“Do not believe what your teacher tells youmerely out of respect for the teacher”

Gautama Buddha02 MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

Kummerspeck— German

“Kummerspeck,” which translates to“grief bacon,” refers to weight gaineddue to excessive eating that stemsfrom being sad.

Gigil — Tagalog“Gigil” basically refers to a situationof such extreme cuteness it’s over-whelming, or the irresistible urge tohug something cute.

Schadenfreude — German“Schadenfreude” means the joy youfeel at another person’s pain(“schaden” means “damage” and“freude” means “joy”). This termmight be used, for example, when someone cuts you off in traffic

while driving, but you still end uppassing them, or maybe laughingwhen someone trips.

Pena ajena — Spanish“Pena ajena” means “ to be embar-rassed for someone.” The word alsoexists in German, as “fremdschämen.”

Pana po’o — Hawaiian

“Pana po’o” refers to when youscratch your head to help you re-member something you’ve forgotten.

Lagom — Swedish“Lagom” refers to when somethingis just the right amount. In Sweden,it also represents the idea of livinga balanced life.

Estrenar — Spanish“Estrenar” describes wearing some-thing for the very first time.

Mencolek — Indonesian“Mencolek” is that thing some peo-ple do in which they tap someone on

the opposite shoulder to get them tolook in the wrong direction.

Shouganai or Shikata ga nai— Japanese

“Shouganai” refers to something thatcan’t be helped. It’s a sign of resig-nation, as in “what can you do?”

Saudade — Portuguese

The somber term “saudade” hasmany definitions, but often refers toa longing or nostalgia for somethingyou may never have experienced, ormay never experience again.

Razbliuto — Russian“Razbliuto” is a somber word referringto the feelings you have towards some-one you once loved but no longer do.

Tartle — Scottish“Tartle” is that moment of hesitancebefore introducing someone becauseyou can’t remember their name.

TAKE: 343 DEFINITIONSThe word “take” is described by Merri-am-Webster as “to get into one’s handsor into one’s possession, power, or con-trol.” But its meanings stretch across avast terrain: to “take something in” couldalso mean “to consider or view in a par-ticular relation.”

STAND: 334 DEFINITIONS“Stand” trails closely behind, the verbform of which means to “have or main-tain an upright position, supported byone’s feet” (also known as standing up).Clocking in at 334 O.E.D. definitions,“stand” can also refer to the state ofsomething remaining “valid or unal-tered,” and, as a noun, it can be a “stall

or booth in a street, market, or publicbuilding from which goods are sold,”lest we forget.

GET: 289 DEFINITIONSLike “go,” “getting” is one of those com-monplace words that we use so much, wedon’t even realise how much we use it.

We “get” coffee.” We “got” a bad gradeon that test.

PUT: 268 DEFINITIONS“Put” may be a reason for “set”‘s de-cline in popularity, as we tend to usethe former in favor of the latter thesedays. For example: we “put” the drink-ing glass down, rather than “set” it down.

FALL: 264 DEFINITIONSPerhaps the most embarrassing of the list(in verb form, that is), “fall” clocks in atabout 264 definitions in the OED. Thoughwe all know fall’s most common definitionas a verb – “to descend freely by the forceof gravity”. SOURCE: BUSINESS INSIDER

OBSCURE WORDSYOU MUST KNOW

MYTH 1Only naturals canbe great speakersThere are certainly some people whose per-sonalities allow them to get in front of a crowdwith little fear and project their voice. But, ofcourse, being a great public speaker requiresmuch more than a strong will and loud voice.Like any other skill, the only way to look likea true “natural” on stage is through disciplinedpractice. And don’t feel that anything you mayconsider a negative trait — a speech impedi-ment, heavy accent, social anxiety — needs tohold you back. For example, 2015 ToastmastersInternational World Champion of Public Speak-ing, Mohammed Qahtani, has dealt with a stut-ter for his entire life, and learned to keep it from

emerging in his speeches.

And evenif it did pop up, hewouldn’t be worried.He told Business Insid-er that he knew some ofhis competitors had astronger voice or moreimpressive stage pres-ence than he did, but hisgift was comedic timing.Everyone has theirstrengths, and they cancompensate for your weak-nesses. If you can speak to a friend or share astory, you have all you need to captivate an au-dience.

MYTH 2 You must eliminatenerves to be a great speaker

Many people have a niggling thought: ‘If I werea good speaker, I wouldn’t get nervous. But I do

get nervous, so I’m not good enough’. Some wor-ry it’s a sign of weakness to admit they get nerv-ous, and this idea embeds itself into their mind,creating more uncertainty every time they speak

in public. The reality is, it’s normal to feelspeaking anxiety, no matter how expe-rienced or polished you are. Billionaire

Richard Branson admits he gets nervousin public speaking situations and hasdone since he was a teenager. But the

nerves haven’t heldhim back; he’s one ofthe most sought-afterspeakers on the planet.Nerves are normal; wejust need to put theminto perspective. Farfrom holding you back,anxiety can focus themind and lead to a bet-ter result. Nerves don’tneed to be eliminated –they just need to be un-

derstood.

MYTH 3 Good public speakersnever use notesThere is nothing wrong with using notes if theyhelp you speak with clarity and certainty. SteveJobs read his ‘Stanford Graduation Speech’ fromnotes, yet it’s one of the most famous speechesin the world, more popular than any TED talk.Notes can be used poorly, of course. Particu-larly if you read a speech in a way that impliesyou’re not familiar with the content. Checkingyour slides and then talking to the audience isfine, but planting your feet with your back tothe audience and reading every word on yourslides is not! So, notes aren’t a problem; it’s howwe use them. Don’t feel guilty about using notes.Everybody needs to find the right balance ofnotes to suit the event and the subject.

