IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO

Blogging with the phone

2011-03-04T00:57:00.001-08:00

To blog with a phone sounds difficult as the blogger looks somewhat complicated on desktop itself. But with the use of a simple android application (blogger-droid), this problem can be sorted out.
It is easy to start, works even in low bandwidth and gives most of the options which regular site provides.
I have inserted some screenshots and this post has also been made through the same app.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Dhobi ghat

2011-03-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

"Hey come on!! we've gotta see this movie before it gets off the screens", was how I collected people to see this movie with me. An 'Aamir Khan movie' which you can choose to see without reading the reviews, were the thoughts on my mind. See how it all went......
The movie started with a screen resolution that was unable to fit to the hall screen, a big disappointment. Then a scene of Arun(Aamir Khan) in an art gallery where he meets the heroin Shai(Monica Dogra) after which they go to their apartment and sleep together. He acts strange in the morning (why not? :P) and they part their ways after this. Another story of a dhobi Munna(Pratiek Babbar) grows parallel to this and yes!! he looks too good to be a dhobi and a part time rat killer. This is what goes into his mind all the time. Heroin looks attracted to him, maybe as a friend but their relation looks very awkward. Then the dhobi becomes the common link between the hero and heroin, of course because of his profession. This is the point where I realized that this movie is one of the shittiest that I've ever seen and sorry if I couldn't find any art in this. I was hoping that the movie should end early butit continued like forever..... I tried but couldn't sleep.
Interestingly (read stupidly) another story grows parallel to these two, inside the recorded video cassettes which Aamir found in his new apartment, it's about a lady recording herself to send the videos to her brother. It turns out that she kills herself as she asserted in the final video cassette.
The trauma of my exercise, calling two other people to watch the movie with me broke, when one of them uttered the word 'SWEET' in the hopelessly silent cinema hall on seeing the Aamir Khan's painting of the video cassette girl.
I thought, at least somebody is enjoying. He said he was trying to find something good. Maine uski bhavnao ko samjha aur hum bahar nikal aaye. Before this there was a happy ending too!
I couldn't understand that how can a person like Aamir khan let himself in such a poor movie, but see !! everybody has to go home where someone is waiting.....

How to train your dragon(movie)

2011-02-28T05:22:00.000-08:00

How to train your dragon!
another disney animation. What is this really about? humm.. starts with some strange place on the latitude of 'mysery'
the story starts with the attack of dragons, who aren't actually fierce but really cute looking,on the viking village for the cattles. A boy 'Hiccup' who is not that strongly built as the other boys in village, is the protagonist as the next scenes suggest. He is weak,not that quick and maybe a bit unlucky too. Later it turns out that chief of the tribe is his father and he is not being able to live upto his expectations. Though Hiccup is ambitious and he shows this by attacking the 'night fiery' dragon, which is the most feared of. He later finds out that he injured the dragon and it is in the valley, near the lake. He adds a fin to it's tail and during oncoming days he starts riding it. It becomes his pet and he learns the behaviour of the dragons by this Night Fiery dragon named 'Toothless'. Hiccup impresses the whole tribe by taming all the dragons which had been kept to teach the new kids. During this episode his father was out with many warriors to find out the nest of the dragons.
Now Astrid (Hiccup likes her) finds out about the Toothless and then Hiccup takes her to a fantasy ride in the clouds on the back of his astonishing pet. Right at that moment she gives her heart to the hitherto pariah boy,Hiccup. Then during the finals of the dragon learning course Hiccup's father saves him from the attack of a dragon and then truth comes out when Toothless comes to his rescue. Pet is captured and Hiccup was given rest. The chief now moves to the nest with all the warriors and imprisoned Toothless. There they were caught unaware by the great dragon and were about to be killed by it.
Then Hiccup comes with many of his friends riding over different dragons, then Hiccup frees Toothless and eventually kills the great dragon; during this effort he looses his one leg but wins the faith of his father. The tribe domesticates the dragons and story gets a happy conclusion !!

