Tuesday 16 April 2013

CRYPTONYMS!


 

 Reading through the 14th page entitled ‘Freedom From Economics’ of The  Economic Times 13/4/’13, I liked this on ‘Operation Cryptonym.’ I did not even know the meaning. I called  up my Dad and asked him the meaning he simply said ‘hidden name’ .

A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word.

Code names are often used for military purpose, or in espionage. They may also be used in industry to protect secret projects and the like from business rivals.

The United States uses code names for U.S. Presidents, First Ladies and other persons and locations.

 The use of such names were originally for security purposes and dates. Today they simply serve for purposes of  brevity, clarity and tradition.

The Secret Service does not choose these names. The White House Communications Agency(WHCA) assigns them.

According to the established protocol good codewords are ambiguous words that can be easily pronounced and easily understood.

Traditionally, all family member’s code names start with the same letter(alliteration). They are often publicly known.

Here are some:

President John. F. Kennedy   : codename : Lancer

First Lady Jacqline Kennedy: codename:  Lace.

Bill Clinton: codename: Eagle.

Hillary Clinton: codename: Evergreen.

Chelsea(daughter) codename: Energy.

Barack Obama: codename: Renegade.

Michell Obama: codename: Renaissance.

Malia Obama: codename: Radiance.

Sasha Obama: codename: Rosebud.

Pope John Paul: codename: “Halo”.

The White House:codename: Olympus.

Mockingbird: codename: Recruitment of American Journalist for C.I.A. work.

Smiling Buddha: codename: for Pokhran-I,1974.The name chosen to indicate the ‘peaceful’nature of India’s nuclear ambitions.

…  and there is an endless list, explore for yourselves!

 

 

 

  

 

Saturday 13 April 2013

PORTMANTEAU


Portmanteau or blends.

Portmanteau word is a combination of two words. There are two meanings packed into one word. Writers and speakers exercise creativity and come up with words that convey a new concept.

In other words a blended word that satisfactorily defines a feeling or a phenomenon that a single word could not express!

Some portmanteau words:

Workaholic: From Work and Alcoholic.

Oxbridge: from Oxford and Cambridge.

Smog      :           Smoke and Fog.

Motel      :            Motor and Hotel.

Infomercial:         Information and Commercial.

Pixel        :            Pic and Element.

Chillax     :             Chill and Relax.

Clopen     :            Clopen.

Chortle     :             Chuckle and Snort. (Lewis Carroll coined these in

Slithy        :            Slimy and Lithe.        Alice in Wonderland)

Fantabulous:           Fantastic and Fabulous.

Flavourite   :           Flavor and Favorite.

Sony          :             Sonus(Latin for sound) and Sonny(Slang for youngster.)

Verizon      :            Veritaz(Latin for truth.) and Horizon.

Ginormous  :           Gigantic and Enormous.

Greenwash  :            Green and Whitewash.

Hamwich     :           Ham and Sandwich.

Jazzercise    :            Jazz and Exercise.

Kidult          :            Kid and Adult.

Linner         :             Lunch and Dinner.

Lupper         :             Lunch and Supper.

Brunch         :             Breakfast and Lunch.

Mechantronics:          Mechanical and Electronics.

Mizzle          :            Mist and Drizzle.

Shart             :            Shit and Fart.

Skort             :            Skirt and Short.

Snark             :            Snide and Remark.

Swapportunity:           Swap and Opportunity.

Toonie           :             Two and Loonie.

Bollywood     :             Bombay and Hollywood.

Dramedy         :             Drama and Comedy.

Reigulous        :            Religious and Ridiculous.

Sacrilicious       :            Sacrilege. and Delicious.

Spork               :              Spoon and Fork.

Streetball          :              Street and Basketball.

Clamanto          :              Clam and Tomato juice.

Advertisement   :             Advertisement and Entertainment.

Humongous         :             Huge and Monstrous.

Austerical           :            Austerity and Hysterical.

Chinenglish   :  From Chinese and English.

Hinglish         :            Hindi and English.

 

                             

                                   ANIMALS

Geep                :  From Goat and Sheep.(Progeny of)

Taigon             :            Tiger and Lion. (Progeny of )

Zeedonk           :            Zebra and Donkey.(Progeny of )

Wallaroo         :             Wallaby and Kangaroo.(Progeny of)

Wholphin.        :             Whale and Dolphin.(Progeny of)

 

                                PLACES.

Calexico        :  From California and Mexico.

Benelux         :            Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

 

There are so many of these that have made their way into the English language. The blend of words that are formed by merging the  sounds  and meanings of two or more words sure is  interesting!

 

 

Monday 1 April 2013

TOMAS YOUNG!


Reading through the Sunday Times Of India I came upon this touching piece, in the Times Curator section that brings a weekly pick of stimulating ideas and opinions that have appeared in other media, online and offline.The caption is ‘Dying soldier calls for farewell to arms’

Tomas Young is one of the war’s casualties. He enlisted in the American military soon after the 9/11 attacks. On his 5th day of deployment in Iraq, he was shot in the spine. The paraplegic Young was the first to speak out against the Iraq war. Now Young is dying, as a result of medical complications from his war wounds. He has written his final letter to his Masters of war. “I write this letter, my last letter to you, Mr Bush and Mr.Cheney. I write this not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulations and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds and thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans- my fellow veterans- whose future you stole. ”

I can’t agree more with his line of thought. The futility of  internal strife and  wars. It’s all  because of giant size ‘ego’ of man.Wars are nothing more than plunder,  murder, manipulations and thirst for wealth and power!

Wake up man!

Stop the mayhem!