Know your English| What does the expression ‘chalk and cheese’ mean?

“Everything okay? Bharath told me that you didn’t go for your usual early morning walk.”

“Lost track of time. I was busy reading this.”

“Isn’t that your favourite author’s latest novel? When did you buy it?”

“Didn’t buy it. Borrowed it from Sujatha.”

“I see. Is the novel as good as his previous one? You finished that one in one sitting.”

“Chalk and cheese, my friend. Chalk and cheese.”

“Chalk and cheese? What are you talking about?”

“When you say that two things or people are like chalk and cheese, what you’re suggesting is that they are very different.”

“The two are so different from each other that there’s no point in comparing them.”

“Very good! That’s exactly what it means. Ram and Shyam may be brothers, but they are like chalk and cheese.”

“How about this example? My new boss’ style of management is very different from the old one. It’s like chalk and cheese.”

“Good example! Comparing my interests with those of my sister’s is like comparing chalk and cheese. The two of us have nothing in common.”

“I agree with you completely. She has absolutely no interest in sports, does she? Anyway, whether you like your favourite author’s latest novel or not, I’m told it’s a bestseller.”

“That, it is. The man has chalked up another success.”

“Chalked up? What does it mean?”

“The expression ‘chalked up’ is mostly used in informal contexts to mean to achieve something significant. You’ve done something noteworthy.”

“I see. The star batsman chalked up a double century and helped his team win the match.”

“That’s a good example. It’s been a bad season for United. They have chalked up only ten wins so far.”

“My uncle chalked up 40 years of teaching at the same college.”

“That is amazing. Nobody wants to stay in the same place nowadays.”

“I came across an interesting word yesterday. It was spelt s..h..a..r..e..n..t.

“It’s a combination of ‘share’ and ‘parent’. Any idea what the word ‘sharent’ means?”

“Kids sharing parents?”

“Afraid not! Nowadays, we find that some parents share a lot of information about their children. Not just with relatives and friends, but also with total strangers.”

“Are you thinking about those people who post a lot of pictures of their kids on the Net?”

“Exactly! A sharent is a parent who posts frequently on the social media about their kids.

“The couple next door are sharents. They post photographs of their baby every day.”

“In addition to photographs, they might choose to share other kinds of information — whether the baby has a fever, how many times it threw up, etc. Do you think you’ll be a sharent when you become a parent?”

“I surely hope not! But you never know.”

“That’s true. ‘Sharent’ can also be used as a verb. I tried telling my neighbour that he shouldn’t be sharenting.”

“If I sharent, I’ll make sure that I do so only with friends and relatives. Not with strangers.”

“That’s true. We need to be careful. There are a lot of nut cases out there.”

upendrankye@gmail.com

Published - October 07, 2024 08:30 am IST