This story is very much similar to other animation movies in the past but the fight scene in the start and the mystry sorrounding the night fiery dragon grows the interest. Children get a lesson to be nice to the animals and tu pursue their dreams and so on...
This movie is good atleast better than ice age series, in my opinion. But nowhere near the other four leading SHREK movies of dreamworks animations. Laughs are rare and maybe it is more towards the young kids... haha

What is to be expected from your 2G connection

2011-02-13T17:20:00.000-08:00

Your 2G connection promises to give 136 kbps connection speed and it comes to around 15kbps for downloading the contents.

see my connection results :

So far I've used IDEA, Aircel, Airtel as well as Vodafone. Airtel gave the most reliable connection. With all the download speed being constant at 15 kbps, I was able to surf internet comfortable. It took around 5 to 7 minutes for a single mp3.

Using airtel internet was rather breeze when compared to others as there were lesser disconnections and regular updates of data balance. It works well in the roaming also, just few signal blanks in the Maharashtra railway tunnels!! ;-)

It was hard at first to consume 2GBs in one month using just a mobile phone but because of frequent music and video downloads it started looking short of the need.

Skype:- for skype calls, on the basis of personal experience I can say that 128 Kbps is sufficient if the internet connection is steady. Mobile networks are signal dependent so it's hard to keep the calls interruption free. Although in cities where network is fine, there are fewer call drops on skype.

For gprs settings for different network operators:-
vodafone sms ACT VL to 144
DO co Mo sms INTERNET to 52270
Airtel sms MO to 2567
IDEA just insert the sim and start the phone, settings are received automatically!

if doesn't work, just restart the phone again and try.

How I got my BRICKED android phone back !!

2011-02-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

To get rid of the ads in angry birds program, I installed adfree in my lg optimus one. But since the phone didn't give the root access I had to install the z4root and titanium backup. Titanium backup also allowed me to remove some of the default applications given by the manufacturer.
This is when I uninstalled my home screen as well as the launcher. I got stuck because now I couldn't access the internet to install any launcher and couldn't go to the settings. luckily the gprs was working and I used search button and voice search to get to the marketplace and installed launcher pro. It was nice and helped me to get the full access to the phone menu. Then I upgraded to go launcher.
I am uploading the pictures in case you are curious!!!

June 24th

2010-06-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today finally Santosh and Avanish also left the hostel and now I have started feeling kinda alone because I won't be having anybody around me to share my feelings with. ;(
But this phase is definitely short and when it gets over there is so much good to come that I can pass this time in hope of that.
Today it rained a little and dropped the temperature to a well low at 30 degrees. Tomorrow it's expected to be more. I never knew that what this rain is bringing in for me, and certainly it has made this day as one of the greatest of my life. The reasons I can not discuss but I can say that it has raised my confidence, improved my character, raised many rays of hope in me.
Today, I was again in C.P. and I had that milk shake again of which I am a big lover. Then I bought some cards and came back in college. I talked to Ambrish also.

2010-05-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

College days are about to be over and we are embarking on a new path to our respective lives, but this summer is surely full of uncertainties. Some people have to join their jobs as they have already received their letters and others will be eagerly waiting for that. But all of them would be having some sort of frenzy about the things coming to fore.
It's really hot these days in Delhi and mercury is reaching to 46 degrees now, sometime it feels like it we are living in a furnace and I am sure earlier it was not like this. Before civil services exam I had no time to decide what to do what to not during the whole day, but after that I have so much time that I can even write the blog and diary. I can try my hands on some things which were, hitherto, untouched. Practical dates are shifting like sand dunes all over again. Now while I am writing this, Abhishek Jha accompanied by Abhinov and Pandey ji, is going to put some pressure on Dr. Avadhesh Kumar(teacher) because he has shifted the practical dates to 7th and Jha has to attend the marriage ceremony of his sister on 10th.
Let's see what happens.

the new student.

