Cantab or Cant

It's 2011 and let me start off the year by shedding a bit of light on pretentious abbreviations after people's names, in particular, the abbreviation 'Cantab'. The University of Cambridge is the second oldest university in England and one of the most prestigious university in existence. Hence, for the toffee-nosed graduates of this university a business card or letterhead may have the following after their names. E.g. Mark Chew BA (Hons)(Leeds), MA (Cantab).

That's fine. However, being a graduate of the University of Canterbury from New Zealand, I find it rather amusing when fellow alumni use the Cantab after their qualifications. This may be out of ignorance. It Should be Cant. (NB: This in no way suggests that the University of Canterbury is inferior).

Degrees from The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury) are followed by the abbreviation 'Cantuar', e.g. B.Sc (Cantuar). The abbreviation for Oxford degrees is 'Oxon', e.g. MA (Oxon).

Graduand and Graduate

Sarah received her Bachelor's Degree on 27th September last week. So what is the difference between graduand and graduate?

A graduand is simply a student who has passed all the examinations required for a particular degree (or diploma) and has qualified to graduate. The student becomes a graduate when he or she receives the degree or scroll during the graduation ceremony (or convocation, if you like).

Hence, it is incorrect to address graduands as graduates before they receive their degrees.

Quite subtle, I must say.

Merdeka Day

Hello! It's 23rd September and I'm down under in Sydney at Sarah and Scott Velazquez's place. Sarah is our daughter.

THE Federation of Malaya (as it was known then) just celebrated it's 53 years of independence on 31st August. Last week on 16th September, Malaysia (now comprising of Sabah, Sarawak and The Federation of Malaya) celebrated it's 47 years of formation since 1963 (Singapore left the Malaysian Federation on 6th July 1965) . We now call it Malaysia Day.

(A historical note here: Sabah gained it's independence from Britain on 16th September 1963 by joining the newly formed Malaysia whilst Sarawak actually gained independence on 22nd July 1963).

So what's the puzzle here?

It is incorrect to say that we celebrated the 53rd Merdeka Day. Or for that matter the 47th Malaysia Day. We should say we celebrated 53 years of independence. The first day of independence is 31st August 1957. So count it year by year and 31st August 2010 is actually the 54th.

To further clarify, it is absurb to say somebody celebrates his 61st birthday when he is sixty-one years old. We should say, he celebrates his birthday today, the 2nd of October. He is sixty-one years old today.

However, where anniversaries are concerned, after one year of marriage, we say that the couple celebrate their 1st Wedding Anniversary.

So there you are!

a.m. and p.m.

These two abbreviations are used everyday by people all over the world. A.M. which is short for 'ante meridiem' meaning 'before noon' , is used to indicate the hours between midnight and midday, and P.M. which is short for 'post meridiem' meaning 'after noon', is used to indicate the hours between midday and midnight. I have seen signboards which read "Open from 5 p.m. to 12 p.m." or "We are closed from 12 a.m."

Believe it or not, there are no such times as 12 p.m. or 12 a.m. It is only right to indicate these two particular times of the day as 12 Noon or 12 Midnight.

Initialism

Referring to my earlier posting on acronyms and abbreviations, initialism is an abbreviation consisting of the initial letter or letters of a word or phrase in which each letter is pronounced separately and followed by a period, e.g. A.S.A.P. , "as soon as possible." This is a special form of abbreviation.

Nowadays, with the advent of the internet chat, and sms (short message service) on the mobile phone, numerous initialisms have cropped up. This is partly to save time and also to reduce the cost of sending the message, e.g B4 "before", MYOB, "Mind Your Own Business", btw, "by the way", and this one is my favourite, HAND, "Have A Nice Day", which I dedicate to PK.

English or British

While watching the Formula 1 races during the year when Lewis Hamilton became world champion at the end of the season, a commentator had remarked "It had been quite awhile since an Englishman was World Champion. Lewis Hamilton could be that Englishman."
I have many people feeling uncomfortable that a black or mixed black could be an Englishman.

They had always thought that an Englishman must be a white. English as in English race (which by the way, can be quite difficult to define). They would rather refer to Lewis Hamilton as British.

Well, anyway, to clarify the usage of the word "English", a person who is born in England and is a citizen, is English, regardless of his racial origin. Same applies to the definition of an American. But we do hear of blacks being called Afro-Americans. So you have Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Native Americans, etc. What say you!

Sent To The Gallows

Sometime back, a jobless man was reported to have been "sent to the gallows" by the judge, when what the paper meant was that the man was found guilty of a capital offence and he was SENTENCED to death. He's not dead yet. He may appeal the sentence. If you want to be stylish you may say that he was sentenced to be executed AT THE GALLOWS. Put it simply, "sent to the gallows" meant that the guilty man was already executed. Hanged in this case.