Know your English | What does ‘listless’ mean?

For representative purposes.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

“How was the wedding? Did your aunts and uncles turn up for the big event?”

“Most of my aunts and uncles were present. It was great to catch up with them.”

“How is your favourite aunt from Pune? Is she her usual bubbly self?”

“For some reason, she was rather listless this time around. She hardly talked to…”

“Listless? You mean to say that she usually comes with a list of things to do? I know a few people who always….”

“No, no. When you say that someone is listless, what you mean is that the individual is rather dull. Not their usual energetic self. This time around, my aunt didn’t seem interested in the things happening around her.”

“I see. In other words, she didn’t display her usual enthusiasm. She was indifferent to things happening around her. Looked lazy.”

“I guess you could say that. When you’re listless, you usually avoid doing things which require effort. Here’s an example. The humid weather was making Meera listless.”

“That happens to me whenever I visit Mumbai or Chennai in the summer. Ever since he was overlooked for the promotion, Dharam has been listless.”

“My favourite actor’s movie is being released next week. I hope he’s done a better job this time. His performance in the previous movie was listless.”

“I think his listless performance was the main reason the movie flopped at the box office.”

“You’re probably right! But he doesn’t believe it. According to him, it flopped due to other reasons. Perhaps, he should man up and accept what many people…”

“Man up? Never heard that expression before. What does it mean?”

“When someone tells you to ‘man up’ what they would like you to do is to act bravely. When facing a difficult situation, you should be brave and meet the challenge head on.”

“In other words, deal with the problem in a manly fashion.”

“I guess you could say that. The Minister needs to man up and apologise for the comments he made about the members of the Opposition.”

“No chance of that happening. It’ll be seen as a sign of weakness. It’s about time you manned up and told your two cousins to leave. They’ve been staying with you for nearly a year.”

“I guess it’s about time I manned up and confronted them.”

“Can I use this expression with members of the opposite sex? Can I, for example, tell my sister to ‘man up’?”

“Yes, the expression can be used with both men and women. Your sister, however, may be happier with ‘woman up’ instead of ‘man up’.”

“I see. Does it have the same meaning as ‘man up’?”

“Yes! Except, in this case, it applies to a woman. It’s important to remember that both ‘man up’ and ‘woman up’ are used in informal contexts.”

“I see. How about this example? I hated Sharath’s presentation. But I didn’t woman up and tell him what I actually thought.”

“That’s a good example. Kshema is planning to woman up and inform her parents about her gambling problem.”

“I’m sure her parents will have a few choice words for her.”

“Choice words! What does it mean?”

“We’ll talk about it some other time.”

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