The 'clique' in the crony clique

A politician recently quit her political outfit citing undemocratic functioning of the party as the reason of her quitting. She said that the supremo of the party is surrounded by his cronies and the decision making is in the hands of the crony 'clique'. 
'Clique' is our word this week. It means a small, select group of people or a coterie. Now should 'crony clique' be treated as more derogatory or defamatory than 'kitchen cabinet' is best left to your judgement.

Vitriol - the tone of election speeches this time!

1   Now that the elections are done and over with - its time for some sanity to prevail. Unlike elections of the past this time the politicians, across the political spectrum, contested the elections during which the pitch was shrill with caustic criticism. Stuff that would classify as 'vitriol'. Its an expression drawn from chemistry where 'vitriol' is used to describe certain metallic sulfates such as copper sulfate or zinc sulfate. 

       We just hope that the campaigning in the next general elections is not so vitriolic.

For most politicians - it is Mishpocha!

Most of our politicians are working overtime to accommodate close relatives and close friends for tickets for the elections. The reference to this enlarged group of beneficiaries has to comprehensive and one that encompasses family network including the ones added by marriage in to the network and even close friends. Mishpocha is word for it!  

Shop till you drop, Oniomaniacs!

Shop...shop till you drop. Many women feel shopping is a great stress buster and almost meditative. Marketers love it and even some Counselors have given it credibility by calling it retail therapy. However, this is primarily impulsive in nature and such shoppers who suffer from an uncontrollable urge to shop and are called ‘Oniomaniacs’.

The Diagnostic and statistical manual of Psychological disorders classifies such behaviour as impulse control disorder where emotions weigh in first and heaviest in the initial buying spree. And most impulsive actions are devoid of reasoning. Hence reason and regret come in later. The Retailers and the Shopping Malls thrive on such oniomaniacs and the Credit-card companies don;t complain either!

Lacerated...and then Recused!

Two words that occupied prime-time news on TV and front-page articles in newspapers last fortnight albeit for controversial reasons. They were: Lacerate and Recuse. Not many may have used these expressions in their day to day communication. Of course now the entire English-speaking population of the country would be familiar with the words. Here's what they mean:
Recuse is often used in judiciary where a judge or a magistrate withdrawing from her or his position of adjudicating in a matter in order to avoid bias is said to have 'recused' herself or himself from the case. Someone challenging the judge leading to her/his disqualification on account of conflict of interest is also referred to as an act of recusation.
Lacerate means to tear something roughly or deeply cut into the skin. It also stands for emotional or mental torture.

There's a Sting there!

'Sting operation' as an expression would, in all likelihood, lead one to the beehive whilst discovering its origins . One gets to the beehive to collect honey only to be stung by the bee. It is an operation where one lures a person acting as a co-conspirator or a fellow criminal or by offering a bait and then 'stings' him or her. The expression's use increased following the Paul Newman and Robert Redford movie, The Sting. Of course with technology providing devices such as cameras that can be hidden in purses, pens or bugs that can record voices or phone calls, the expression as well as the practice of sting is now commonplace. 

Facebook did not 'unfriend'!

The popular belief (and blame) that Facebook along with other social media platforms brought in words that weren't English-English need not be true. Folks believe that 'unfriend' was not a proper English expression before Facebook gave you the power to unfriend. Well, that's just not true. 'Unfriend' meant an enemy and has been in use since the 13th century!