“Congratulations! I hear you got a raise. Did you tell your sister?”
“Not a chance! Even with the raise, my salary is small potatoes compared to hers.”
“Small potatoes? Are you trying to say that you don’t make as much as your sister?”
“When you say that something or someone is ‘small potatoes’, what you mean is that the thing or person is insignificant or unimportant.”
“I see. So your salary is rather small when compared to your sister’s?”
“Yes, that’s right! Here’s an example. Last week’s stock market crash was small potatoes compared to what happened five years ago.”
“I know nothing about that. Your salary may be small potatoes, but a raise is a raise. We should celebrate.”
“Not today, I’m afraid. Nisha said she’d be coming over.”
“I don’t particularly like her. She’s always flattering people to get what she wants.”
“She certainly does. She excels in the art of apple polishing, doesn’t she?”
“Apple polishing? What are you talking about? I was telling you…”
“The term ‘apple polishing’ is used in informal contexts to mean ‘to flatter’. An ‘apple polisher’ is someone who flatters others or gives them gifts to get what he wants.”
“I see. I thought the speech was absolutely boring. But the apple polishers surrounding the Minister told her she was brilliant.”
“My cousin Vittal always kept apple polishers at a distance.”
“Not everyone is good at apple polishing. It is…”
“What’s the matter with you? You look rather worried about something.”
“My father went for his annual check up yesterday, and Dr. Keshavan told him to…”
“If it’s Dr. Kesavan, ask your father to get a second opinion. Dr. Keshavan is an alarmist. He’s always scaring people.”
“Did you say alarmist? Does it have something to do with alarm?”
“You could say that! An ‘alarmist’ is someone who scares people by deliberately focussing on the negatives when there is no real reason to. He exaggerates the dangers and as a result, he frightens or worries others.”
“Isn’t that what our news channels do? So, an alarmist is someone who alarms people.”
“He causes them to worry unnecessarily. After reading our 650 page report on TB, the Ministry of Health dismissed it as being alarmist.”
“I don’t want to be accused of being an alarmist, but I believe over 20,000 people will die of starvation this year.”
“Good grief! What a terrible thing to say. Tell me…”
“No, you tell me. Why do you have so many cardboard boxes lying around?”
“I’m combing through them to…”
“Combing cardboard boxes! Really? You must be bored out of your mind to do that!”
“When used as a verb, one of the meanings of ‘comb’ is ‘search’. When you comb a place, you search it very carefully and systematically in order to find what you’re looking for.”
“I see. How about this example? The Army is combing the building for terrorists.”
“Sounds good. Rescue workers are combing through the debris looking for survivors.”
“My friends and I combed the forest for the missing girl. So, when is the treat?”
“Today, if you’re willing to come along with Nisha.”
“Not with that apple polisher.”
****
“Flattery is like cologne water; to be smelt, not swallowed.” Josh Billings
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