2010-04-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

This is a new development in the college that A.K. Gupta sir (full time) is new H.O.D. of Civil end Env. Engineering. Alas! there are some problems associated with this, firstly, he is very less known among our faculty members and students as a professor and secondly because of his extra kind and patient nature ( lovingly known as Gauu among students); this encourages our old H.O.D. to not to give him proper regard as a H.O.D. and also, he has not vacated the room allocated to Gupta sir.
There was a funny incident on 22nd April class when a dog came in the class may be to avoid the heat outside and get fresh air conditioned atmosphere (not to study..lol).
as Sir refused to oust this beautiful creature, Narendra had to show his skills. He kicked it and made it run away. Narendra should change his name, I guess because it does not suite him.

Monday, classes of 5th April

2010-04-05T05:31:00.000-07:00

Today we went for the classes and attended Gupta Sir's class again and got attendance in Kongan Sir's class also; though no class was held for the latter. Then we called him up for our project and he told us to contact him at 5 PM but even at 5 PM we couldn't find him. Then I called and got the same answer that we should choose the topic first, but the funny thing is that this is the toughest part of the project because all the jargon that we have to write or we have to explain later will be based on this thing only. The success and failure of the project depend on the title of the project ( that how much it can be dignified).
Anyways, we hope that this thing will pass on like our 4 years did. There is a fear among hostellers that we can be expelled from hostels if "SINE DIE" is imposed in college and that will be horrible as outsider students don't have any choice but to turn to their homes; but I don't wanna do that. Big exam is coming, you see. ;)

Let's see what happens.

Universalisation of Primary Education in India

2010-04-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

This is a bit late but utterly welcomed move of the government. It should have come much earlier. Now the major challenge before the government is to improve the quality of public schools and to abridge the gap between private school educated and government school educated students.
The percentage allocation in budget for education should be increased as even the failed states like Zimbabwe happened to have greater literacy rates than that of India; and that too after India having such relaxed norms for a person to be counted as literate. The real situation will come to fore only when it will be made mandatory for a literate person to read, write and understand any of the official languages.
It will be a right move for NGOs to come forward and firstly make the poor families aware about free elementary education and it's future benefits.

30th February Exam

2010-03-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

Hmm, I am very sure that you people can well recognise this image here. It is no wonder that this was the toughest exam of the college to date. Even after knowing so much we didn't know nothing, if you know what I mean; Since we had to articulate everything from start to end.
I couldn't do the paper earlier than an hour because my imagination had become rusty after appearing after so long for an exam of this kind, but we have to appreciate the goodwill of Raju Sarkar sir to provide us with some crucial marks at this stage, at least for me who is on the verge of losing the job. Tomorrow's exam looks to be tougher and we (me and Jha) didn't even get our photocopies done and Vimal is refusing to cooperate so we have to finish the syllabus in a few hours until Shukla starts reading his notes.

First Day of Mid Sem Exam

2010-03-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Ha Ha, no no, sometimes looks can be deceiving and that's what is happening here because these exams are going really smoothly and nobody is even talking about others' preparation and more to add, they are not at all concerned about writing more in hall but are trying to finish the answers in a compact manner.
I reached earlier today as I always do and found my seat in convocation hall with P.B. Sharma and Vishal Verma as invigilators (BRGR actually). They were too much concerned about conducting the exams carefully for final year students as first and third year students had already boycotted the exams in morning. (एक बार दूध का जला छांछ भी फ़ूँक कर पीता है)।
It was advanced geotech's exam and paper was too easy. Same thing will happen tomorrow, I guess. Now we are enjoying and I am listening to my favourite song 'Billie Jean' and not I'm not in mood to study tonight at least.

