Clichés and expressions origins

Origins and meanings of clichés, expressions and words:

Clichés and expressions give us many wonderful figures of speech and words in the English language, as they evolve via use and mis-use alike. Many clichés and expressions - and words - have fascinating and surprising origins, and many popular assumptions about meanings and derivations are mistaken. These clichés, words and expressions origins and derivations illustrate the ever-changing complexity of language and communications, and are ideal free materials for word puzzles or quizzes, and team-building games.

Here are examples of some frequently used Clichés:

Acid test - an absolute test - nitric acid was used to determined the purity of gold when it was used as currency in the days before coinage.

Sweep the board - win everything

Smart alec/smart aleck/smart alick - someone who is very or 'too' clever (esp. in a cocky manner) According to etymologist David Wilton the most likely origin was suggested by Gerald Cohen in a 1985 article which appeared in the publication Studies In Slang. Cohen suggests the origin dates back to 1840s New York City fraudster Aleck Hoag, who, with his wife posing as a prostitute, would rob the customers. Hoag bribed the police to escape prosecution, but ultimately paid the price for being too clever when he tried to cut the police out of the deal, leading to the pair's arrest. In describing Hoag at the time, the police were supposedly the first to use the 'smart aleck' expression.

Take a back seat - have little or only observational involvement in something - not a car metaphor, this was originally a parliamentary expression derived from the relative low influence of persons and issues from the back benches (the bench-seats where members sit in the House of Commons), as opposed to the front benches, where the leaders of the government and opposition sit.

Get out of the wrong side of the bed - be in a bad mood - 1870 Brewer says the origin is from ancient superstition which held it to be unlucky to touch the floor first with the left foot when getting out of bed. Earlier versions of the expression with the same meaning were: 'You got out of bed the wrong way', and 'You got out of bed with the left leg foremost' (which perhaps explains why today's version, which trips off the tongue rather more easily, developed).

The buck stops here - acceptance of ultimate responsibility - this extends the meaning of the above 'passing the buck' expression. I am grateful (ack K Eshpeter) for the following contributed explanation: "It wasn't until the 1940s when Harry Truman became president that the expression took on an expanded meeting. Truman was a man of the people and saw the office of president of the US as a foreboding responsibility for which he had ultimate accountability. He kept a sign on his desk in the Oval Office to remind him of this and it is where the expression 'The Buck Stops Here' originated."

(to be continued...)

Delegation vs. Bureaucracy

Delegation is an essential element of any manager's job. Delegation can range form a major appointment, such as the leadership of a team developing a new product, to one of any number of smaller tasks in everyday life of any organization - from arranging an annual outing to interviewing a job candidate. If used effectively Delegation provides real benefits to every one involved.

For many people the word 'bureaucracy' conjures up an image of a mass of office workers buried in mounds of paper and tied to a set of petty rules, the notorious 'red tape.' Bureaucracy is a way of organizing work in which people are treated as interchangeable and replaceable cogs to fill specialized roles. Two key features of bureaucracy are hierarchy and a specialized division of labour.

While the popular perceptions about bureaucracy reflect some insights, they are not a good basis to begin analysing a social structure. To do this bureaucracy needs to be looked at as a set of relationships between people.

The piece of writing below is an allegory of bureaucracy at its best!

Layoff and how it happens!!

Once upon a time the government with Ruling Party XYZ had a vast scrap
yard in the middle of a desert.

Ruling Party XYZ said... “Someone may steal from it at night.”
So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Ruling Party XYZ said...
“How does the watchman do his job without instruction?”

So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to
write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Ruling Party XYZ said....,
“How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?”
So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to
do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then Ruling Party XYZ said ...,
“How are these people going to get paid?”

So they created the following positions, a time keeper, and a payroll
officer, then hired two people.

Then Ruling Party XYZ said ..,
Who will be accountable for all of these people?”

So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an
Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal
Secretary.

