What does ‘hogwash’ mean? – The Hindu

What is the meaning and origin of ‘hogwash’? (Bikram Das, Cuttack)

‘Hogwash’ has been a part of American English since the 15th century. Over the years, the word has undergone a change in meaning; today, it is mostly used in informal contexts to suggest disapproval. When you refer to someone’s talk as being ‘hogwash’, what you are suggesting is that the individual is speaking nonsense; what he is saying is utter rubbish. The word can also be used to refer to one’s terrible style of writing.

The explanation provided by the Vice Chancellor was nothing more than a load of hogwash.

You call this a research paper? It’s nothing more than hogwash.

‘Hogwash’ comes from ‘hog’ and ‘wash’. ‘Hog’ is mostly used to refer to a castrated pig, and ‘wash’ to the kitchen leftovers used to feed animals. For a long time, farmers mixed the leftovers from the kitchen with water and fed them to the hogs. This was the original meaning of the term. Since the food given to the animals had no nutritional value, any form of communication (speaking and writing) that lacked substance began to be called ‘hogwash’. With the passage of time, the word began to be used to refer to cheap or worthless liquor as well.

What is the plural of ‘antenna’? How is the word pronounced? (Dilip Nayar, Kannur)

The word ‘antenna’ consists of three syllables; the first is pronounced like the word ‘an’ and ‘Ann’. The second sounds like the word ‘ten’, while the vowel in the third sounds like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. The word is pronounced ‘an-TEN-e’ with the stress on the second syllable. The word has two possible plurals; one is to add the plural suffix ‘s’. The word is then pronounced ‘an-TEN-as’, and the stress continues to be on the second syllable. It is also possible to add the Latin suffix ‘ae’ to the word to make it a plural – in this case, it will be spelt ‘antennae’. The first two syllables are pronounced like the first two syllables in ‘antenna’. The final syllable ‘ae’, however, is pronounced like the ‘ee’ in ‘fees’, ‘bees’, and ‘knees’. In this case, the word is pronounced ‘an-TEN-ee’.

What is the meaning of the expression ‘play gooseberry’? (L Vibha, Secunderabad)

This is a role that most sane individuals would be reluctant to play. When two people are in love, they would like to be left alone – an unwanted third person entering the situation would be most unwelcome. When you ‘play gooseberry’, you become the unwanted third individual in the situation.

Every time I ask her out, she brings her little brother to play gooseberry.

I told Sreekala I wouldn’t play gooseberry.

In the past, unmarried women were never left alone in the company of men – they were always accompanied by someone to keep an eye on things. This individual acted as a chaperone; she had to make sure that she could overhear most of the conversation, and at the same time, maintain a distance from the couple. If the couple stopped and sat down, it was the job of the chaperone to pretend that she was picking flowers or fruit – sometimes, it was gooseberry, and sometimes, apples. The expression ‘to play gooseberry’ is seldom heard nowadays – the unwanted person is nowadays usually referred to as the ‘third wheel’.