Opinion

Inserting the foot in your mouth

Published

4 months ago

2025/11/10

At a diplomatic reception held in Vienna in the 1960s, British Foreign Minister George Brown sat in his chair enjoying a glass of wine. Then he heard the orchestra strike up a tune. When he turned round he saw a beautiful woman seated beside him. He politely asked her, “Madame, may we dance?” The lady in scarlet dress told him, “No, Mr Brown, for three reasons. First, this is a reception, not a ball. Second, even were this a ball, this would still be a state anthem and not a waltz. And third, were this a ball and not a reception and were that a waltz and not a state anthem, I would still be the Cardinal Archbishop.”

This is a well-known faux pas, a French term meaning an action or remark that causes embarrassment because it is not socially correct. Although we do not hear this phrase today, we still make socially unacceptable remarks every now and then. One day I met an old friend in Colombo who had migrated to Canada a few years ago. I said, “Good to see you again. How is your wife?” He looked at me in a serious way and asked, “Didn’t you know that she passed away a few years ago?” I felt like banging my head against a wall.

Although we dress well we have not been able to check ourselves when we speak to others. Faux pas has been defined by Pundit Michael Kinsley as the truth politicians accidentally speak. At the 1980 Democratic Convention, U.S. President Jimmy Carter extolled the virtues of former Vice President Hubert Horatio Humphrey as “Hubert Horatio Hornblower.”

Major social faux pas

Forgetting someone’s name is a major social faux pas. Sir John Kotalawala addressing an election rally turned to the organiser and asked “What’s that b ….’s name?” I met my former English teacher at a wedding ceremony after a long time. He greeted me, “Hello, Kodituwakku. How are you?” My wife asked me whether I had changed my name from Kodituwakku to Karunaratne. I told him, “Sir, I am not Kodituwakku …” Then he cut me off by saying, “Oh, it’s a faux pas.”

We meet so many people and sometimes we tend to forget their names. It is quite natural. However, when you have to introduce a friend to another person you have to remember his name. By the way, if you have to attend a function, do not go there too early or too late. They are supposed to be social blunders. Remember that we had a President who was always late for Cabinet meetings!

If you have to attend a wedding or interview, dress properly. You should not wear casual clothes for such events. There is no excuse for dressing improperly. However, if you forget someone’s name, you can ask for his name politely. A simple apology will smooth things over. You may have heard of Dr Sigmund Freud’s eponymous slip of the tongue. One day a man arrived at a railway station to buy tickets to Pittsburgh. He went to the ticket counter and asked for “Two tickets to Tittsburgh.” Sometimes people mispronounce your name. One day a wealthy socialite Mrs Stuyvesant Fish attended a fancy-dress ball in Rhode Island. At the entrance she told the butler the theme of the costume as “A Norman peasant.” Later she heard someone announcing “An enormous pheasant.”

Disrespectful and rude

If you keep on checking your mobile phone repeatedly when someone is trying to speak to you, you are committing a social faux pas. Many people view this behaviour as an indication that you are not paying attention to what another person is saying. This is something disrespectful and rude.

Sometimes we misunderstand others. One day Robert Benchley, an eminent author, while leaving a restaurant at night saw a man in uniform. The author thought that he was the doorman and asked him to call a cab. The man in uniform turned round and told him, “I happen to be a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.” “In that case,” Bentley said, “get me a battleship.”

Another example of social faux pas is excessively dominating a conversation. To avoid hogging the conversation, practise active listening. If you talk to someone, look at his face and maintain eye contact. Ask him thoughtful questions, if necessary.

Talking about women

At a party Ben and Peter were drinking and talking about women. After some time they saw two women coming down the staircase. Ben said, “That’s the woman I was in love with.” Peter said, “That’s my wife.” Ben immediately corrected himself by saying, “I mean the other woman.” “That’s my daughter,” Peter said somewhat angrily.

