The Hindu Business Line : Boiling frog syndrome, and bouncebackability of inflation

Stop lamenting about price rises. Because `the situation' is `not yet critical to threaten GDP projections' as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government assures.

Meanwhile, `country outlook' on www.tmcnet.com states, "The government will try to distribute the benefits of economic growth more widely, and India's economic boom will continue." The report dated June 22 is positive that India will continue to maintain macroeconomic stability `despite an increasingly difficult environment characterised by high international oil prices, volatile portfolio flows and inflationary pressures.' Glug... glug.

The white knight in shining armour is expected to be the central banker, though `inflation' occurs but once in a recent speech by the Guv, Y.V. Reddy. "Monetary policy, while being supportive of investment demand places emphasis on price and financial stability and has succeeded in containing inflation expectations," he said on May 11, talking in the US on an Indian perspective to `global imbalances'.

Another speech by the Guv, the next day, titled `Reflections on India's economic development' has no mention of inflation. This, even as his counterpart there Ben Bernanke has been muddling markets with inflammatory statements such as that the stability of core inflation "has been enhanced by the fact that long-term inflation expectations appear to remain well contained."

When the price-battered and policy-confused common man looks to politicians for clarity, they invariably nudge the bureaucracy at hand to come up with some quickies to placate and numb.

Hasty tutorials take place, with the babus explaining to the netas the intricacies of economics in the light of the intrigues of politics. Don't be surprised if, ultimately, what gets blurted out by our elected representatives in front of TV microphones bears little connection to the problem on hand.

"In the same way as a high-pitched dog whistle is only audible to dogs, so dog-whistle politics is intended to rouse a specific audience without disturbing the rest of the electorate," writes Susie Dent in "Fanboys and Overdogs: The Language Report," from Oxford University Press (www.oup.com) .

In more than a score chapters, the author discusses a range of topics, from euphemism to exaggeration, from swearing to slang, from the language of cosmetics to the new business-speak. The section on business has `bangalored', a word that gives jitters to the many who lose jobs due to outsourcing.

Closer home, the `boiling frog syndrome' may describe the current food situation, because the phrase means "having inadequate contingency plans, or being insufficiently reactive to change." But why bring in the poor frog? Dent explains: "Although a frog placed in hot water will leap out, one placed in cold water which is then gradually heated is said to be unable to detect the slow, incremental rise in temperature: failing to react, it boils to death." So too...

Well, before the frogs goes under, catch up with Brazilian cut (in boyshorts) and chuddies (`an alteration of the word churdiars'?) in `the language of the undergarment'; and face a chapter on `the political animal,' where `hyenas feast on bill' and the imagery of the dog spans continents.

Among the `words in the spotlight' last year is dabbawalla, the characteristic Mumbai `tiffin or curry carrier', who went to Windsor to gift `tilgul laddoos' to Prince Charles.

Another word, which may be tapped during these World Cup days, is bouncebackability, allegedly coined in 2004 by the manager of a British football club. For instance, the Guv can educate people that inflation has demonstrated an unexpected bouncebackability.

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in