Three stories......

Story 1

Why 'tock-tick' does not sound right to your ears

Ever wondered why we say tick-tock, not tock-tick or ding-dong, not dong ding; King Kong, not Kong King? Turns out it is one of the unwritten rules of English that native speakers know without knowing.

The rule, explains a BBC article, is : "If there are three words then the order has to go I, A, O. "If there are two words then the first is I and the second is either A or O. Mish-mash, chit-chat, dilly-dally, shilly-shally, tip top, hip-hop, flip-flop, tic tac, sing song, ding dong, King Kong, ping pong".

There's another unwritten rule at work in the name Little Red Riding Hood, says the article.

"Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order : opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you'll sound like a maniac".

That explains why we say "little green men" not "green little men", but "Big Bad Wolf" sounds like a gross violation of the "opinion (bad)-size (big) - noun (wolf)" order. It won't, though, if you recall the first rule about the I-A-O order.

That rule seems inviolable : "All four of a horse's feet make exactly the same sound. But we always, always say clip-clop, never clop-clip".

This rule even has a technical name, if you care to know it - the rule of ablaut reduplication - but then life is simpler knowing that we know the rule without knowing it.

Story 2

Teddy Bear

Was invented in honour of President Theodore Roosevelt. It all began when Theodore Roosevelt was on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi 1902. Unlike other hunters in the group, Theodore had not located a single bear.

Roosevelt's assistants cornered and tied a black bear to a willow tree. They summoned Roosevelt and suggested that he shoot it. Viewing this as extremely unsportsmanlike, Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear. The news of this event spread quickly through articles across the country. The articles recounted the story of the president who refused to shoot a bear. However, it was not just any president, it was Theodore Roosevelt the big game Hunter!

Clifford Berryman, a political cartoonist, read the article and decided to lightheartedly satirize the president's refusal to shoot the bear. Berryman's cartoon appeared in the Washington Post. Morris Michtom, a Brooklyn candy shop owner, saw the cartoon and had an idea.  He and his wife Rose also made stuffed animals and Michtom decided to create a stuffed toy bear and dedicate it to the president who refused to shoot a bear. He called it 'Teddy's Bear'.

After receiving Roosevelt's permission to use his name , Michtom mass produced the toy bears. 

Story 3

Why an Elephant will not fight with a Pig

An elephant took bath in a river and was walking on the road. When it neared a bridge, it saw a pig fully soaked in mud coming from the opposite direction.

The elephant quietly moved to one side, allowed the dirty pig to pass and then continued its onward journey. The unclean pig later spoke to its friends in arrogance, "See how big I am; even the elephant was afraid of me and moved to one side to let me pass".

On hearing this, some elephants questioned their friend, the reason for its action. Was it out of fear?

The elephant smiled and replied, "I could have easily crushed the pig under my leg but I was clean and the pig was very dirty. By crushing it, my leg will become dirty and I wanted to avoid it. Hence, I moved aside".

Debrief

A matured person will avoid contact with negative people not out of fear but out of a desire to keep away from impurity though they are strong enough to destroy the impurity.

You need not react to every opinion, every comment or every situation.

Choose your battles wisely. Not everything deserves your time and attention.

Remember George Bernard Shaw's words. I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty and besides, the pig likes.

Tailpiece.

Got up on the dot, the chores and was ready by a quarter to 10. After breakfast, Lekha and I had gone to the town in our Chevy - she went to collect her stuff from Asha's boutique while I'd gone to complete certain pending jobs in the bank. Returned prior to lunchtime.

It was a quiet day otherwise. Fixed up the washing of our well for Wednesday - Subra, who'd done it last year will do the honours, this time too.