“You’re late again! What’s the excuse this time?”

“I’m sorry, but I got ...”

“You could have at least given me a buzz. I’ve been waiting for...”

“Given you a buzz? What are you talking about?”

“When you give someone a buzz, you give them a call. A telephone call.”

“I see. I buzzed you several times yesterday.”

“Yes, but why didn’t you buzz me today to let me know you’d be late?”

“The reason I didn’t buzz you is because I got a buzz from Sujatha. She and Ramesh had another one of their fights.”

“Are you sure? I was told that they smoked the peace pipe a couple of ...”

“Smoked? Peace pipe? What are you talking about? You know that Sujatha doesn’t smoke.”

“I know that! When two people who don’t see eye to eye about something, smoke a peace pipe, they decide to put their differences aside. They decide to stop fighting.”

“I see. So when you smoke the peace pipe, you are calling for peace. You want to put a stop to all the fighting.”

“I guess you could say that. Bharath is refusing to smoke the peace pipe with that arrogant cousin of his.”

“How about this example? We don’t wish to smoke the peace pipe with the management.”

“Sounds good. Tell me, how did...”

“You tell me. Where does the expression come from?”

“I understand it is mostly used in American English. When American Indians wanted to...”

“You mean Native Americans, don’t you?”

“That’s right! American Indians, or ‘Native Americans’ as they are called now, used to settle their dispute by burying their weapons: their axes and knives. Once this was done, the two warring parties used to sit together and smoke from a long decorated pipe.”

“I suppose this was the peace pipe.”

“That’s right! Why were Ramesh and Sujatha fighting?”

“I’m not really sure. Have the feeling that Sujatha thinks that Ramesh is trying to imitate his brother. You know, he always...”

“Is Ramesh trying to imitate or emulate his brother?”

“Is there a difference between the two words?”

“There most certainly is. When you try to emulate someone, you try to be as successful as him. You are copying the individual because you admire him.”

“I see. In other words, emulate is always used in a positive sense.”

“Exactly! You wish to be as good, if not better than the person you are trying to copy. For example, some of the kids I know wish to emulate Roger Federer.”

“What does imitate mean?”

“When you imitate someone, you are merely copying what he/she does. You are merely aping the individual. Very often you do this in order to have fun.”

“I see. So, when you imitate someone, you don’t necessarily do it because you admire the individual.”

“That’s right. Very often students imitate their teachers or principal.”

“And some of them do an excellent job. Do you think there’s someone out there who is trying to emulate you?”

“You never know. There are a lot of crazy people around!”


“The simple truth is balding African-American men look cool when they shave their heads, whereas balding white men look like giant thumbs.” — Dave Barry



S. UPENDRAN