Then Ruling Party XYZ said ...,
“We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000
over budget, we must cutback overall cost.”

So they laid off the night watchman.

Pun Intended

Some of the most interesting puns

Henri Bergson defined a pun as a sentence in which "two different sets of ideas are expressed, and we are confronted with only one series of words" Pun plays with the ambiguity of an expression. Formally termed as paronomasia, it is understood in multiple ways and that adds humorous and rhetorical effect to the expression. A pun is always deliberate —an unintentional substitution of similar words is called a malapropism.

You would commonly see its wide use in the sitcoms and comedy shows. The character, Chandler, in FRIENDS had a great sense of humor and used a lot of pun.

Did you get the pun intended??

Those who jump off a bridge in Paris are in Seine.

A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.

Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.

Practice safe eating - always use condiments.

Shotgun wedding - A case of wife or death.

A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.

A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.

Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.

Reading while sunbathing makes you well red.

When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.

A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two tired.

What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead give away.)

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.

She was engaged to a boyfriend with a wooden leg but broke it off.

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed

With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.

The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.

You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

Local Area Network in Australia - the LAN down under.

Every calendar's days are numbered.

A lot of money is tainted - Taint yours and taint mine.

A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.

He had a photographic memory that was never developed.

A midget fortune-teller who escapes from prison is a small medium at large.

Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.

Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

Acupuncture is a job well done.

CHIASMUS

“When the Quoting gets Tough the Tough get Quoting!”

Chiasmus pronounced as ‘ki-AZ-mus’ is a verbal pattern (a type of antithesis) in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed.

Language maven Dr. Mardy Grothe discovered that many of the world's great wags and eloquent orators have been virtual masters of chiasmus--Churchill, Wilde, Shaw, Ben Franklin, Samuel Johnson, and Shakespeare, to name just a handful.
In this unprecedented and quotable collection, a collection of the best examples of chiasmus ever written or spoken are assembled.
Not since the oxymoron, the palindrome, or An Exaltation of Larks has there been a whole new category of wordplay so likely to fire the public imagination.

The word goes back to the ancient Greeks and their fascination with language and rhetoric. The "chi" comes from chi, the letter "X" in the Greek alphabet. The word itself comes from the Greek word khiasmos, meaning "crossing." Khiasmos, in turn, is derived from the Greek word khiazein, meaning "to mark with an X."

“You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.”

One of the most fascinating features of chiasmus is this "marking with an X" notion. Take Mae West's signature line, "It's not the men in my life, it's the life in my men." By laying out the two clauses parallel to each other, it's possible to draw two lines connecting the key words:

It's not the men in my life
X
it's the life in my men.

If you're ever wondering whether a particular quote is chiastic, simply lay it out in this manner. If you can mark it with an X, it is. If you can't, it probably isn't.

The ABBA Method

One other interesting way to view chiastic quotes is the ABBA method. Let's go back to the Mae West quote. If you assign the letters A and B to the first appearance of the key words and A' and B' (read "A prime" and "B prime") to their second appearance, they follow what is referred to as an ABBA pattern:

A It's not the men
B in my life
B' it's the life
A' in my men

Chiasmus can be achieved by reversing more than two key words. This observation from the 18th century English writer, Charles Caleb Colton, is a good example:

"How strange it is that we of the present day are constantly praising
that past age which our fathers abused,
and as constantly abusing that present age,
which our children will praise."

Laid out schematically, it looks like this:

A How strange it is that we of the present day are constantly praising
B that past age
C which our fathers abused,
C' and as constantly abusing
B' that present age,
A' which our children will praise

Engaging a new territory for word lovers, speech makers, and party show-offs--this quotable collection enshrines a classic linguistic trick

"Nice to see you, to see you, nice!"

"You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to
forget."

"In the end, the true test is not the speeches a president delivers; it’s whether
the president delivers on the speeches."

"I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me."

