Caste Cast or Cats !!

Dictionary.com has around 76 known usages of the word cast.

I am reproducing 6 of those here, do check out the rest – they too are illuminating !

–verb (used with object)
1. to throw or hurl; fling: The gambler cast the dice.
2. to throw off or away: He cast the advertisement in the wastebasket.
3. to direct (the eye, a glance, etc.), esp. in a cursory manner: She cast her eyes down the page.
4. to cause to fall upon something or in a certain direction; send forth: to cast a soft light; to cast a spell; to cast doubts.
5. to draw (lots), as in telling fortunes.
6. Angling.
a. to throw out (a fishing line, net, bait, etc.): The fisherman cast his line.
b. to fish in (a stream, an area, etc.): He has often cast this brook.

It has 6 different uses of the word caste :

1. Sociology.
a. an endogamous and hereditary social group limited to persons of the same rank, occupation, economic position, etc., and having mores distinguishing it from other such groups.
b. any rigid system of social distinctions.
2. Hinduism. any of the social divisions into which Hindu society is traditionally divided, each caste having its own privileges and limitations, transferred by inheritance from one generation to the next; jati. Compare class (def. 13).
3. any class or group of society sharing common cultural features: low caste; high caste.
4. social position conferred upon one by a caste system: to lose caste.
5. Entomology. one of the distinct forms among polymorphous social insects, performing a specialized function in the colony, as a queen, worker or soldier.
–adjective
6. of, pertaining to, or characterized by caste: a caste society; a caste system; a caste structure.

Times of India – the world’s leading English Language newspaper – as a part of its austerity drive, has gotten rid of its dictionaries as raddi, and its copy editors have been deputed to make chai -as a part of their head count rationalisation measures. All very commendable, and possibly explains this story :

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@vijaysankaran tweeted on, well, twitter 🙂

@calamur give toi a break:-)..they think of cast all the time. Diol bole cast on set, wanted star cast, katrina cast with srk, ….:-)

I could say a 100 things or more – but i guess a picture speaks more than words 🙂

2 thoughts on “Caste Cast or Cats !!

  1. The same paper has brilliant ones like ‘Raking in the mullah’ as a headline :).
    So, yeah caste, cast (and other homonyms) have become synonyms in the copy editor’s dictionary

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