Know your English | What does ‘pedestrian’ mean?

“Where have you disappeared to? I don’t see you in the gym in the evenings, anymore. Everyone has been asking about you.”

“I go to the gym in the mornings, nowadays. I’m taking sitar lessons in the evenings.”

“Really? Had no idea that you were interested in learning to play sitar. How long…”

“It’s ‘play the sitar’ and not ‘play sitar’. Remember that most musical instruments are usually preceded by the indefinite article. For example, Revathi learnt to play the guitar over ten ago.”

“Jagdish is a member of a band. He plays the flute. How’s that?”

“Sounds good! The guy who played the violin was really good.”

“While we’re on the subject of the violin, I heard your favourite group’s new song yesterday. I thought it was really good. What do you think of it?”

“I don’t particularly care for it. Compared to some of their earlier songs, this one was pedestrian.”

“Pedestrian? What are you talking about? We’re talking about a song. Not about someone who is walking or…”

“Relax, will you? I know what we’re talking about. The word ‘pedestrian’ has different meanings. One of them, as you’ve rightly pointed out, is someone who is on foot.”

“The pedestrian was run over by a speeding car.”

“Unfortunately, it’s a common occurrence in our country. In addition to people, the word can also be used to talk about movies, novels, a piece of writing, etc.”

“Really? But how can you call a movie ‘pedestrian’?”

“When you say that a movie was ‘pedestrian’, what you’re suggesting is that it was dull. Not very interesting!”

“In other words, there was no creative spark. No imagination!”

“Very good! Something plain or uninteresting. Here’s an example. The Minister’s speech was pedestrian.”

“How about this example? The themes that the writer deals with are rather pedestrian.”

“Sounds good! The word is pronounced pe-DES-tri-en, by the way. The stress is on the second syllable. Here’s one more example. The children were disappointed with the rather pedestrian exhibits on display.”

“So, tell me. Do you think you’ll be able to master the sitar in a couple of months?”

“If I said, ‘Yes’, I’d probably be building castles in the air.”

“Building castles in the air? What are you talking about? Are you saying that it has very little chance of happening?”

“Very good! When you ‘build castles in the air’, you’re daydreaming. You’re coming up with plans which have no chance of succeeding.”

“Plans which are unlikely to be carried out!”

“Exactly! Here’s an example. My young nephew believes that five years from now, he’ll be moving to Chennai and become a famous movie star. If you ask me, he’s building castles in the air.”

“That’s what all young people do – build castles in the air.”

“Why just young people? Even old people do it. My grandfather would spend the evenings sitting in his rocking chair building castles in the air.”

“Did you ever ask him what he was building?”

“Asked him once, but he merely chuckled. Oh, by the way, it’s also possible to say ‘build castles in Spain’. Instead of building castles in Spain, you should come up with a reasonable plan to solve your financial problem.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

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