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

Early rhetoricians believed that figures like the chiasmus had a psychotropic effect on audiences, triggering our instinctive love of expressive rhythm. It worked for John F. Kennedy; when he told young people, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” thousands of them joined the Peace Corps.

Magic Squares...Continued

In the second installment of Magic Squares we now bring you Magic squares of even number of cells. But before that, as promised, here are some examples of Magic Squares of odd number of cells...

A 3 × 3 square cell is shown in the figure below constructed according to the rules mentioned in the previous post:

Similarly a a 5 × 5 square cell can be constructed as below:

Note: - The arrangement shown for 3 x 3 square is the only possible arrangement of nine different numbers, relatively to each other, which fulfills the required conditions. This is not so with a 5 × 5 square which can have thousands of different arrangements.

Magic squares of even number of cells
We will understand these by filling a 4 x 4 square. The numbers in the two corner diagonal columns in these magic squares may be determined by writing the numbers of the series in arithmetical order in horizontal rows, beginning with the first number in the left-hand cell of the upper line and writing line after line as in a book, ending with the last number in the right-hand cell of the lower line.

The numbers then found in the two diagonal columns will be in magic square order, but the position of the other numbers must generally be changed. Now to effect this change, a simple method is substituting for each number the complement between it and (n2 + 1), i.e. 17. Thus the complement between 2 and 17 is 15, so 15 may be written in the place of 2, and so on throughout. This will result in a magic square of 4 x 4.

A little practice, after understanding the above methods of constructing magic squares, will go a long way to solve problems based on magic squares.
- By Our Mentor Rajnish.

Magic Squares

One of the hot topics now-a-days, on which atleast one problem has been framed in almost every recent entrance examination, is Magic Squares. Its importance cannot be overestimated. While solving the problems based on magic squares, the first step is to construct it. Majority of students approach it by hit and trial method and some by forming equations. If done correctly, latter is full-proof but both are time-consuming. Here, we will discuss methods of constructing magic squares in such a little time that it itself will be magic!
A magic square consists of a series of numbers so arranged in a square that the sum of each row and column and of both the corner diagonals shall be the same amount. For the sake of simplicity, we will take the series of numbers as 1 to n2 for filling an n x n square. Magic squares with an odd number of cells are usually constructed by methods which differ from that governing the construction of square having an even number of cells.

Magic squares of odd number of cells
A 3 x 3 square is shown in the figure with 9 cells and we have to fill it by the series of numbers 1 to 9 fulfilling the conditions of magic squares.

Now, in order to intelligently follow the rule used in the construction of this square, it may be conceived that its upper and lower edges are bent backwards and joined to form a horizontal cylinder with the numbers on the outside, the lower line of figures thus coming next in order to the upper line. It may also be conceived that the square is bent backwards in a direction at right angels to that which was last considered, so that it forms a vertical cylinder with the extreme right and left-hand columns adjacent to each other.


While filling the cells with numbers we will start with the lowest number in the series, i.e. 1, then 2, 3 and so on, following a certain rule. The rule will not be able to fill the next number after every time a multiple of n is filled. To overcome this problem, we will apply a rule which we will call break move.
Now, we can start by filling 1 in any of the cells except the centre one. The centre cell will be filled by the middle number of the series used, i.e. a number which is equal to one-half the sum of the first and the last numbers of the series, or (n*n + 1)/2.
The last number of the series, i.e. n*n should be placed diametrically opposite to the cell in which the first number (1) is placed.

Now, to place the next numbers, i.e. 2, 3, 4, ……, we can go for right or left-hand diagonal sequence, i.e. moving diagonally upward to the right or left and place the next number in that cell. If there is no cell there, imagine the square to be a horizontal or a vertical cylinder as discussed above and place the number accordingly.

A break to this pattern will occur after every multiple of n. Here, we will use the break move. The relative spacing between the cell that contains the last number of the series and the cell that contains the first number of the series must then be repeated whenever a block occurs in the regular progression.