Mid Sem exams

2010-03-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

It's the night before the start of midsems; all students but those of final year are ready to boycott again. Even final year people are not ready but they have to do it as they fear to lose their jobs. We were studying in Vimal's room but I found myself extremely out of place while studying geotech again, meanwhile I was logged on to facebook and found some classmates online, though I don't know they were being cool or it was the pomp of DCE engineers which was making them to do so.
Anyways, I tried hard but couldn't keep up with that small 'Xeroxed' notes and ended up here. Maybe I can do it tomorrow.
Then we've plans for some shopping despite of this credit crunch ( nobody is ready to lend a penny this time :P). I think nobody will cover that tiny syllabus; that's how we are made. We are 2K6/CE.

26th March classes.

2010-03-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

We had AK GP sir's class of geotech or something, I don't remember it. We reached late in the class; at 9:30. He doesn't mind that. Then we put our attendance and some proxies ( which were more than the people present at first place). There was a different ambience today because most of the regular students were not present there, and those who were present included me, Jha, Narendra, Vimal, Rohan Jain and Ghatak and three girls.
Then we had Raju Sarkar sir's class in which we were again called in his room and he gave a drab lecture about Bangladesh University and disaster mitigation. I don't know why is he so much keen about this whole Bangladesh thing ( Daal mein Kuch kaala hai).
I went out to buy some groceries. It was short and funny today.

aftermaths of DTU protest..

2010-03-25T03:48:00.000-07:00

There is nothing new in college after protests but the faces of students now shine with confidence, indicating that they are not afraid of the teacher's threat anymore. This is a good thing. We are trying to attend some classes but they are not being held and college is also looking deserted.
Rescheduled mid semester exams will start from 29th March but I don't think we need any preparation for that. Some students have their MBA interviews during exams so they are demanding for new dates. Let's see what happens.

HT Editorial

2010-03-20T02:05:00.001-07:00

Respected Madam,
On 16th January, 2010 I read your article ‘Idiot is as idiot does’ in Hindustan Times newspaper which highlighted the ironic situation that how a movie can lead to a wrong path as it was merely produced to nurture big profits and was never intended to give any messages. You have rightfully said that it only talks about scientific ingenuity but never about the gradual development of these skills through rigorous hard work. It is utterly true that there will hardly be one or two born scientists in the crowd of lacks.
Sometimes I wonder why does everybody talk only about higher and prestigious Colleges which are doing great even without any media attention. This colleges are the eye candies of Ministry of HRD and their alumni base is very strong also the faculty is very autonomous so that no harm can be done to the glory of these institutions. Madam, you may be well aware that these institutions neither need any further validation nor do they require anymore support from public (thanks to our politicians). Everyone is dying to get their siblings in any of these professional colleges; but there are many other universities which need proper attention that they are not getting it and students study there just to gain a valid degree not for any quality education. The main reason is not the crunch of resources but it is the affection of the students and the government which they don’t get because of not being the ‘Institutions of National Importance’.
I am very much sure that our first P.M. Jawaharlal Nehru never envisaged these institutions just for overshadowing others but to create a healthy competition. Now it has become a culture that if a person is not studying in these colleges his/her study has all gone in vain. It further makes students disenchanted from their studies and their alma mater.
It is a bare truth that our IITs and even IIMs don’t stand anywhere among the best universities of the world because they have never looked upon their respective humanities departments as the other top colleges of the world do. For example – Sulmaan Rushdie is a professor of Humanities at M.I.T. and faculty of Stanford University includes four Pulitzer Prize winners (sixteen Nobel laureates are also there); definitely if it is not possible for the development of these departments upto this level then we should turn towards the colleges which have remained neglected throughout their lifetime but are capable of leapfrogging in these areas.
My personal belief is that there is no meaning of being a scientist or an engineer or a doctor if you are not socially well aware. The greatest scientist of all time Albert Einstein was a great philosopher and also was a good friend of Rabindranath Tagore similarly Nicola Tesla was so keen about poetry and literature that he became almost mad after the death of his friend Mark Twain and during his old age had illusions about his friend as if he was living with him. This shows that it is not right to neglect other art and humanities colleges in the flash of these high profile colleges.

