August 29, 2006

Hat and prospect fertiliser

A follow-up on an incident that was the lead the previous day reached the desk from an outstation writer, which quoted a villager saying after he had sold his cow in the hat in the afternoon... The first reading of the phrase, without any leading references before, readily rang the bell -- 'Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter' from 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' by Thomas Eliot. Few lines down, the text unfolded. The man was selling his cow in a rural market place, which, transcribed from Bangla into Roman characters, is written, hat, and pronounced more like 'hut,' the vowel lengthened. Another story of similar origin said a dignitary would inaugurate a 'dye ammonium prospect fertiliser industry,' readily to be recognised as 'di-ammonium phosphate fertiliser industry.'

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