Oh Language – 7
My earnest efforts in eliciting the meaning of the term “intelligible”
from our blog friends reveal a formidable degree of recalcitrance. If so, no
point in trying to cajole anyone as if, I would sustain a huge loss unless
someone comes forward to settle the
issue straight. Be that as it may, ‘intelligible’ stays the same as
ever.
Coming to the episode 7 of Oh Language, we are to look into ‘POLYSEMES’ of
some common ones. The present episode considers the case of Contextual meanings
of words. To put it straight, a word can denote more than one meaning. The
meaning so implied assumes relevance for a given situation. Only the meaning
changes in relation to a context, though the word does not. That way, those
words are Polysemes. Some such are presented below
Act, Article, Bold, Call, Current, Dash, Date, Fair, Fish, Fine, Firm,
Last, Lie, Match, Nail, Order, Paint,
Ring, Spring , Time, Use, Wit and so on.
Each of them fits more than one occasion: on each occasion it delivers a
precise meaning [not applicable elsewhere].
Act: Refers to a part of a stage play as in Act-II scene I
Act: A rule or legislation--- as in “The Act is very clear and any
violation thereof can attract
imprisonment or fine or both.
Act: carry out or perform-as in Act now or else the situation may get out
of control.
Article: An item like a bag or
box; as in ‘please secure your articles; travel agency will not be responsible
for any loss or damage to your articles’
Article: A grammar convention to refer to general or a specific item for
description. Eg: A reporter shouted
please move away –a live bomb is on the road. An officer of the bomb squad
rushed out and defused the bomb [In the two statements “A” and “An” serve as
general articles].
The Superintendent of Police recommended the officer’s name for a
Gallantry Award. “The” refers to a specific official and is thus a ‘definite
article’.
Article: May refer to a part of a binding law as in “The Constitution”, for
administering a Nation or Land.
Article “A piece of writing [relating to an aspect] meant for general
reading published by Newspapers or Magazines”.
Bold: can refer to prominence or clarity as in “Write your name in BOLD
letters.
Bold: Can also mean ‘daring’ or ‘courageous’ as in A bold man came out,
picked up the slithering snake by its tail and swiftly dashed it several times
on the stone wall to smash its head.
Call: May indicate that someone called as in “You had a call[noun] from
Australia” or 2.
Call [verb] your sister to tell her that her travel to England is booked
for 12th of next month.
Current: can indicate different items
1 Water current is swift here. 2
Political turmoil is a current topic [here current refers to the present]. 3
Current problem is current in our locality where ‘current’ =‘present time’ and power
/ ‘electricity’ as well in the locality.
Dash: An act of two objects hitting each other rapidly. The bus dashed
the car.
Dash: An open unfilled space [dash] as “Fill in the blanks.
Dash: May also mean quick travel, as in “He dashed homeward, on hearing
that his mother fell unconscious.
Date: A specific number of a day in a month.
Date: indicates the time intimately spent by two persons of opposite
gender.
Date: can refer to a palm tree [named Date palm].
Fair: An event as in “Industrial fair” or Automobile fair where items of
the respective trades are presented –all in one place. [Trade fairs –they are].
Fair: refers to complexion of persons especially girls /women.
Fair: also means honest or straightforward approaches in processes like
valuation of answer scripts or in
delivering Judgments.
Fair: also can mean ‘just’ as in ‘fair price’
It will not be ‘fair’ to stretch any further for now, as a fairly wide
stretch of terms has been looked into. However, in all fairness, it would be
unfair to leave the domain without addressing further. Hope I am intelligible.
More to follow in the Sunday episodes