Soon we will also publish examples for the above as well as Magic squares of even number of cells.

By Our Mentor Rajnish.

Self limitation: A bane to all CAT aspirants

This is a story learned in the jungles of Bangalore at an elephant camp...When you visit this camp you see these gigantic elephants tethered with a small stake. Ask the trainer as to why do they stay tethered when they could so easily pull apart the weak stake and he will tell you, "Well the elephant is tethered as a small calf and when it tries to pull up the stake it learns it cant do it and hence it never tries again."
That’s an amazing parable about how CAT aspirants also behave like these gaint elephants who have tremendous capabilities but always tend to underestimate themselves. When their first few attempts in the PreCATs go awry they are discouraged enough to never try again! The latter PreCATs suffer fates like...they are never given again or they are given but the scores are not taken seriously or then their 'discussions' are avoided with either the faculty or friends!
But is this the best way to handle this situation? Or can we be a bit more analytical and find a reason as to why the scores are bad? Can we not bank on our strengths and work on mastering our weaknesses? We sure can! So in these last few laps of our CAT preparation let us pledge again the pledge given by one Mr. Robert frost that said “the best way out of a difficulty is through it”.
- By Our Mentor Rohini

Finding Remainder with help of Euler’s Totient Function

Rule:-
The reminder when A^φ(N) is divided by N is always 1 provided A and N are co-primes and φ(N) is the totient function of N.
If N = a^p . b^q . c^r …….
where a, b, c… are primes then


Now let us calculate the last two digits of 3^81 which are same as the remainder when it is divided by 100. Here A = 3 and N = 100 and they are co-primes.
Also, 100 = 2². 5²

Therefore, 3⁴⁰ when divided by 100 will give remainder 1.

Now,

Hence, the last two digits of 3⁸¹ are 03.
Take another example. Find the remainder when 5⁶⁶ is divided by 17. To find the totient function of a prime number is very easy as it is equal to one less than that prime number.

- By Our Mentor Rajnish

Malapropisms

The word Malapropism is derived from the French phrase ‘mal à propos’ literally meaning ‘ill suited’. It is a substitution of a word for a word with a similar sound.
Malpropisms come in various forms of verbal slips and gaffes, shapes and forms of Bushisms, Colemanballs and, of course, Mrs. Malaprop.
In fact the word 'Malapropisms' was derived from the fictitious character Mrs. Malaprops. In his 1775 Restoration comedy, “The Rivals”, Richard Sheridan introduced a humorous character by the name of Mrs. Malaprop. The self-educated Mrs. Malaprop was always substituting a similar-sounding word for the word that she actually intended, often with the consequence of a hilariously nonsensical sentence!
These slips are sometimes divided into two broad classes: classical malapropisms, in which the mistakes are due to ignorance (as in the case of Mrs. Malaprop) and temporary slips of the tongue, in which the intended word is known by the speaker, but has been inadvertently replaced by another.

Here are a few of commonly quoted malapropisms
1. Flying saucers are just an optical conclusion. (illusion)

2. A rolling stone gathers no moths. (moss)

3. Let's get down to brass roots. (grass)

4. The flood damage was so bad they had to evaporate the city. (evacuate)

5. He is a wolf in cheap clothing. (sheep)
6. Nip it in the butt. (bud)
7. To each his zone. (own)

Here are some Bushisms -
1. "Oftentimes, we live in a processed world, you know, people focus on the process and not results."
2. "The law I sign today directs new funds... to the task of collecting vital intelligence... on weapons of mass production."
3. "It will take time to restore chaos and order."

4. "They have miscalculated me as a leader."
5. "Natural gas is hemispheric... because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods."

- From our Mentor Priyamvada Sistla

How to remember words?