HT Editorial

2010-03-20T02:02:00.000-07:00

My letter has been written as a reply to a letter by Mr. Amrik Singh, printed in the editorial page. Mr. Amrik Singh shows a great concern towards the Chinese incursions in Ladakh region but my question is ,”has it really happened”. If anyone can remember the Sino-India war of 1962 then he can also remember how the Chinese army withdrew from the region of Ladakh after claiming one part known as ‘Aksai Chin’ which was never inhabited and was claimed by China from much earlier times. Before this all happened there was an offer from Chinese side to talk over the matter; it was rejected by Nehru. Confrontation was result of intelligence failure when Indian troops were assigned to fight with Chinese troops without going for any talks or negotiation. Outposts were made across the McMohan line also. This all heated up the situation as China was cynical about Indian role in Tibetan uprising.
On one side Nehru was not ready to spend money on military and on other side he was making the clash imminent. The war started in Thangla, the territory about which, India was not sure, was hers. Some Indian troops, including Brigadier Dalvi who commanded the forces at Thag La, were also concerned that the territory they were fighting for was not strictly territory that "we should have been convinced was ours". The announcement of ceasefire came from Chinese side otherwise results could have been worse.
In present time Indo-China relations are fairly good and these need to be strengthened further by positive bilateral talks, not by being paranoid about a word written on a stone. Indian Army has also denied any breach of International border so these claims are baseless. China is already leapfrogging in every field. India should take cues from its neighbour. We are already having a troubled border with Pakistan and relations are deteriorating with Nepal also so this hullabaloo should be avoided. China is too big a country to keep bad relations with.

Letters to Ramachandra Guha (HT)

2010-03-20T01:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Ramachandra Guha Sir,

I have been a keen reader of your articles in Hindustan Times which come under the heading ‘History Matters’. Your articles really give an insight of any situation. I especially liked the one that was concerned with the situation in Manipur because of the provision of extra powers to security forces. This matter is of the type that never comes in the notice of a common man unless he goes deep into the affair. Getting to read these articles in a national newspaper is an utter delight.

On Monday January 04, I happened to read your article ‘The fitness test’ about the appointment of Governors in the states. Sir, I want to ask you a thing that why the media (except for the print media), which blows every small issue out of proportion, did not raise these issues in that amount before the nation.

Secondly, the Andhra Raj Bhavan issued a statement that Governor was in the evening time of his life and was not doing very well on health grounds, then why was he there even after being so incompetent.

The integrity of Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibte Rizi was also questionable at the time when he did not allow the BJP to form a Government even when they were in majority. These incidents raise serious questions about the appointment of Governors. There is a need of thorough revision of the process by a nationwide discussion but the main hinderance will be the lagislators themselves. Could you suggest any solution?

common errors

2009-10-10T23:40:00.002-07:00

like/as though; as if

The word like should never be used before a clause.

Example 1 (incorrect usage): It looks like it will rain.

Like should only be used before a noun, as in the following example:

Example 2 (correct usage): The girl looks like her mother.

Take a close look at the two sentences above. Do you see the difference in how they are used? In the first sentence, like is followed by the clause it will rain. In the second sentence, like is followed by her mother. Whenever a subject and verb follow, remember to substitute like with either as though or as if, as illustrated in the final example below.

Example 3 (correct): It looks as if it will rain.
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real/really

Real is often used in place of really, most often in conversational English.

Example 1 (incorrect usage): I am real tired today.
Example 2 (correct usage): I am really tired today.

Although this error is somewhat acceptable in informal conversation, it is actually incorrect and should never be used in writing. The reason that real is incorrect when used this way is simple: Real is an adjective, and as you can see in the first example above, real is incorrectly used as an adverb. In the example, real is describing tired, which is an adjective, so the adverb really is needed to make the sentence correct.
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"Only" as a misplaced modifier
The adverb only should be placed as close as possible to the word it modifies in a sentence. Consider the following two sentences:

Example 1: The band only sang five songs at the concert.
Example 2: The band sang only five songs at the concert.

