I was in Mumbai a couple of days ago and I happened to be in Landmark when I came to know that Jeffrey Archer was to come there in half an hour as a part of his promotional tour for his new book ‘A Prisoner of Birth’ I have not read a lot of his books but I admire some of his works. So I bought his book and joined a large bay of people waiting for him. Crowd erupted when his arrival was announced.
After the formalities, he started answering some FAQs, expecting them to come up that day also. While mentioning his initial struggle to get a publisher for ‘Not a penny more, not a penny less’ he compared himself with JK Rowling and said that he beats her on this one that he had to approach 18 publishers while Rowling had to visit only 16!
During Q&A, he lightened up a bit and endless topics were discussed. After a 2hr ride to Landmark from his hotel just 15km away, he was convinced that Indians have understood traffic rules in some whole other dimension which nobody else can understand. He said that he could have walked a lot faster, but would have been a lot sweatier so decided not to.
Being a purist, he is not happy with the whole T-20 and IPL hype. According to him, real cricket match is a test match….between India and England…….at Lord’s………when India is 37/7…….(after a lot of BOOs)ok 37/6. He narrated one incident when an Indian guy called him and wished to meet him over dinner. Archer tried to explain how famous he is and how his time is important. But the guy did not yield. So Archer asked his name and the guy said ‘My name is Rahul Dravid and my friend is Sachin Tendulkar’ He invited some more BOOs when he said that both of them can bat OK!
He mentioned that real success in India is when a book is sold on footpaths and traffic signals. Todays Pune Mirror runs a story about him. He was surprised when they presented him with a copy of his book from footpath. Apparently he was not aware that those are pirated copies.
When he announced that he would be signing the books, INDIAN within the INDIAN woke up and everybody started running towards the dais. After 15 mins and a lot of bickering, the crowd narrowed down to 7 queues and that was it! I got his autograph after an hour, but it was worth a wait.
May 23, 2008 at 10:45 am |
Jeffrey Archer from time to time has amazingly managed to mesmerized thousands of readers over the years with his riveting novels and their unforgettable characters. Example like Son of Fortune……
May 24, 2008 at 4:46 pm |
Dude, you are going to appear for gre shortly.
So be specific and use words whose exact meanings you know.
Purist means:-Someone who insists on great precision and correctness (especially in the use of words)
And according to my comprehension you have used it meaning someone who prefers, vies for things in their pure form. Something immaculate, pristine and original.
Sorry for offense.
May 24, 2008 at 6:04 pm |
Thats WordWeb meaning!! Oxford Dictionary defines purist as ‘advocate of purity’…so I think it was ok here. The ‘especially’ part is there but that doesn’t mean we can’t use it in a parallel field! Besides, people who believe only Test cricket to be real cricket are always called purists, by media as well. Most importantly, this concept has come up..not after the rise of T-20 but one-day format of the game…so it has been around for quite a while now. Not surprisingly wiki has a whole article devoted to them. Check this out
P.S.-WordWeb is a very unreliable dictionary which is not particularly good if you are looking for exact meanings. I use it only because it is user-friendly and has pronunciations. But for general reference, Oxford has no substitute
May 25, 2008 at 3:52 am |
What an ostentatious manifestation of absolute benightedness!! (source the comprehensive oxford thesaurus. Specially quoted here for some word web devotees). I always believe that one should stick to one’s one field of knowledge and information and rarely venture into uncharted territory. And this is an excellent epitome of why not. Coming from a guy like you, who rarely watches cricket, I was never going to be blown out of my senses. Cricket purists are well known enough for any person who has seen a match played in England. Even I like Test cricket over T20 where there is an even contest between bat and ball and where there is full value for a great shot as well as a brilliant ball. And therefore, I can easily fit into the category of cricket Purists.
As for the other Purists, I would be a complete iconoclast. I believe that words only offer the means to meaning. (quoted by V, for the nescient. (Pls see the second meaning in WW, all ye word web worshippers!)). Their sole objective is to convey the message the person wants to convey. And so long as its done, its fine. And that is the reason why every group develops a jargon/ a jargoon / an argot / a slang / a cant / a gobbledegook / a patois / a lingo / an idiom / a vernacular / a dialect. (source still is the same. WW lists around 7. COT lists usage wise synonyms, first all common synonyms and goes on to elaborate on jargons of specific professions.)
So friends don’t blame others for incorrect usage in their jargon. And specially for amateur word learners like us, it would be safer if we didn’t act like ‘word superstars’ by clinging to a single source of words. (BTW developing new words from allusions is called neology.) Any language is too comprehensive for that.
May 25, 2008 at 7:55 am |
BSOD
The error has been detected and this crap has to be cut in order to prevent the flaunting of nicety.
The problem seems to be caused by following comment : nikhilsheth1
If this is first time you have come across such situation, leave it.
Check at least two dictionaries at a time including the one suggested by His Majesty Adity-SM14984 ( with 1 GB RAM ) to make sure that you wont get into any trouble here onwards.
If the problem continues then disable or remove WW from your system. And if His Majesty is refusing to pardon then follow one of the way considering suitability:-
1. Go to safe mode and delete comment
2. Beg for pardon ( Beseech, Entreat or Adjure )
3. Press ctrl+alt+dlt and get it out of your mind.
Press ’submit comment’ to continue.
May 26, 2008 at 12:33 pm |
[...] I had another verbal brawl. [...]