by Chandrika R Krishnan | Mar 19, 2026 | Some Learnings, Some Teachings
The term “Etymology” is the study of the origin of words. The practice of etymology is uncovering the truth by tracing the root of a word and its evolution thereafter. English as a language borrows heavily from other languages. These lexical borrowings or loan words...
by Chandrika R Krishnan | Mar 12, 2026 | Some Learnings, Some Teachings
Long, long ago, many years ago, all around us, families were running away, carrying whatever they could. The rumour floated around that “Nagarjuna Sagar dam has broken, and we are going to be swept away.” My mother stood on the balcony with her brood of...
by Chandrika R Krishnan | Mar 5, 2026 | Some Learnings, Some Teachings
Francis Bacon once remarked, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” What better way to chew and digest a book than marginalia? Throughout my school life, I had made do with second-hand textbooks. And if the...
by Chandrika R Krishnan | Feb 26, 2026 | Some Learnings, Some Teachings
Who hasn’t gone into peals of laughter when someone slips on a banana peel? Fortunately, we outgrow this stage. But, maybe not. Particularly when a person whom we don’t like slips on the peel! Haven’t we been happy when someone overtakes us in a...
by Chandrika R Krishnan | Feb 25, 2026 | Some Learnings, Some Teachings
When I learned that the word rife had appeared in 276 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, I did a deep dive into its use. That is when I came across the sentence: English is rife with words that have been handed down to us from Old...
