Phrases and Meaning IV - Good One?

We were on top of the mountain standing just off a steep drop and looking down into the valley below when a bird flew gracefully in front of our eyes.

"Wow! How I wish I could fly like that"

"Oh! Flying from here is a piece of cake. It is the landing that is the problem"

"Good one"

Huh! This 'Good one' as a reaction to a joke or a witticism always confuses me. I can still remember my long gone school days when I used to crack what I thought was a joke and be met with sepulchral silence. Then one of the guys would catch the pleading, pathetic look on my face and say, "Good one!" Now, when someone says "Good one" in response to a joke is it only sympathy that makes him say it instead of "Oh! Was that a joke?" or scratching his ribs with both hands (a throw-back gesture that reminds you of your Darwinian origins) and emitting a derisive "Ha Ha"?

There is an Asimov story - "Joker" or some such name - in which he says that the only jokes that people laugh at are ones that begin "Ever heard of this one before" or some such thing that ascribes an unknown origin to the joke. He claims that all the on-the-spot witticisms only beget groans or "Good One"s depending on the nature of the recipient. From which I conclude that Isaac Asimov too had had his share of jokes falling flat on unpromising soil or eliciting feeble "Good one"s.

Sometimes, it does feel like his theory is right. The "Good one" shoots out with such enthusiasm - and without the stimulus of pathos in the face - that it seems like it was meant. This, however, does not necessarily mean that the Wit can dance a saraband in happiness. It only means that, though the joke was not good enough to laugh at, it was good enough to be acknowledged.

Sometimes, though, it is the recipient of the witticism who needs the crutch of a "Good one". There are those unfortunate beings who actually cannot get a joke. When, however, they are acute enough to understand when the other person thinks that what he said is a joke (and it is not every Wit who is overwhelmed by his own humor that he conveniently goes "Ha Ha Ha" and gives you a clue), then he can come out with a "Good one" to cover up the fact that he was totally in the dark about what was funny about it.

In sum, a "Good One" is not a good enough one - at least for the recipient. If, perchance, you feel the pressing need to leave a "Good one" in the comments, you do it at the peril of my taking you for the third category of people above!

The Imperative Subterfuge by Rickie Khosla - A Review

(Another of my friends - this time from the blogging world - has self-published a short novella on amazon. The book link is

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3Z8SGQ

The author's blog is

http://reekycoleslaw.com/

In the event that you do not have a Kindle you can download apps for reading Kindle books on PCs, laptops and Smartphones from this link

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

This must serve as an upfront disclaimer before you read the review )

Historical fiction has always fascinated me. The genre ranges from tales that brought to life the more dramatic events with imagination filling in for what is not known to speculations about possibilities in some historical mysteries to alternative histories of what could have been. Rickie Khosla's 'The Imperative Subterfuge' is set in  the Germany of Adolph Hitler and speculates about the relationship between Hitler and Eva Braun and adds a twist to the theories surrounding the apparent suicide of the Hitler.

The author has written a very readable novella and, for me, it is a pleasure to read good English - though it was no surprise since I already knew of his ability with the language from his blog. He has also avoided the normal pitfall of a newbie author - of making characters seem flat. He paints his characters very well and brings their relationships to life. The central speculation is intriguing and, so, the climax certainly does not disappoint. Overall, the book reads very well and does not slack in pace.

The one area that I felt needed to be better was the manner in which the political happenings of the day were written. In a novel length book, such happenings do tend to be written entirely by narrative. Since the author's book is a short novella, I felt it would have been better if he had also brought them out in the interactions of the characters. This, of course, is more a question of personal opinion since even these background passages do not obstruct the pace of the read. The other thing is that I really did feel that the idea had the scope to be a novel.

Overall, Rickie's book is interesting and is a very pacy read.

Make a wish

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 40; the fortieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "MAKE A WISH"

Why is it that I get so easily deceived? Anyone with a sob-story can lay claim on the contents of my wallet - so much so that I sometimes feel like an ATM machine where the con-men come to swipe their sob-stories and make away with my cash. Whenever I seek something from someone they find it so easy to lead me astray conversationally that I end up forgetting what I came to ask and leave wondering what I had come to them for in the first place. If only I could make a wish and rid myself of this problem..

A bottle with a milky-white gas inside materialized in front of me.

"Open it, let the genie out and ask it for your wish", whispered a voice in my ear. So engrossed was I in my own problem that a disembodied voice speaking in my ear seemed quite natural.

How clichéd!  The moment you start talking of wishes, you end up getting a genie in a bottle. They could have, at least, switched over to cans whoever they were.

Shit! The bottle was corked. The last time I tried to open a corked bottle - wine it was - without a cork-screw, which I anyway did not have, it was no fun at all. The screwdriver I tried on it chipped this end for a while and, when I tried to poke it through, it ended up pushing the cork into the bottle. Now, I do not know what the current fashion for genies in head-gear was but I had a suspicion that a chipped cork on the head would not be the latest attraction in any genie fashion show.

I picked the bottle up gingerly and laid a hand on the cork to test how tight it was. The cork slid out smooth as silk and the room started suddenly filling up with smoke.