Example 1 indicates that the band sang, rather than played, five songs. The sentence in Example 2 indicates that the band sang five songs, rather than eight or ten or any other number. There is a distinct difference in meaning. However, it is common for only to be misplaced in a sentence, making the meaning of the sentence ambiguous.

A similar error was made with the popular old song called "I Only Have Eyes for You." The writers of this song would have made the message clearer by writing "I Have Eyes for Only You." But then again, the song just wouldn't sound the same had the lyrics been written to be grammatically correct. Regardless, when using only in your own speaking and writing, remember to place it as close as possible to the word you are modifying so the meaning of the sentence is clear to the audience.
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wait on/wait for

The phrase wait on should be used only when referring to serving someone or something.

Example 1 (correct usage): The server waited on the customers in the restaurant.

This phrase should never mistakenly be used in place of wait for.

Example 2 (incorrect usage): We waited on our guests to arrive.
Example 3 (correct usage): We waited for our guests to arrive.
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who/that

The pronoun that is often mistakenly used in place of who. When the noun to which you are referring is a person, always use who. If, however, you are not referring to a person, then the appropriate pronoun to use is that.

Example 1 (incorrect usage): The waitress that served me was very rude. (In this sentence, that is referring to a real person--the waitress--so who should have been used instead.)

Example 2 (correct usage): The waitress who served me was very rude.

Example 3 (correct usage): The car that is parked in the street belongs to me. (That is correctly used because a car is not a person. Who would, of course, have been incorrect if used in this sentence.)
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who/whom

These two words must be a couple of the trickiest ones in the English language. It seems as if no speakers, and only some writers, know how to use who and whom correctly. In fact, whom doesn't even exist in some people's vocabularies, and unfortunately, it appears to be a word that is quickly disappearing from the English language.

Who is used as the subject of the clause it introduces. Whom is used as the object of a preposition, as a direct object, or as an indirect object.

A key to remembering which word to use is simply to substitute who or whom with a pronoun. If you can substitute he, she, we, or they in the clause, and it still sounds okay, then you know that who is the correct word to use. If, however, him, her, us, or them sounds more appropriate, then whom is the correct choice for the sentence.

The following are some example sentences that illustrate how to correctly use who and whom.
Example 1 (who): The woman who [not whom] is standing over there is my mother.

Example 2 (whom): Whom are you going out with tonight? (Note that in formal writing, the sentence should be read: "With whom are you going out tonight?")

Example 3 (whom): The stranded motorist whom I helped was very grateful.

If you substitute she for who in Example 1, it becomes obvious that who is the correct word: "...she [in place of who] is standing over there." Now take a look at Example 3 above. Take the clause whom I helped and substitute him for whom. If you reverse the order of the words, the clause becomes I helped him. Him is in the place of whom. Remember that although this is a helpful way to distinguish between who and whom, you have to look at just the part of the sentence that begins with who or whom for this trick to work.
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Misplaced modifiers

A modifier is a word or a phrase that describes something else. You should place it as close as possible to what it describes. If you don't, your intended meaning may not be clear. Consider the unintentional meanings in the following:

* The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.
* The dog was chasing the boy with the spiked collar.

You can see what's wrong. The dog isn't "in a short skirt" and the boy doesn't have a "spiked collar." Because the modifier is misplaced, we have to think for a minute before we get the intended meaning. The correct versions are:

* The young girl in a short skirt was walking the dog.
* The dog with the spiked collar was chasing the boy.

See how the proper placement clarifies the meaning?

