1. El Niño vs La Niña
• an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December. The effects of El Niño include reversal of wind patterns across the Pacific, drought in Australasia, and unseasonal heavy rain in South America.
• La Niña is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of El Niño, as part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation climate pattern.
• The name La Niña originates from Spanish, meaning “the little girl”, analogous to El Niño meaning “the little boy”.
2. Bonhomie
• Cheerful friendliness; geniality.
Usage: He exuded good humour and bonhomie.
3. To play second fiddle
• To play a supporting or minor role in relation to someone else.
Usage: Tired of playing second fiddle, she resigned and started her own company.
4. Parley
• A conference between opposing sides in a dispute, especially a discussion of terms for an armistice.
Usage: A parley is in progress and the invaders may withdraw.
• Parley is a discussion or conference, especially one between enemies over terms of a truce or other matters.
5. Bugbear
• A cause of obsessive fear, anxiety, or irritation.
Usage: The biggest villain is that adman’s bugbear, saturated fat.
• An imaginary being invoked to frighten children, typically a sort of hobgoblin supposed to devour them.
6. Mess of pottage
• A mess of pottage is something immediately attractive but of little value taken foolishly and carelessly in exchange for something more distant and perhaps less tangible but immensely more valuable.
7. Chimera
• In Greek mythology a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.
• A thing which is hoped for but is illusory or impossible to achieve.
Usage: The economic sovereignty you claim to defend is a chimera.
• A chimera is essentially a single organism that’s made up of cells from two or more “individuals”—that is, it contains two sets of DNA, with the code to make two separate organisms. One way that chimeras can happen naturally in humans is that a foetus can absorb its twin.
8. A Priori
• Being an argument based on an assumed principle
• Relating to or derived by reasoning from self-evident propositions
Usage:It is normally assumed, a priori that parents can handle the problems of their children better.
9. Adroitly
• In a clever or skilful way.
Usage: He managed the evacuation adroitly.
10. Inglorious
• Of an action or situation causing shame or a loss of honour.
Usage: An inglorious episode in British imperial history.
• Not famous or renowned.
Usage: That country has an inglorious record of dealing harshly with political prisoners.
11. On the chin
• Accept criticism or a difficult situation.
Usage: He is also prepared to take criticism on the chin, which is a good thing.
12. Cohabitation
• The state or fact of living or existing at the same time or in the same place.
Usage: A harmonious cohabitation with other living creatures.
13. Generalised System of Preferences
• The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories.
• GSP was instituted on January 1, 1976, by the Trade Act of 1974.
• On June 2019, President Donald Trump has terminated India’s designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the key GSP trade programme after determining that it has not assured the US that it will provide “equitable and reasonable access” to its markets.