It is true that words are the basic building blocks of any language but it is equally true that memorizing new words is very difficult. We think we have learnt them but as soon as we try to recollect them they are gone! Sounds similar? Well here is a unique method of memorizing words...play a 'word detective'! Whenever you find it difficult to remember a word, just try to search their origin. You can do this from a number of sites on the internet like www.dictionary.com, www.google.com etc. This way you will come across a lot of interesting stories which will make these words unique for you and it will be easy to memorize them.

Example:
The origin of the word 'sandwich':
The word 'sandwich' functions as a noun or a verb. Besides the more obvious occupation of being something edible between two or more slices of bread metaphorically speaking it is also a squeeze in between two people, places, things, materials, etc! The word sandwich was born in London during the very late hours of a night of 1762 when an English nobleman, John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792), was too busy gambling to even stop for a meal. The legend goes that he ordered a waiter to bring him roast-beef between two slices of bread. That way the Earl was able to continue gambling while eating his snack! From that incident we have inherited that quick-food product that we now know as the sandwich.

Interesting is it not? I will soon share with you some other word origins like Pop Corns and the Finger Chips as well.

-By Our Mentor Rohini.

Is CAT alienating some test takers?

As is now well known the CAT has gone Online. Thus to take the CAT today one compulsorily needs to have access to a computer and a working net connection. To people in urban India this does not seem to be a big deal at all. After all many of us are already used to the GMAT which has been online since time immemorial. But have we thought of those who are underprivileged? Or those who do not reside in areas where 24/7 net connectivity is no big a deal at all? Infact if we leave out a small minority, even today not everybody has access to computers in India, leave alone internet. In such a scenario does it not seem to be premature for the CAT to go online? After all IIMs are supposed to be equal opportunity institutions, funded in-part by the government, who are expected to give a level playing field to people from all socioeconomic backgrounds. But in a single stroke they have eliminated a large population of our country which also aspires to be in the best B-Schools, haven't they?

By Our Mentor Prathamesh

Idioms & Phrases

We come across a number of common Idioms and Phrases during our english usage. Some of these are commonly used in many of the RC passages in CAT. Knowing them thoroughly would definately help one do better in this section. Here is the first list of many:

1. Build/get/work up a head of steam
Meaning: To get enough energy, support, or enthusiasm to do something effectively
Example: In the last three months the campaign has built up a good head of steam.

2. Take it like a man
Meaning: To suffer any misfortune stoically.
Example: She said some really harsh things to him, but he took it like a man.

3. Have a bone to pick with somebody
Meaning: Something that you want to say to someone who has annoyed you
Example: I have a bone to pick with you. I need to know why you misbehaved at the presentation?

4. Pass the hat around
Meaning: To collect money from a group of people.
Example: We're passing the hat round for Simon's farewell gift.

5. A shot in the arm
Meaning: A boost or an act of encouragement.
Example: The pep talk was a real shot in the arm for all the guys.

Words: Negatives Without Positives

Recently I made an interesting observation that I thought I would share with you all.
Have you noticed that in English the prefixes in and un, along with others, are used to negate certain root words.

Example -
1. The antonym of sane is insane
2. The antonym of stoppable is unstoppable.

But some words that appear to be negated with prefixes have no positives!
Example -
The opposite of inept is not ept -- there is no such word!

Here is a list of some words which have no 'positive' forms:
1. Debunk
2. Defenestrate
3. Impetuous
4. Impromptu
5. Insipid
6. Ungainly
7. Unswerving
8. Incognito
9. Incommunicado
10. Dishevelled

- By Our Mentor Rohini

Maths Can Be Fun Too!

It's time now to have some fun with numbers!

Have you ever noticed that when you multiply certain numbers with each other we get some very interesting results? Alright, let us form a sequence by multiplying 1s with each other:

Numeric Palindrome with 1s -
1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Interesting is it not? Let us try another trick. We will now have 9s playing an important part in this one! Here it goes:

Sequential 8s with 9 -
9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

The reason for sharing these number tricks with you is to tell you that Mathematics or Numbers can be interesting too. The key is to learn to play with them and learn from them. Make Maths your friend and see how it takes you on a joyride!

