Hyphen Intacto

(TOI - 26/sept/07)

Has the hyphen — that tiny punctuational drawbridge linking two otherwise unrelated words — become an endangered species? In the geostrategic sphere, Washington’s famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) ‘hyphenated’ India-Pakistan equation has been dropped from the global political lexicon. Whether or not the nuclear deal with the US (which the Indian Left is doing its best to stymie) comes through or not, Washington is unlikely to once again equate India — whose 60th birthday is causing champagne corks to pop in New York, London and just about everywhere else — with its coeval, Pakistan, which seems inexorably to be sliding into chaos. So in Uncle Sam’s vocabulary regarding the subcontinent, the once ubiquitous hyphen is as dead as the dodo. Unfortunately for it, the hyphen isn’t faring better in the larger sphere of English usage. The latest edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary — that Michelin guide of what’s cooking semantically in the anglophone world — has dropped the hyphen from no less than 16,000 words. So ‘fig-leaf’ has dropped the ‘fig-leaf’ of the hyphen and become ‘fig leaf’, and ‘pot-belly’ has cut the umbilical cord of the intervening sign and is now officially ‘pot belly’. In other cases, the hyphen has been squeezed out of existence by the merger of previously hyphenated words: ‘pigeon-hole’ has been reborn in the amalgamated avatar of ‘pigeonhole’, and ‘leap-frog’ has turned into ‘leapfrog’.

Perhaps in an increasingly permissive linguistic environment where SMS-ese and other verbal shortcuts have become the order of the day, the hyphen is seen as a quaint relic of the past, rather like the hymen, the sign of female virginity, whose loss is held to be of no great account in a social climate amenable to casual (but safe) sex and live-in (should that now be ‘live in’?) relationships. Will the hyphen survive this all-pervasive onslaught? The answer might lie in the second last word of the last sentence: ‘all-pervasive’, a portmanteau adjective describing the subsequent word, ‘onslaught’. ‘Pot belly’ might be fine. But when you want to describe a person with such a belly you may find you have to have recourse to the adjectival ‘pot-bellied man’. Similarly, a ‘fine-tooth comb’ (a comb with closely designed teeth) is very different from a ‘fine tooth comb’ (presumably a handsome device for combing one’s teeth). While such distinctions matter, the hyphen will remain intacto.

Delhi ... Le-gennn-dary!!

Delhi is the best Indian city to live

(from ET)

MUMBAI: Riding on its high quality of life, transportation infrastructure and overall labour force contributing to its economic growth, Delhi has emerged on top among 48 Indian cities, including Mumbai, as the best place to reside, according to a report by Ernst & Young.

The report, which took into consideration 57 parameters before arriving at the conclusion, said between Delhi and Greater Mumbai, the national capital takes the lead on city prosperity index due to its lower population and hence higher per capita income. Delhi also indicates greater propensity to save earnings and lower credit growth.

The consultancy firm's findings were unveiled by Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy at the Ficci-organised International Real Estate Summit here today.

On the business environment index as well, Delhi out scored all other cities as it has a large workforce and more number of management garduates, people employed in trade and services and other business activity as compared to most of the other major cities such as Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

However, on the urban governance index, Greater Mumbai top-scored, leaving Delhi at the second spot.

"Delhi has arguably the best infrastructure in India. It has out-performed almost all cities on all the indcators that comprised the infrastructure index," the report said lauding its road network and social infrastructure, including hospital and educational institutes.

Heroes

And I thought it would be a loser sitcom... But it was great... Yes I love super heroes... they are my escape from this reality... But theres something beyond superheroes... Theres more to Harry Potter than what you see... Theres more to life than what you can feel...


Theres always more; and yet we never try to find that out... I want to fall off the roof and know that it hurts... And I want to run through the rain and know that it cuts my eyes... I want to go off alone and know how I survive... I want to dive into the ocean and see how long I can breathe...

Theres always an Aragon... and a Dumbledore... There is always a hero... There is always an adventure...

Its sad to see very few people who want to live an adventure... Why do people even ask questions like "Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?" Its the worst question that could exist... Why should I plan my life and then live it? Life is an adventure... its the longest rollercoaster that could possibly exist... And yet we fail to do justice to it... Why do we think?

Eyes,
Missed the last train home
Birds pass by to tell me that im not alone
Well im pushing myself to finish this part
I can handle a lot
But one thing i miss
Its in your eyes

Have you seen this film
It reminds me of walking through the avenues
Well I'm washing my hands of attachments, yeah
I will land on the ground
But the one thing i miss
Is in your eyes

I just love the way Genesis starts... The simplest of all questions... and the one that can drive us mad... I am not same as the others... And thats what I am... I am not you...

Its special out there.... ohhh yes it is...
:)

And then... we are back to taking exams... Ohh I so hate statistics...
:(
May I pass the stats exam... rest I should be able to handle..
Amen.

Reliable...!?! The term we've used so very often... for C++ and Java.. and in software engineering... along with such terminology as robust and platform (in)dependent et all..

Red: Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.

Ahhhh.. I so absolutely hate this dialogue... sends more than just a shiver down the spine... The effect is more than a mere rethink process... its a whole journey retraversed... And so with this, I go down the memory lane... with a little (okay, big) wish at the back of my mind... that I shall traverse this road again as if it were new...