You also need to watch the placement of modifiers such as almost, even, hardly, nearly, often, and only. A couple of examples should be enough:

1. Big Dog almost ran around the yard twenty times.
2. He nearly ate a whole box of treats.

In both sentences--when he "almost ran" and "nearly ate"--nothing happened! He didn't quite get around to doing either thing. What is intended is:

1. Big Dog ran around the yard almost twenty times.
2. He ate nearly a whole box of treats.

Remember: if you give your readers a chance to interpret something in more than one way, they'll usually get it wrong! By placing your modifiers correctly, you'll eliminate this possibility and have a better chance of getting your point across.
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free gift

Who would want to be given a gift and then told there’s a charge? Anything that is a gift is free; otherwise, it isn’t a gift. Likewise, if there is a cost involved, it is definitely not a gift.

The term free gift is used frequently by retailers to entice customers with a bonus offer: "Free gift with the purchase of $50 or more!"

Stay away from marketing lingo and avoid using free with gift. Remember that a gift always comes with no strings attached—period.
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further/farther

Further and farther are often used interchangeably, although they actually have slightly different meanings. Both words refer to distance, but the distinction is in the type of distance. Further refers to mental distance, while farther refers to physical distance. Take a look at the differences as illustrated in the sentences below:

Example 1 (further-correct usage): The student read further in the textbook. (Note that the distance traveled is only mental.)

Example 2 (farther-correct usage): I have to drive farther to work than to school. (In this sentence, we are referring to an actual distance that is measurable in miles, kilometers, etc., so the word farther is used.)
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hopefully

This is one word that has become almost completely acceptable in its incorrect form, hence its “questionable” status.

Most people use it to mean "it is hoped that," as in the following sentence:

Example 1: Hopefully, the rain will stop in time for the outdoor concert.

Hopefully can also be used to describe performing an action "in a hopeful manner," as the following example demonstrates:

Example 2: We hopefully waited for the winner of the competition to be announced.

Example 2 illustrates what is considered by some to be the only correct usage of hopefully, while Example 1 is considered an outright error.

The argument against using hopefully in the manner of Example 1 is that the adverb--hopefully--is not modifying anything. The rain (in Example 1) is not performing an action in a hopeful manner. Other adverbs, such as thankfully, frankly, and honestly, are used similarly.

There is much debate over the correctness of using adverbs this way. To avoid controversy, switch from hopefully to I hope or we hope. Or you can choose to go with the masses and continue to use hopefully. Hopefully, no one will correct you.
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irregardless/regardless

Regardless of what you may read or hear people say, irregardless is an unnecessary and illogical substitution for regardless. For some strange reason, this hideous word has slipped into the English language. Think for a second about the logic behind the construction of the word irregardless: The prefix ir- means "the absence of," and the suffix -less means "the absence of." Is it really necessary to indicate the absence of regard twice? I think not. Remember that regardless is a complete word on its own without the redundant ir- at the beginning.
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mash/press or push

This is an error that may get me some nasty letters from my neighbors here in the South, where I live. It involves the usage of the word mash. Having grown up in the southern United States, I have become accustomed to hearing the word mash used in sentences such as, "Mash the button on the elevator." However, the best word to use for this sentence would be press. Mash means "to crush," but press means "to act on with a steady force," "to bear heavily down on," or "to squeeze or compress." Just remember that you mash potatoes, but you press buttons.
podium/lectern

If you've ever given a speech or lecture, you more than likely have used a stand called a lectern as a place to lay your papers or notes. However, you probably didn't refer to the stand as a lectern. Like most people, you probably called it a podium. But a podium is actually a raised platform used to stand upon when speaking in front of a group. Remember that you stand behind a lectern, while you stand on a podium.

If you are wondering why one would differentiate between these two words, consider the origin of the word podium. It is a Latin word derived from the Greek word podion, a form of pous or podos, meaning foot. Aha! By looking at the derivative of the word, it becomes clear why a podium is something that is stood upon--its root means foot.

2009-10-10T23:40:00.001-07:00