- By Our Mentor Neera

Oxymorons

After looking at some Divisibility Rules in QA now its time to return to some English. Today we look at a form of words called Oxymorons.

Definition: An oxymoron is a collocation of words that have contradictory or sharply incongruous meanings.
Example: Conspicuous by his absence.

Following is a list of commonly used oxymorons:
Absolutely unsure, accurate estimate, act naturally, active retirement, actual re-enactment, all alone, altogether separate, almost done, almost exactly, almost ready, alone in a crowd, alone together, among the first, anarchy rules, anxious patient, approximate solution, butt head, clearly misunderstood, found missing, genuine imitation, good grief, jumbo shrimp, a new classic, peace force, plastic glasses, pretty ugly, same difference, small crowd, soft rock, virtual reality.

To get a proper hang of these try putting them in a sentence.
Example:
Oxymoron - Almost Done
Sentence - I am almost done with my work.
The more sentences that you try, almost exactly will you get the hang of these!

Useful Rule of Divisibility for QA

Rule:
Any single digit number N written p-1 times where p is a prime number (other than 2, 3, 5) is always divisible by p.

Example 1: 333333 is always divisible by 7.
When 3 is written 6 times, it is divisible by 7.

Example 2: 444444444444 is always divisible by 13.
When 4 is written 12 times, it is divisible by 13.

Similarly, 8888… (16 times) is divisible by 17.

Application of the above rule in Aptitude exams:

Question 1:
What is the remainder when 7777… (36 times) is divided by 19?
Answer: 0
Logic: When 777… is written 18 times it is divisible by 19. Similarly when it is written in any multiple of 18 like 36, 54 etc it will always be divisible by 19.

Question 2: What is the remainder when 7777… (37 times) is divided by 19?
Answer: 7
Can you out find why?

- By Our Mentor Nachiket

7 Fun Facts About English Words

1. The word ‘queue’ is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way even when the last four letters are removed.

2. 'Dreamt' is the only English word ending in 'mt'.

3. ‘Almost’ is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

4. No English words rhyme fully with orange, silver, or month (there are, however, some partial rhymes, or pararhymes, for these words, such as salver for silver and lozenge for orange).

5. Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!

6. Until the seventeenth century the word 'upset' meant to set up (i.e. erect) something

7. ‘Rhythm’ is the longest English word without a vowel.

- By Our Mentor Rohini

Books You Can Read - By Our Mentor Swati

“When you sell a man a book you don't sell him just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life.” - Christopher Morley

In some of my recent sessions I have noticed that students are somehow not very keen on reading books. As I understood the reasons for this were various… right from the myth that ‘Reading is a boring activity’ to the common grouse of ‘I do not have the time’! My opinion on this differs as I believe that reading is an experience in itself and every time I pick up a book I know I am in for a wonderful time. And to state the obvious being a voracious reader goes a long way in improving one’s usage of the English language. It is the simplest mental exercise to enhance creativity, vocabulary and soft skills.
Reading has never been simpler with the number of e-books floating on World Wide Web. One of the online libraries at unbelievably affordable prices is www. friendsofbooks.com. So log on and browse through the planet of books.
Keeping all the limitations in the mind I thought of recommending a few books to our Non readers, which will serve as an ‘Amazing Starters’ (Being an avid reader and a foodie, I couldn’t help but make that comparison☺):

1. Five point someone - Chetan Bhagat
2. Three mistakes of life- Chetan Bhagat
3. Tuesdays with Morrie- Mitch Albom
4. The five people you meet in heaven- Mitch Albom
5. Catch 22- Joseph Heller
6. The notebook - Nicholas Sparks
7. Message in a bottle- Nicholas Sparks
8. A walk to remember- Nicholas Sparks
9. You are here- Meenakshi Reddy
10. It's not about the Bike- Lance Armstrong

These books will keep you captivated from the word go. They will help you to generate interest in reading because of their wonderful stories and simple language. You will feel caged but trust me you wouldn’t want to be freed either!
HAPPY READING!!!!!

