Know your English
"You're late as usual. What's the excuse this time?"
"Ran into Sarita and Ganesh at the bus stop. They are planning to see Spiderman 3 this evening, and they wanted to know if I'd like to come along."
"I hope you said no. If you go with those two, you'll end up feeling like
a fifth wheel."
"A fifth wheel? What are you talking about?"
"This is an expression mostly used in American English. A fifth wheel is a person or a thing that is not required."
"In other words, the person is the unwanted extra. He is like the fifth wheel of a car that already has four good ones, and is therefore unnecessary!"
"For example, the team already has two very good off spinners. I feel like a fifth wheel."
"It is also possible to say,
`third wheel'."
"Lavanya is just a third wheel around here. Why don't you send her home?"
"Good example. Is something wrong? You look a little green around the gills."
"What are you talking about? I'm not a fish! I don't have gills!"
"When you say that
someone is green around the gills,
what you mean is that he/she looks out of sorts."
"In other words, the person looks sick or unwell."
"That's right! The person feels like throwing up. For example, I'm feeling green around the gills. I'd better step outside and get some fresh air."
"It's possible to say
`blue around the gills' as well. It means the same thing. Ever since eating the chocolate cake, I've been feeling a little blue around the gills."
"I've been feeling blue around the gills since this morning. That was just an example. There's nothing wrong with me. I feel just fine."
"You don't look it, though. Do you... ."
"Guess who came to see me this morning?"
"I'm not in the mood to play games. Just tell me."
"Ram. He says that he is going to start his own business."
"Ram is going to start his own business! Does he
have the smarts to do that?"
"Smarts? You mean `smart', don't you?"
"No, I mean `smarts'.
The word `smarts' is used in informal contexts to mean `intelligence' or `expertise."
"Intelligence, eh? Can I say, I've have the smarts to do the job?"
"You certainly can. Here's another example. If I were you, I would talk to Bala. He has the smarts to figure out what to do next."
"But your friend Ram certainly hasn't got the smarts. The only thing that he is good at doing is telling
fish stories."
"Fish stories! What are you talking about?"
"A fish story is a tall tale. In other words, a great big lie."
"How about this example? Politicians are good at telling fish stories."
"That's a good example. Do you seriously expect me to believe that fish story?"
"Can you tell me why tall tales are called fish stories?"
"Fishermen always have interesting stories to tell about the fish that they didn't catch. In the stories that they tell, the fish that gets away is always very big. Hence the expression `fish story'."
"That makes sense."
"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there." — George Burns
S. UPENDRAN