More fun with language

First, I'm obligated to report that when one of our cafeteria workers called in sick, our office manager sought to reduce the workload on the remaining crew by exhorting people to go downstairs and pick up their own damn lunch rather than phone for direct-to-desk delivery, as some of us them do. Thus, she sent around an urgent email with the subject line, "canteen running short of hands." (It worked, in my case: put me off lunch entirely.)

Second, have I mentioned yet the fondness of Indians for the word "cum"? (Used exclusively in the 16th-century sense of "combined with.") The most common culprit is "exhibition-cum-sale," but I also like the sign that reads "gas station-cum-shopping mall," and K is partial to the ads for a "sofa-cum-bed." But hilarity truly ensues when Indians innocently and mistakenly try to back-translate the idiom. Hence, the repeated attempt in our office to create program posters that read "first cum first served." The thing is, though I keep telling them they shouldn't write it like that, especially for expat audiences, I haven't yet figured out a gentle way to tell them why.

Prepositions and idioms are always good fun (articles tend to be the third major source of error, but rarely with risible results). Thus, our office newsletter encouraged us to come watch the Mumbai marathon and cheer our colleagues up, rather than on -- though, strictly speaking, this was the more accurate usage -- and a colleague startled me recently by suggesting that a particular course of action might be "cutting off our legs to spite our nose."

Indeed. Might stop it from running, though.