Interesting Rules of Divisibility - 17 & 19

Rule for 17 -
A number is divisible by 17 if and only if the number of tens added to twelve times the number of units is divisible by 17.
Example: 714 is divisible by 17 since 71 + 12 4 = 71+ 48 = 119 which is divisible by 17.

Rule for 19 -
A number is divisible by 19 if and only if the number of tens added to twice the number of units is divisible by 19.
Example: (i) 95 is divisible by 19 since 9 + 2 5 = 9 + 10 = 19 which is divisible by 19.
(ii) 285 is divisible by 19 since 28 + 2 5 = 28 + 10 = 38 which is divisible by 19.

Conflicting Proverbs - By Our Mentor Rohini

There are a variety of proverbs that almost all English speakers are familiar with. These are supposed to be compact practical knowledge always regarded with reverence. But some of these 'words of wisdom' sometimes end up contradicting each other.
Take a look and have fun!

The Proverbial 'Coconut'!

It a symbol of appreciation for a Life's hardwork. It is a symbol of respect towards the person's achievement. And it is generally given to people who can be very much termed as 'Old'! So when this 'coconut' was given to a 20 something English faculty cum Mentor of ours for her excellent work in the GD-PI classes by her own batch of students, lets just say that we were 'overwhelmed'!
In an impromptu celebration organised totally by the students, our Mentor Rohini was honoured for her dedication, hardwork and persistence, but most importantly for her great teaching!
Here are some pics of that occasion...

PS: It’s Now Online

Yes we are talking about the CAT. As we all know, after 33 years of its exsistence in a Paper-Pencil format, the IIMs have decided to take the CAT online.
So here are 5 interesting facts about CAT 2009:
1. The reason it is going online is because of the administrative challenges involved in conducting a paper-pencil test for lakhs of students.
2. The CAT will now not be conducted on the 3rd sunday of November anymore but sometime at the end of the calender year.
3. The CAT won't be conducted on a single day like before but accross a period of 10 days.
4. The candidates can now select an exam date of their choice within the 10 day timespan.
5. Conducted by the IIMs in partnership with Prometric ETS, CAT will now be in a CBT format comparable to GMAT, GRE and TOEFL but at much lower costs.

Divisibility Rule of 13

After the Divisibility Rule of 7 let us now look at the divisibility rule of 13.

Rule 1:
A number is divisible by 13 if and only if the number of tens added to 4 times the number of units is divisible by 13.
Example: 325 is divisible by 13 since 32 + 4 5 =32 + 20 = 52 Which is divisible by 13.

Rule 2:
A number is divisible by 13 if and only if the number of tens subtracted to 9 times the number of units is divisible by 13.
Example: 1521 is divisible by 13 since 152 – 9*1 = 143, and 143 = 14 – 9*3 = 13 (Magnitude) which is divisible by 13.

Divisibility Rule of 7 Demystified!

Test of divisibility for prime numbers
Rule 1:
A number is divisible by 7 if and only if the number of tens subtracted to 2 times the number of units is also divisible by 7.
Examples:
343 is divisible by 7 since 34 – 2 x 3 = 28, which is divisible by 7
1197 is divisible by 7 since 119 – 2 x 7 = 105 and 105 is divisible by 7 since 10 + 5 5 = 10 + 25 = 35 Which is divisible by 7

Rule 2:
A number is divisible by 7 if and only if the number of tens added to 5 times the number of units is divisible by 7.
105 is divisible by 7 since 10 + 5 5 = 10 + 25 = 35 Which is divisible by 7
3192 is divisible by 7 since 319 + 5 2 = 319 + 10 = 329 and 32 + 5 9 = 32 + 45 = 77 Which is divisible by 7.