HlaMin

Category: Language

  • Idiom

    Idiom

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Characteristics

    An idiom

    • is usually a phrase whose meaning is not obvious
    • gets the meaning accepted due to usage over time
    • is a linguistic device

    Advanced dictionaries may list idioms and their usage.

    Examples

    During my middle school days, one of my uncles gave me books (including “A Book of Idioms”) .

    From the book, I learned that “the hand that rocks the cradle” stands for “a mother”.

    “Rain cats and dogs” is an idiom which means “Rain heavily”.
    In this example, the idiom uses a metaphor.

    No one knows the root of the idiom “kick the bucket” meaning “dies”. Someone guessed that a man being hanged by a rope might kick a bucket.

    Idioms should be used sparingly.

    If you combine two idioms mentioned above and say “The hand that rocked the cradle kicked the bucket” you might receive LOL (Laughing Out Loud) for the illogical construct.

    U Khin Maung Zaw (KMZ, EC76) added :

    Believe it or not, this subject is one of the many we learned from U Hla Min (KJ to some of us) while we were at the UCC. As some of us were preparing for TOEFL, KJ prepared us by teaching the ins and outs of the language.

    Some of these idioms are regional in nature, after some time living here, I tend to use many idioms as they come naturally. Well, that’s until a childhood friend of mine kindly reminded me that many of them were having hard time fully understanding what I meant in the posts.

    As of now, I am trying my best to use US idioms as little as possible, at times I feel like I have to write more as if I could not communicate to get my point across. I did it again, bad of me.

    “to get my point across” is an idiom meaning “to make people understand what one is saying” (per Merriam Webster).

  • Quotes

    Quotes

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    Book of Quotations

    • In our younger days, we rely on Bartlett’s “Book of familiar quotations“.
    • The Bible and Shakespeare provided the major number of quotes in the classic book.
    • Several quotes were marked “Anon.” for anonymous (or unknown author).

    Misquotes and Wrong attribution

    • If people do not check the source, they may misquote or attribute a quote to the wrong person.
    • Many wrongly believe that Sherlock Holmes said, “Elementary, my dear Watson”.

    Autographs

    • We used to have autograph books.
    • I remember a quote:
      “Worry is like sand in an oyster.
      A little produces a pearl.
      Too much kills the animal.”

  • Wiki

    • Wiki supposedly uses an easier “Mark up” than HTML (Hyper Text Mark Up).
    • A web site using Wiki usually allows some access to non-administrators.

    Wikipedia

    • Wikipedia is a collection of encyclopedias (in multiple languages)
      Contributed and managed by volunteers.
    • There are guidelines for Wiki publications such as Wikipedia and WikiMedia.
    • For example, an article for a Wikipedia should have citations, but it should not be a report for one’s research.
    • A reader can challenge an article for correctness, style, structure, and conformance.
    • I suggested and corrected discrepancies in some Wikipedia articles.
  • Word Games

    Word Games

    by Hla Min

    Updated : May 2025

    My elder brother’s wife is feeling sleepy

    • My elder brother’s wife => MAYEE
    • is feeling sleepy => yawn => THAN
    • Combine them => MAYEE + THAN
    • Transpose => MAYAN + THEE => MAYANTHEE မရမ်းသီး (Marion, delicious Burmese fruit)

    “PIN LE DHA MYA” ပင်လယ်ဓားပြ

    • PIN LE => is wide => KYAIR
    • DHA MYA => plunders (takes by force) => TAIK
    • Combine them => KYAIR + TAIK
    • Transpose => KYAIK + TAIR (Love, …) ကြိုက်တယ်

    Pho Thaike’s response

    • Offer from the boss : “If I give you a raise of 5 kyats to your present salary of 20 kyats, will you move to Na Shan?”
    • The response in Mixed Language

    Twenty
    Five
    Toee တိုး

    Pho Thaik ဖိုးသိုက်
    No

    No Go
    Na Shan နရှံ
    Town

  • Speech

    Silence

    • There is a saying, “Speech is silver. Silence golden.”
    • It does not mean we should stay silent all the time.
      If one does not have meaningful things to say, it is better to remain silent rather than rambling or engaging in “frivolous talk”.

    Length of Speech

    The length of a speech varies.

