Derek O'Brien

While every year new words are added to the ever-changing English language, watchers of English at the Lake Superior State University publish their annual list of banished words and phrases. The 2009 list is out and it has some surprising entries: green, carbon footprint, maverick, icon or iconic, bailout, Wall Street and game changer. Their logic for banishment is ‘general

overuse or meaninglessness’. In these parts of the world we could add a few more to the list. Here are some suggestions: rural development, gross domestic product, youth and aam aadmi.

YOUR QUESTIONS

1. The currency of Venezuela is named after which South American leader?
Nandini Mullick, Jamshedpur

2. Which animal is the largest wild member of the dog family?
Tapas Banerjee, Calcutta

3. In which state is the village of Pipli, famous for appliqué work, located?
Dora D’ Souza, Bandel

4. The Singha Durbar houses the secretariat of which Asian country?
Partha Sarkar, Calcutta

5. In the human body, which organ manufactures vitamin D for converting calcium into healthy bones?
Lopa Das, Hooghly

6. Who was the director of the 1964 film Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein?
Soumya Saha, via e-mail

7. How do we better know the French philosopher Francoise Marie Arouet?
Rudrajit Maity, Calcutta

8. Cavendish is the most commonly known variety of which fruit?
Basanti Raha, Sonarpur

9. Which is the state bird of Tamil Nadu?
Partho Karmakar, Calcutta

KNOW & GROW WITH DEREK

With around 60,000 words, the verb ‘set’ has the longest entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.

ANSWER & WIN

The president of which country held the world’s first underwater Cabinet meeting this year?

For Answer and Win, send a quiz question of your own along with the answer. The prize will go to the reader with the correct answer and the best question. Send in answers with your full name and address to: graphitiquiz@gmail.com

Winner of the Answer and Win

Quiz published on 15.11.2009

Partho Karmakar, Calcutta.

Who is the only woman till date to have won the Nobel Prize in Economics?

The answer is Elinor Ostrom.

For queries about Answer and Win, please contact 22804093

Name this actress

POINT OF VIEW

1. Name this Japanese politician

2. Identify this sportsperson

ANSWERS

1 Simon Bolivar
2 Grey Wolf
3 Orissa
4 Nepal
5 Skin
6 Kishore Kumar
7 Voltaire
8 Banana
9 Emerald Dove

WHO AM I ? Elisha Cuthbert
POINT OF VIEW 1 Yukio Hatoyama
POINT OF VIEW 2 Suranjoy Singh