the sabers from the old movies as average but the news ones are bloody delicious . Signing off with some images of light sabers. Happy Word hunting!




Did you know that there were seven forms of light saber fighting.

Wikipedia on Swords