"Hey! Enough with the special effects. Can you do something less corny?" I bleated.

"You dare complain of corny? For how long are you guys still going to be bottling us up - like some soft drink or beer? Can't you think of anything more inventive if you have to do it?"

"We did try lamps and rings."

"I was talking of something more spacious. Such cramped accommodation where we have no choice but to turn to smoke in order to feel a wee bit comfortable and you have the gall to complain? What did you expect - frothing champagne?"

By now the smoke had coalesced into a shape that filled most of the room. It was I, now, who was feeling distinctly cramped for space. The leering gargoyle of a face and the massive mass of the rest of the body made me want to recede as far as possible - but the wall got in the way.

"Listen!" I said weakly "I did not put you in the bottle. Anyway, I thought you were supposed to grant me a wish"

"And that is another thing. First you bottle us up and, then, in return for the generous favor of being released we have to grant you a wish in order to go free? Is that fair?"

"But..." I interjected weakly but the genie was not listening.

"Anybody would think that we were some sort of wish-vending machine. Species stereotyping is what I call it. And, unlawful incarceration. It is time that we djinns got together and started an agitation against this discriminatory behavior"

"Listen genie..." I tried to get some control of the situation. There was a dull throb north-northwest of my eyes.

"Huh? Genie, Genie! It is Djinn you idiot. You cannot even get our species name right. And what do you mean calling me genie? You even call your dogs by names and you do not have the common courtesy to seek the name of a sentient being?"

The dull throb in the head was sending out shooting pains.

"Ooh! Just go away. Get lost"

"Is that your Wish?"

"I am not just shooting off my mouth to hear my voice. Of course, it is my wish" I yelled.

"Your Wish is granted"

The genie vanished with a boom.

Uhoh! Cheated by a genie, too!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Participation Count: 12

Phrases and Meanings-III : Drop in any time

I wish this phrase "Drop in any time" would only make up its mind about what it means. Most of us know that the dictionary is meant to be ignored and sort of pick up meanings by usage - but, heck, that can be done only for phrases that maintain some sort of constancy in usage. When a phrase is so indecisive about exactly what it means it really gets on my nerves.

An early experience had taught me that this phrase was a meaningless politeness similar to 'Nice meeting you' (which, when someone uses it with me meant, "The nicest thing about meeting you is parting from you and the solacing thought that I shall never meet you again"). It meant nothing more than the fact that the concerned people were not actively repelled by you - yet!

Those were the days that I used to take the printed word as gospel (being days in which newspapers could still be relied upon to give the facts) and the dictionary was my sole guide for meanings. So, when a couple I met said "Drop in any time" just as we parted, I thought I had found a new caring family in an unknown city. There I was hair in a braid - as Wodehouse would put it - sunnily smiling at them as I walked into their home on a Sunday. Within five seconds, I had learnt what 'being given the bum's rush' was all about. It meant that your hostess tells you in gushing words how sorry they were that they were having family coming in any time while your host has his arm around your shoulder and is nudging you towards the door inexorably. Before your bewildered mind can comprehend exactly what you are hearing you are not merely outside the door but outside the gate which your host is busy padlocking while your hostess utters a last apology and a sweet goodbye.

The subsequent days taught me the meaning of more phrases. For example, I knew that 'one taking the high road and the other the low road' meant that if you happen to meet the host of that day coming towards you on the pavement, you would see him instantly find some pressing business on the other side. Why, he will even risk crossing the road despite high speed traffic in order to attend to it. Someone cutting you dead means that if you run into your hostess in a party then, while you are bleating "Hello" in her ear she would dreamily hear a whisper of a thought from someone across the room and rush to answer it. Enough on that subject. In addition to teaching me the meaning of all sorts of phrases, it also taught me that "Drop in any time" does not mean what the dictionary says it means.

Ah, by the way, these were in the days when a telephone connection depended on your knowing someone related at least to the Telecom Minister's peon and when mobile telephony belonged in the realms of Science Fiction. People still used to just walk into someone's house saying, "I was just passing this way and thought I would meet you" even if their host's house was the lone one in the middle of nowhere and they had to trek 8 Kms to reach it. (Before you ask me, YES, I am THAT old.)

If only one could hold on to that meaning for "Drop in any time", all would be well. I mean you would just say "Sure" to that phrase and forget all about it. Unfortunately, the damn phrase switches meanings every now and then. I have had hostesses accost me in a wounded tone, "I invited you but you never do come". (I know, I know! It seems incredible that anyone could at all be THAT hungry for company that they would miss me but will you please wait before you call me a liar?) I have never managed to understand whether this meant that their "Drop in any time" was a genuine invitation or was it only a means of taking the moral high ground of having invited me without running the risk of actually having to host me.

With such an indecisive phrase, it is only right that I choose to assign the meaning to it myself. So, I have decided that I shall accept as an invitation only when someone says "Drop in at this time". "Drop in any time" shall, for me, mean that if I acted on the dictionary meaning those people would only mean, "Drop Dead" in future regardless of what they say.

How about you?