MYTH 4 Avoid eye contact, lookover the heads of the audienceAnother variation on this myth is to stare at aspot on the wall instead of looking at your au-dience. You may have heard that these strate-gies will reduce your nervousness when pre-senting. But either technique will only increaseyour nervousness. You’ll quickly begin to feelalienated from your audience. Would you meeta person face to face and stare over that per-son’s head? Reality: Look directly at key indi-viduals. We connect with each other throughour eyes. Effective speakers look at a few peo-ple, one at a time. This creates a relationship,and it’s less scary giving your message to eachperson than to a large crowd.

MYTH 5 I need lots of complexslides to keep people’s attentionYour audience has come to see and to listen toyou, not to read your slide deck. If letting themread the information on the screen is the pur-pose of the meeting or the presentation it’s prob-ably best just to send an email! You should seeyour slides as a backdrop, something that sup-ports your message, not defines it. Tell storiesand use images. People are much more likelyto remember what you said if they can connectit to a poignant picture than if it is connectedto three bullet points and a pie chart! In theworld of slides, less is most definitely more.

MYTH 6 Everyone will see hownervous you are...And once they do, the audience will realisethat you can’t do your job! This is nonsense.Most nervousness isn’t visible to others becauseit’s internal. And if people do see you’re nerv-ous, they’ll most likely have the normal reac-tion, which is to sympathise with you. Audi-ence members feel good when you’re succeed-ing and embarrassed when you’re failing. Sothey’re actually on your side and want you todo well.

MYTH 7 Introverts can’t excelin public speaking Susan Cain, author of the bestseller “Quiet: ThePower of Introverts in a World That Can’t StopTalking,” explains in her book that introvertsare not necessarily shy, but gain energy from low-key environments. Continuing on the earlierpoint about playing to strengths, introverts don’tneed to mimic a high-energy extrovert like TonyRobbins (life coach) when they speak to an au-dience, but can go at their own pace in a thought-ful way. Cain, a self-described introvert, said shejoined Toastmasters to become a better publicspeaker because it provided her with a forum topractice that felt safe and supportive.

MYTH 8 I need to stand stillwhen I presentThis is an absolute poisonous myth. No onewants to watch a motionless statue speak forhalf an hour. Movement gets attention and ifyour body is ‘dead’, your voice will be monoto-nous and dead too. Gestures free the voice, brainand your emotions. You need all three to ex-press yourself freely.

We hope you are now ready to approach pub-lic speaking with aplomb.

Hi friends. We are

These myths keep people frombecoming the clear and

confident speakers they can be.We dispel them

Amazing words that don’t existin English – but really should

Schlemiel and schli-mazel — Yiddish“Schlemiel” refers to aninept and clumsy person,and “schlimazel” is a veryunlucky person. The twoare often combined forcomedic effect.

TURN: 288 DEFINITIONSIt can take on many other meaningsbeyond “moving in a circular direc-tion,” including “passing the age ortime of” something. In a sentence: “Iturned 17 last year.”

The Center for ReadingResearch analysed thefirst 480,000 resultsof Ghent University’s (Belgium) onlinevocabulary test andfound the wordsEnglish speakers knowthe least. Actually,people didn’t thinkthey were words at all

FUTHORC: Runic alphabet,which was used before theLatin alphabet

WITENAGEMOT:Anglo-Saxon political council

CHAULMOOGRA: Asian tree

BRUMMAGEM: cheap and showy

ALSIKE: clover

CHERSONESE: peninsula

YOGH: Middle English letter

SMARAGD: emerald-like

DUVETYN: soft, velvetyfabric

PYKNIC: short, stocky

FYLFOT: a swastika

YATAGHAN: Turkish sword

DASYURE: small marsupial

SIMOOM: strong, hot wind

STIBNITE: mineral

KALIAN: tobacco pipe

DIDAPPER: a type of bird

GENIPAP: fruit

Do you find gram-mar confusing? Doyou get stuck withwords when writinga letter, an essayor a blog? Do youhave a fear of pub-lic speaking? Or doyou simply want toimprove your com-munication skills?Times NIE is here

to help you tomaster theintricacies of

the Englishlanguage. Just

shoot us yourqueries on

toinie175@gmail.com

QUERIES RELATING TOLANGUAGE SKILLS

8 WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WITH THE MOST DEFINITIONS

CACOMISTLE: raccoon-like animal

GO: 368 DEFINITIONSIt clocked in at 368 definitions in 1989’s Ox-ford English Dictionary (OED). Its topmeaning as a verb is “to move from oneplace to another; travel,” but it can also be“said in various expressions when angri-ly or contemptuously dismissing some-one.” Used in a sentence: “Go and get lost!”

RUN: 645 DEFINITIONSThough there is some debate surround-ing the first place position of “run,” asone of the top homographs it has (ananticipated) 645 different definitions,according to a New York Times articlefrom 2011.

A still from ‘Mr. Bean's Holiday’

Photo: Getty images

Photo: Getty imagesPhoto: Getty images

Shemomedjamo – GeorgianWe’re probably all familiar with the act of“shemomedjamo,” which refers to overeating.

Photo: AP