Monday, February 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Cunning couples
Homophones, words that sound alike but convey different meanings, form many of these confusing pairs. Used wrongly in writing, they reflect someone with a poor grasp of grammar or a confused writer.
Be mindful of these cunning couples and be confused no more!
Accept (v.) — to agree to take something.
Except (prep.) — not including.
“Boss, I accept all your free books except ‘1,000 Ways to Manage Houseflies’,” said Pee Nang to Kay El.
Advice (n.) — one’s opinion about what somebody else should do or how they should behave.
Advise (v.) — to give advice to somebody or to recommend something to somebody.
“Are you sure, Pee Nang? I’d strongly advise you to reconsider the manual. You may regret not taking my advice if you’re suddenly faced with flies,” Kay El said.
Affect (v., pronounced uh-fekt) — to have influence on something or somebody.
Effect (n., pronounced ee-fekt) — a change produced by an action or a cause.
“Yes, I’m positive, Kay El,” Pee Nang answered. “If my mother’s way of handling house flies has affected them greatly by reducing them to zero, I don’t think I need to know the effect that 999 other ways have on them.”
All ready — completely prepared.
Already (adv.) — previously or by this time.
“Ahh ... looks like your house is all ready for living,” Kay El praised. “To tell you the truth, although I’ve already read the manual twice, I’m still having problems at my home!”
Beside (prep.) — at the side of somebody or something.
Besides (prep.) — in addition.
Pee Nang laughed. “I’ll be happy to tell my mother about your housefly problem. Since she lives beside my house, she could drop by your place later. Besides, she will be excited to have you try the apple pie she baked today.”
Complement (v.) — to add new or contrasting features which show the best qualities of something or which improve it.
Compliment (v.) — express praise, admiration or approval.
“That will be wonderful!” Kay El said. “I always forget to compliment your mother on her apple pie. It will be the perfect complement to the vanilla ice cream I’m having for dessert tonight.”
Dessert (n., pronounced dee-zert) — any sweet food eaten at the end of a meal.
Desert1 (n., pronounced deh-zert) — a large area of land that has very little water and very few plants growing on it, e.g. the Sahara Desert.
Desert2 (v., pronounced dee-zert) — to go away from a place without intending ever to return.
“Ice cream for dessert?” Pee Nang exclaimed. “Your place doesn’t exactly sound like the depressing desert1 you always portray it to be. You make it seem as if the whole world has deserted2 you!”
Maybe (adv.) — perhaps.
May be — to express possibility.
“Maybe I could have exaggerated my situation a bit. But seriously, I may be having a rather serious house fly problem,” Kay El explained in a doleful tone.
Breath (n., pronounced breh-th) — the air you take into and let out of your lungs.
Breathe (v., pronounced bree-th) — the act of taking air into and letting out of your lungs.
“Okay, take a deep breath,” Pee Nang assured Kay El with a smile. “I may have been too hard on you. Once my mother works her magic at your place, I’m sure you’ll breathe easier after that.”
Coincident (adj.) — happening in the same place or at the same time.
Coincidence (n.) — similar event happening at the same time by chance.
“Talking about breathing, isn’t it a coincidence that the houseflies started appearing the day after you came over with those pungent prawn crackers?” Kay El remarked. “I remember reading that the presence of house flies is coincident with the presence of dried seafood.”
Loose (adj.) — not tight.
Lose (v.) — present tense for “lost”.
“Now, now, Kay El, let’s not lose track of the discussion here,” Pee Nang said hurriedly. “We were talking about fixing your house fly problem.”
In an undertone, he muttered, “And not about a loose pack of prawn crackers disappearing in your home ...”
Later (adv.) — afterwards.
Latter (adj.) — the second of two things or people already mentioned.
“You were going to confirm the time my mother could drop by later. Now you’re going back to a visit I made in the past,” Pee Nang reminded Kay El. “Let’s not confuse the former with the latter, shall we?”
Personal (adj., pronounced as per-suh-nuhl) — private.
Personnel (n., pronounced as per-suh-nell) — staff members
“Anyway, let’s not take things personally,” Pee Nang said cheerily. “By the way, the Personnel Department is questioning me about being away from the office for three hours yesterday.”
Principal (n.) — administrator.
Principle (n.) — guiding rule for personal behaviour.
“I’m sure you were on company business. I know you to be a man of principle,” Kay El said. “The head of the Personnel Department is always acting like a school principal.”
Quiet (adj., pronounced kwai-yuht) — silent.
Quite (adv. Pronounced kwait) — very or actually.
“You are quite right I am!” Pee Nang replied emphatically. “Now that we are all settled, I’ll just slip away quietly.”
Than (conj.) — used after a comparative like “faster”, “cleaner”, “healthier”, etc.
Then (adv.) — referring to a time in the past or future.
Waving goodbye, Pee Nang called out, “I’ll see you later then!”
As Kay El waved in return, he wondered if managing his house fly problem would be easier than managing his young employee.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Open Burning At a Crematorium In Bandar Baru Sentul
I had moved to Melur Apartment at Bandar Baru Sentul for almost 5 months by now. Something that I realise is that this place gets dusty than my old place dispite we are living at the top floor (level 24). Infact I remember my housemate also made the same comment.
Opposite our apartment are some old Hindu Temples. They have been there since I moved in and some even said since 100 years ago. Today I found out something shocking...! As today is the replacement holiday for Federal Territory, I am on leave thus leaving my home at about 4pm. When I am on the way to take my car which is park outside due to limited car park, I see many people gathering at a site near the Hindu Temple. I suspect something is wrong because I can see from the faces of everyone of sorrow and downs. Then i asked around, they said " bakar orang mati " :-S
I went online to do some research about this issue. This issue has been highlighted to the government since early of 2008. Authorities, politicians and NGOs have visited the site many times and many broken promises have been made to build proper facilities to cover the crematorium site. Currently the buring is done "openly". In another way means that burning of corpses is NOT shelthered from public view.
According to other residents of Pangsapuri Melor. Smoke and dust get into there apartment whenever a body is cremated.
From now on, I will listen to my housemates' advice:- "close the lobby door (and other doors) when we are not at home". Now i know where the dust comes from :-S
Retrenchment in Citibank (Malaysia) Thus Have Worse Service
Malaysia has a different proposition in the sense that all foreign banks have to be incorporated in Malaysia (not a direct subsidiary from its mother bank in oversea). However this doesn't shelther Citibank from its mother bank's losses from subprime crisis in US.
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Citibank has been doing well infact better from other local banks in Malaysia. However from this crisis, its among the foreign banks which is experiencing retrenchment. I am one big fan of Citibank's credit card. However recently i realise that the customer service level has worsen by large.
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There are some hickups in delivering the replacement credit card to me as there is matter of old address etc. However there is no effort to continue verifying this matter despite after my complaints. Finally i end up not having any credit card to use after the expiry of my Citibank credit card. Such case is the first time happening to me despite myself owning credit cards from all major banks in Malaysia.
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Secondly, since the credit card is "reissued", my e-banking account is automatically terminated without any notification. This is because the new card has a new credit card number. I am again surprise how come no one notify me about this matter? I appreciate if the customer service officer will notify me when they called me to inform me that i'll be getting a card with different credit card number.
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Finally, I sent an email enquire about their credit card promotion. By now it has been more than 20 days since they last reply to me that they are looking into this matter. Its dissapointing that they are not able to revert by now.
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During bad market, there are such company that willing to forgo "less profitable customer" in order to maximise the profit margin with the current work force that they have. Perhaps i fall into such category? I'm wondering if Platinum card holder from this bank also face the same problem as me?
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