What’s There to Divulge?

This card that was displayed on every table in Delicious eatery caught my attention.

My friend who happened to join me for dinner found it amusing. Aside from the divulging slip, we were also bemused by this phrase: Jazz Trio performing live exclusively for ‘The Living Room’. Isn’t it strange that this trio is going to perform for a room? Will The Living Room give the trio a standing ovation if the performance is deserving of praise?

Logically speaking, a band performs for an audience at a particular room. Thank God STP wasn’t there lest he give his fair share of criticisms and a modicum of praise. Hmm…perhaps the whole thing is meant to be divulged after all.

Dictionary Skills

By now, most of you would have known about the Altantuya word which was supposedly included in the Malaysian issue of Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary. If you look at the following definitions, you would know that it’s a hoax.

Just pay close attention to the magnified words and you”ll see what I mean. It states that Altantuya can be either a verb or an adjective. However, the  5 definitions in no way mention any adjectives. Definitions 1 to 5 point to the fact that it can only be used as a verb.

Look at definition 1. Instead of explosive, it should be pluralised. Even then, the definition is still dodgy. Committing murder by the use of explosives? How? Banging them on the person’s head? It should be made more explicit: To commit murder by blowing the person up with C4 explosives.

Definition 2 should be “make plans” even though one plan is made.

Definition 3 has too many tos.

Definition 4 should be written thus: …by having others do

What’s the moral of this? If you plan to be an English lexicologist, make sure you know the ins and outs of  the English language. And if you can’t measure up to that, at least know the basics of dictionary skills. We don’t want trickters whose tricks fail to achieve their purpose, do we?