There are many other instances where you make blunders. One such instance is attending a birthday party empty-handed. If you are unable to decide what to give as a gift, a reasonable amount of money can be given to the birthday boy or girl.

Some women do not like to divulge their real age. Therefore do not press them to do so. On the other hand, both men and women do not like to tell you how much they earn. Such matters are extremely personal.

Intimate personal details

When you strike up a friendship with someone for the first time, make it a point not to share intimate personal details. If you do so, you will make yourself a laughing stock. Reveal your real character to close friends, if it is really necessary.

Finally, bragging is a form of faux pas. One day a young lecturer was invited to deliver a talk on the English Day at a prestigious school in Colombo. Instead of telling the students the importance of English, she started bragging about how she got a postgraduate degree at a young age. Another lecturer began his lecture by telling the audience that he had a doctorate. They do not realise that people are not interested in their academic qualifications. You are judged by your performance.

By R. S. Karunaratne ✍️
karunaratners@gmail.com

All News Advertisement

Opinion

Missing 52%: Why Women are absent from Pettah’s business landscape

Published

13 hours ago

2026/02/23

Thilina Walpola

Pettah

Walking through Pettah market in Colombo, I have noticed something both obvious and troubling. Shop after shop sells bags, shoes, electronics, even sarees, and yet all shops are owned and run by men. Even businesses catering exclusively to women, like jewelry stores and bridal boutiques, have men behind the counter. This is not just my observation but it’s a reality where most Sri Lankans have observed as normal. What makes this observation more important is when we examine the demographics where women population constitute approximately 52% of Sri Lanka’s population, but their representation as business owners remains significantly low. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2023 report, Sri Lanka’s Total Early Stage Entrepreneurial Activity rate for women is just 8.2%, compared to 14.7% for men.

Despite of being the majority, women are clearly underrepresented in the entrepreneurial aspect. This mismatch between population size and economic participation create a question that why aren’t more women starting ventures? The answer is not about capability or intelligence. Rather, it’s deeply in social and cultural barriers that have been shaping women’s mindsets for generations. From childhood, many Sri Lankan girls are raised to believe that their primary role is as homemakers.

In families, schools, and even universities, the message has been same or slightly different, woman’s success is measured by how well she manages a household, not by her ability to generate income or lead a business. Financial independence is rarely taught as essential for women the way it has been for men. Over time, this messaging gets internalised. Many women grew up without ever being encouraged to think seriously about ownership, leadership, or earning their own money. These cultural influences eventually manifest as psychological barriers as well.

Years of conditioning have led many skilled women to develop what researchers call “imposter syndrome”, a persistent fear of failure and feel that they don’t deserve success kind of feeling. Even when they have the right skills and resources, self-doubt holds them back. They question whether they can run a business independently or not. Whether they will be taken seriously, whether they are making the right choice. This does not mean that women should leave their families or reject traditional roles. But lack of thinking in a confident way and make bold decisions has real consequences. Many talented women either never start a business or limit themselves to small, informal ventures that barely survive. This is not about men versus women. It’s about the economic cost of underutilising 52% of the population. If our country is genuinely serious about sustainable growth. we must build an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem through confidence building programs, better finance access to women, and a long term societal mindset shift. Until a young girl walking through Pettah can see herself as a future shop owner rather than just a customer, we will continue to waste our country’s greatest untapped resource.

Harinivasini Hariharasarma
Department of Entrepreneurship
University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Opinion

Molten Salt Reactors

Published

13 hours ago

2026/02/23

Thilina Walpola

Some essential points made to indicate its future in Power Generation

The hard facts are that:

1) Coal supplies cannot last for more than 70- 100 years more at most, with the price rising as demand exceeds supply.

2) Reactor grade Uranium is in short supply, also with the price rising. The cost is comparable to burning platinum as a fuel.

3) 440 standard Uranium reactors around the world are 25-30 years old – coming to the end of their working life and need to be replaced.

