A COMMON SNIPPET YOU MIGHT HAVE ALREADY HEARD

Ankit was rote-learning some English words that his teacher taught at school. “my mane miss ko, my mane miss ko, my mane miss ko…” (”my” means “belongs to Miss”–because his “Miss” had said “my” means “mero” in Nepali). His father, who was watching TV heard that and instantly corrected: ”Ankit, no, ‘my’ means ‘mero’,” NOT “miss ko.” Ankit said “ho ra” (is it?) and went away to the kitchen, where his mother heard him repeating “my mane baba ko, my mane baba ko…,” to which, like a caring mother, she instantly responded: ”Ankit, no, ‘my’ doesn’t mean ‘baba ko’–it means ‘mero’.” Ankit did not know what to make of the explanation that followed, but he took the new meaning seriously!

Next day, at school, Miss Pabitra said to the class, “La ta bhana ta nani haru ho, ‘my’ bhaneko ke ho?” Ankit thought he had more ideas than the rest: ”Miss, ‘my’ bhaneko baithak kotha ma ‘baba ko,’ bhansa kotha ma ‘ama ko,’ ani ikkul ma chahi ‘miss’ ko”!

ARE YOU COCKSURE?

(by Shyam Sharma)

When I was teaching English in grade 6 one day, I shared a new technique for learning new words which I had heard at a NELTA training: You know that you can best remember word meanings and make words your own by using them. When you learn a new word, try to find as many opportunities as you can to use it.

Then no sooner than I had started teaching the lesson of the day, Dinesh raised his hand and said, “Are you cocksure about that?” I was a bit confused. “Dinesh, why are you using the word ‘cocksure’ in this context? Remember what we said it means when we came across it?” Dinesh said, “I just wanted to remember it by using it as often as I can.”