    There are

    • Elevator speeches (lasting less than a minute)
    • Impromptu Speech (e.g. Table Topics lasting one or two minutes)
    • Icebreakers (lasting four to six minutes)
    • Prepared Speeches (lasting a specified time : typically five to seven minutes)
    • TED and TEDx talks (lasting about 18 minutes)
    • Keynote speeches (45 – 60 minutes with Q&A).

    Message and Messenger

    Both are important.

    • The message should have value.
      A speech should provide a “take away” or an “action item”.
    • The audience is more receptive to a well known speaker (e.g. Celebrities).

    Speeches

    • During our younger days, I had a book of the 40+ speeches given by notable people (e.g. Winston Churchill).
    • Rotary Club, Kiwani’s Club and Toastmasters International provide guidance and training for communication.
    • I am a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) at Toastmasters International.

    Gettysburg Address

    • President Abraham Lincoln was requested to give a “few appropriate remarks” at Gettysburg.
    • His address consisted of ten sentences.
    • It was delivered in less than two minutes (which was not long enough for the official photographer to record the historic moment).

    CMU

    • Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is known for “The Last Lecture”, where a Professor presents to an audience (e.g. those present for his forthcoming Retirement).
    • Randy Pausch, who was diagnosed with Cancer, gave an up-lifting “The Last Lecture”. It can be viewed on You Tube. It has also been made into a book.

    Steve Jobs

    • Steve Jobs gave a Commencement Speech at Standford University. It can be viewed on the Internet. In three parts, he connected the dots (e.g. taking a Calligraphy course to the aesthetic Font designs on Apple Computers.

  • Meanings can change

    The meaning of words can change with time.

    Computer

    In the early days, a “computer” is a person who computes (e.g. tables for firing artillery). Even in some NASA projects, astronauts ask expert mathematicians (including a black female) to compute trajectories to check against the calculations made by electronic computers in the space capsule.

    Compiler

    Also, a “compiler” is a person who compiles data (e.g. historical data).

    Books sent to wrong departments

    During our UCC days, several computer books were ordered through the Trade Corporation (and related departments).

    Some wrongly sent “Compiler Construction for Digital Computers” book to the Ministry of Construction, and “The Anatomy of a Compiler” book to the Institute of Medicine.

    Trade marks

    iPad and iPhone are designed and manufactured by Apple.

    The trademark iPad belongs to Fujitsu. Former colleagues of mine worked on Fujitsu’s Intelligent Pad (iPad). The trademark was transferred to Apple.

    The trademark iPhone belongs to Cisco, which experimented with “Internet Phone” (or equivalent). The trademark was transferred to Apple.

  • A Glimpse of Mount Meru

    Author : Dhammaberi Sayadaw

    Translator : Hla Min

  • Lwan Pyay Aung

    Poem

    • Poem by Saya U Nyunt Htay (Met73)
    • Composed for SPZP-2012
    • Published as back cover of a souvenir

    Translation
    by Hla Min

    • One cannot forget the history and sweet memories of one’s alma mater, and one feels that most alumni — near and far — still yearn for the good old days.
    • In front of A Hall, B Hall [C, D, E, F, Halls] friends would tease and prank, yet do no harm. They do not care to find weaknesses in others, and will remain loyal friends. In front of Uttra (North or G) Hall — usually in the evenings — aspiring Ah Nu Pyinnya Shins serenade with love songs aided by guitars, harmonicas and violins.
    • Hear the bells in Building One, Two [Three] ringing once more. Many rush to the classrooms [some spend time on the corridors to enjoy the belles go by]. At night, some “count the numbers” (perhaps playing cards, or actually studying and doing home work).
    • RIT students do not feel outnumbered by RASU [with Burma selected] or Eco at any kind of sports [soccer, volleyball, basketball, swimming, water polo …]. RIT has staunch loud-voiced fans [like “Ajala” Moe Hein].
    • Assembly Hall hosted not just presentations and debates. It also is the home of Geeta See Sar [Musical Evening Extravaganza] with outstanding musicians, composers, vocalists and dancers. Swel Daw Yeik Troupe and Ah Nyeint, Pyazat, … melt our hearts.
    • Cartoon Box [former telephone kiosk] nurtured many cartoonists to share their humor, satire and ideas with the readers searching for Sacca (Truth).
    • Aw Bar Lann (precious memories to the graduates attending the graduation ceremony) is known not also for applause but also for the tongue-in-cheek comments and unruly claps and shouts to the unwary treading the Lann.
    • “Nwe Aye”, “Aung Theik Pan”, “Kan Thar Ya”, “U Chit” …
      Memories from those who spend six years or more.
    • As the examinations near, most try their best [by borrowing books and notes from their friends, by attending crash sessions] to pass the hurdle. On the desks are notes [not neat and tidy] scattered all over. Times and systems change, but most RITians are able to decide the essentials (“Ah Hnit”) from the inessentials (“Ah Kar”).
    • Swel Daw Yeik
      One can never forget the history and [priceless] memories.

