Know your English | Talking terms or speaking terms?

For representative purposes.
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What is the meaning and origin of ‘play possum’? (Ajay Kumar, Bengaluru)

‘Possum’ consists of two syllables; the vowel in the first, sounds like the ‘o’ in ‘pot’, ‘not’ and ‘cot’, while the vowel in the second, is like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. The word is pronounced ‘PO-sem’ with the stress on the first syllable. A possum is a nocturnal animal found mostly in America. It is slow moving, and whenever it senses the presence of a predator nearby, instead of running away, it lies down and pretends to be dead. To ensure that the predator believes that it is dead, the possum emits a foul smell. It does all this in the hope that the predator loses interest in the foul-smelling carcass, and just moves on.

It is not just the possum which plays possum, even we human beings do so every now and then. For example, when someone that you do not like rings the doorbell, what do you do? Usually, you keep quiet, you do not open the door. You hope that the person goes away. Another way of playing possum is by pretending to be asleep. Nowadays, the expression is used to mean ‘pretending not to understand’. When you play possum, you use all kinds of tricks in the hope that people will leave you alone.

The child thought the father was asleep. He didn’t realise the man was playing possum.

Stop playing possum, Mr. Balagopal. We know that you’re a fluent speaker of English.

Is it okay to say, “I’m not on talking terms with Sneha”? (Satyam Singh, Ranchi)

Everyone in India will understand what it is you are trying to say — chances are, a native speaker of English will not have a problem either. But the expression ‘talking terms’ is Indian; a native speaker would say, ‘speaking terms’. When you say that you are not on speaking terms with Sneha, you mean you are not on friendly terms with her. As a result, the two of you do not talk to each other. The opposite is ‘be on speaking terms’ with someone.

I have not been on speaking terms with him for over 20 years now.

Bhavani is a friendly soul and is on speaking terms with everyone in our family.

How is the word ‘adolescent’ pronounced? (Ankit, Mumbai)

The word has four syllables; the ‘o’ and the final ‘e’ are pronounced like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. The ‘a’ in the first syllable sounds like the ‘a’ in ‘cat’, ‘bat’ and ‘hat’, while the ‘e’ in the third is like the ‘e’ in ‘set’, ‘bet’ and ‘get’. The word is pronounced ‘a-de-LES-ent’ with the stress on the third syllable. It comes from the Latin ‘adolescentem’ meaning young man or woman.

Nowadays, the word is mostly used to refer to the stage between childhood and adulthood — one’s teenage years are frequently referred to as the adolescent years/period.

I have problems connecting with adolescents. Just can’t relate to them and their problems.

Dealing with three adolescents every day can be emotionally draining.

When you use the word to refer to an adult, what you are suggesting is that the individual’s behaviour is rather immature — the person is behaving rather childishly.

My wife made it her mission to put an end to my adolescent humour.

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