The Money tree..

"Mom, can you give me some more pocket money?"
"No I can't - money doesn't grow on trees, you know."

Money doesn't grow on trees

This is a common conversation that you hear in any house.

but does money actually grow on trees? No, then why do we use this expression.

Money doesn't grow on trees - It is a phrase which means that you must not spend too much money as there is not much money to spend.

It actually looks like a common expression but when observed has a hidden meaning. Such expressions as called as Phrases. Phrases improve the expressive quality of the sentence/ conversation. The impact on the listener is very strong & hence the understanding of the context spoken. The listener is able to relate to the information and expression the speaker is trying to say.
Most of the phrases are imaginary expressions with greater impact.

Some examples:

• Adbul asked me to buy a car for him on his birthday, i can't afford to. Money doesn't grow on trees for me.
• I have to bare all the expenses of my family, money doesn't grow on trees you know. I need to earn more to keep up.

UP...UP...UP.....

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?
Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends.

And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.

We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning.


People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary.

In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.

It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.
When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP,
for now my time is UP,
so........it is time to shut UP!

Innovative concept - Go Green

 The world speaks of global warming & planting more trees. With space constraints many don't get the opportunity to do it even while they wish they could. Here is an innovative concept for adding greenery to your home whilst having very little space.

A very impressive way of saying "I care for the planet / Go Green".

Peace in Place

The Tengquera Masjid, Melaka, Malaysia.

The masjid in Melaka which is one of the oldest in Malaysia bares a very unique experience to it. It is the most preferred tourist spot for most of the travelers coming to Melaka.

Just by viewing it from the outside, you feel you have gone back in time with peace & serenity touching your soul.

The mosque built in 1728 has a very different & unique style of architecture to it. The main prayer hall is cool as a place in hill station (which is a very rare place in Malaysia without an A/C). The walls bare witness to the changing history of the place & country. The Minaret which stands tall and straight with all its strength even after 285 yrs is an exemplary piece of work.

The pillars have paintings of ancient Malaysian art & look something similar to Arabian design with a combination of Chinese designs. The water storage place is so filled with purity.
The inside of the roof is fitted with wood which look so new even today.
Although the masjid looks small form outside the inside of it is an excellent, peaceful, satisfactory, serene, exciting & a beautiful experience to be in such a place.

Just spending time in the corridor looking at the beauty of the masjid would be enough for a person finding peace in his life.

A visit to the place would be incomplete for any history lover or infact any tourist going to Malaysia.

All thanks to The Almighty God who gave me a chance to visit this beautiful place.

Here are a few pictures of the place.

From the outside

From the Inside

The water storage place for cleansing self before prayers

The pillar in the center of the pool with a touch of Arabian architecture

The painting at the bottom of the pillar with Chinese style of painting

Unique Invitation Card

Best part I like is - "You will be the villain if you don't attend the function".

CAPITAL LETTERS

Capitalization is a very important part of grammar in English with very less attention given.

Many people do not know the correct usage of Capital letters. 

Given below are the situations & a few examples when we are required to use Capital letters:

1. When you start a sentence:

The children are playing in the park. She is a beautiful girl.

2. When using personal pronoun - I:

I am a teacher. I will be going to the market tomorrow.

3. Writing Acronyms or Abbreviations:

UNO - United Nations Organisation.

WHO - World Health Organisation.

4. Names of places, countries, nationalities, religion & language:

London, Germany, Indian, Buddhism, Chinese.

5. People's names & titles:

Mr. Smith, Dr. Amina, 

Sr. Lecturer, Mrs. Jenny.

King Henry

6. Days of the week, months of the year, holidays:

Monday, Tuesday
January, February
Christmas
Independence Day

7. Names of companies and organizations:

Pepsi Cola, Sony
Microsoft Corporation, Toyota
the United Nations, the Red Cross

8. For places and monuments:

the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal
Buckingham Palace, the White House
Asia, the Middle East, the North Pole

9. Names of planets and celestial objects:
Jupiter, Mars, Sirius, Moon

10. Names of vehicles like ships, trains and spacecraft

Titanic, Shatabdi Express, Apollo- 3

11. Titles of books, poems, plays, films etc:

Macbeth, Othello, Daffodils, The Last Lear

The Lion King, Gone With The Wind

12. sometimes! for headings, titles of articles, books etc, and newspaper headlines:

HOW TO WIN AT POKER

Chapter 2: CLINTON'S EARLY LIFE
LIFE FOUND ON MARS!

BLACKMAIL

Origin of the word ‘blackmail’

To blackmail somebody is to extort money or something else of value from them by the threat of exposing information that will harm them in many ways. Blackmailing is a punishable offence.

We all know that the word mail is used to talk about materials handled in a postal system. 

Interestingly, the expression ‘blackmail’ has nothing to do with letters or the postal system. So how did the word ‘blackmail’ originate? Well, here is the story!!

The word blackmail comes from the Scottish ‘mail’. In Scottish English this word used to mean ‘tax’ or ‘rent’. 

In the olden days, the law and order situation in Scotland wasn’t very good. It wasn’t good in other countries, too. Because of poor enforcement of law, farmers living along the borders of Scotland suffered at the hands of criminal gangs. 

These gangs would rob them and get away with little punishment. Poor farmers were incapable of fighting these looters. So they chose to pay them off. They would make some payment in exchange for protection and immunity from plunder.

In those days the usual modes of payment were cattle, grains and copper coins. These were considered black. And this system of exhorting money from poor farmers was called ‘blackmail’. It means ‘black tax’ or ‘black rent’. If a farmer chose to pay in silver coins, then it was called ‘white mail’.