  • Beauty

    Beauty 1

    Poem by
    U Aung Myaing

    U Aung Myaing

    “အလှ”

    မပြီးသေးတဲ့ ပန်းချီ

    ဆက်မသိသေးတဲ့ သီချင်း
    ရင်တွင်းပျောက်နေဆဲကဗျာ

    နာကျင်နေဆဲ

    ဝေဝါးဆဲမှာ
    “ငယ်ရွာ” ကိုပြန်ပြေး
    “ငယ်သွေး” ကိုပြန်တွေ့
    “ငယ်ငွေ့” ကို ရှိုက်ရှူ
    “ငယ်မူ” ပြန်တခဏ
    ခေတ္တ အလှ မိန်းမောမိ။
    ထာဝရ အလှ ဘယ်မှာရှိ။

    Translation
    by Hla Min

    “BEAUTY “

    Unfinished painting
    Suspended song writing
    Poem, briefly disappeared from my heart
    Still anguished
    Still fuzzy
    (Mind) wanders back to “childhood home”
    Rediscover “old flame”
    Breathe again “Childhood feeling”
    “Act like young self” for a while
    Immersed in transient beauty
    Where does permanent beauty exist?

  • Dictionary

    Type

    Dictionaries come in various sizes and flavors.

    • Hardcover
    • Softcover
    • Pocket sized
    • Desk top
    • Abridged
    • Unabridged
    • Student Edition
    • Advanced Learners’ Dictionary
    • Technical Dictionary
    • Domain-oriented Dictionary (e.g Music)
    • Thesaurus (in Dictionary form)
    • On-line Dictionary
    • Visual Dictionary
    • Free Dictionary (e.g. Wiki-dictionary)
    • Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
    • Chambers’ Dictionary
    • Merriam-Webster Dictionary
    • Funk & Wagnall’s Dictionary
    • Jones’ Pronouncing Dictionary
    • Bilingual Dictionary (e.g French & English)
    • Trilingual Dictionary (e.g Pali, English & French)
    • Scrabble Dictionary
    • Crossword Puzzle Dictionary
    • Rhyming Dictionary
    • English to Burmese Dictionary (e.g. Judson)
    • Burmese to English Dictionary (e.g. Judson)
    • Pali-English, Pali-Burmese and Pali-English-Burmese Dictionary

    Coverage

    A dictionary may cover

    • meaning
    • usage
    • etymology (origin and evolution) of words
    • synonyms
    • antonyms

    Usage

    One looks up a dictionary when one knows the word but is not sure of its meaning and usage.

    One looks up a thesaurus when one has an idea or concept but needs to choose an appropriate word from a list of synonyms and antonyms. Dr. Mark Roget compiled a thesaurus based on his classification scheme.

    Visual Dictionary and Visual Thesaurus allows one to see the relations and links of words and concepts.

    With the advent of computers and Internet, dictionaries are provided in most Word Processing Systems.

    Vocabulary

    An early study said that an average person learns about 20 new words every year.

    By subscribing to “Word of the Day” from Merriam-Webster or by listening to “Word for the Wise” from NPR (National Public Radio), one can learn 300+ new words every year.

    Lexicon

    The old dictionaries are also known as Lexicon. The compilers are known as Lexicographers.

    Lexicon is an early card game for building words. Scrabble is a later and more popular word forming game. The word challenge in Scrabble is processed using a Dictionary (e.g. Chambers or Jones’ Pronouncing Dictionary).

    Lexicographers

    Judson & Team

    Judson 1
    Judson 2
    Judson 3

    U Tun Nyein

    U Tun Nyein

    U Hoke Sein

    U Hoke Sein 1
    U Hoke Sein 2

    U Myat Kyaw & U San Lwin

    U Myat Kyaw & U San Lwin

    U Nyatiloka

    Nyatiloka

    U Silananda

    U Silananda

    Minthuwun (U Wun)

    Minthuwun

    Dr. Ba Han

    Dr. Ba Han

    Tet Toe (U Ohn Pe)

    Yet Toe