No soft corner for the covidiot
The Hindu
What is the difference between ‘covidiot’ and ‘vidiot’? (KL Hema, Tiruchi)Of the two, ‘covidiot’ is a relatively new word. ‘Vidiot’ is a combination of two words: ‘video’ and ‘idiot’. According to the
Of the two, ‘covidiot’ is a relatively new word. ‘Vidiot’ is a combination of two words: ‘video’ and ‘idiot’. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word has been around since the 1940s. It became a part of everyday vocabulary, however, only in the 1980s, when watching videos at home became a popular way of spending time. A ‘vidiot’ is someone who spends a lot of his/her time watching videos, without really worrying about the quality of what he/she is watching. This idiot watches indiscriminately; he/she watches whatever he/she can lay his/her hands on. The word can also be used to refer to someone who watches a lot of TV and spends a lot of time playing video games. The stress in this word is on the first syllable -VI-di-et. I’m sure all the vidiots out there are looking forward to seeing this movie.The fear of being caught for traffic rule violation has indeed compelled many two-wheeler riders to wear helmets. But one cursory look at riders at any traffic junction in Bengaluru shows that more than half the riders have on their heads non-standard helmets, designed solely to evade the eye of law, with little concern for the safety of their own heads.
When Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, Beijing promised to retain the city’s Western-style civil liberties for 50 years. However, since the introduction of the 2020 law, Hong Kong authorities have severely limited free speech and assembly under the rubric of maintaining national security.