4) Climate Change is increasingly making itself felt and forecasts can only be for continuing deterioration due to existing levels of CO2 being continuously added to the atmosphere. It is important to mention the more serious problems associated with the release of methane gases – a more harmful gas than CO2 – arising from several sources.

5) Air pollution (ash, chemicals, etc.) of the atmosphere by coal-fired plants is highly dangerous for human health and should be eliminated for very good health reasons. Pollution created by India travels to Sri Lankans by the NE monsoon causing widespread lung irritations and Chinese pollution travels all around the world and affects everybody.

6) Many (thousands) of new sources of electric power generation need to be built to meet increasing demand. But the waste Plutonium 239 (the Satan Stuff) material has also to be moved around each country by lorry with police escort at each stage, as it is recovered, stored, processed and formed into blocks for long term storage. The problem of security of transport for Plutonium at each stage to prevent theft becomes an impossible nightmare.

The positive strengths to Thorium Power generation are:

1) Thorium is quite abundant on the planet – 100 times more than Uranium 238, therefore supplies will last thousands of years.

2) Cleaning or refining the Thorium is not a difficult process.

3) It is not highly radioactive having a very slow rate of isotope decay. There is little danger from radiation poisoning. It can be safely stored in the open, unaffected by rain. It is not harmful when ingested.

4) The processes involved with power generation are quite different and are a lot less complex.

5) Power units can be quite small, the size of a modern detached house. One of these can be located close to each town, thus eliminating high voltage cross-country transmission lines with their huge power losses (up to 20%).

6) Thorium is ‘fertile’ not fissile: therefore, the energy cycle has to be kick-started by a source of Neutrons, e.g., fissile material, to get it started. It is definitely not as dangerous as Uranium.

7) It is “Fail – Safe”. It has walk-away safety. If the reactor overheats, cooled drain plugs unfreeze and the liquid drains away to storage tanks below. There can be no “Chernobyl/ Fukoshima” type disasters.

8) It is not a pressurized system; it works at atmospheric pressure.

9) As long as reactor temperatures are kept around 600 oC there are little effects of corrosion in the Hastalloy metal tanks, vessels and pipe work. China, it appears, has overcome the corrosion problem at high temperatures.

10) At no stage in the whole chain of operations is there an opportunity for material to be stolen and converted and used as a weapon. The waste products have a half- life of 300 years, not the millions of years for Plutonium.

11) Production of MEDICAL ISOTOPE Bismuth 213 is available to be isolated and used to fight cancer. The nastiest cancers canbe cured with this Bismuth 213 as Targetted Alpha therapy.

12) A hydrogen generation unit can be added.

This information obtained from following YouTube film clips:

1) The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor – what Fusion wanted to be…

2) An unbiased look at Molten Salt Reactors

3) LFTR Chemical Processing by Kirk Sorensen

Thorium! The Way Ahead!

Priyantha Hettige

Opinion

Foreign degrees and UGC

Published

13 hours ago

2026/02/23

Thilina Walpola

There are three key issues regarding foreign degrees:

Recognition: Is the awarding university recognized by our UGC?

Authenticity: Is the degree genuine or bogus?

Quality: Is it a standard, credible qualification?

1. The Recognition Issue (UGC Role)

The UGC addresses the first issue. If a foreign university is listed in the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook or the International Handbook of Universities, the UGC issues a letter confirming that the university is recognized. However, it is crucial to understand that a recognized university does not automatically imply that every degree it issues is recognized.

2. The Authenticity Issue (Employer Role)

The second issue rests with the employer. It is the employer’s responsibility to send a copy of the foreign degree to the issuing university to get it authenticated. This is a straightforward verification process.

3. The Quality Assurance Gap

The third issue

—the standard and quality of the degree—has become a matter for no one. The UGC only certifies whether a foreign university is recognized; they do not assess the quality of the degree itself.

This creates a serious loophole. For example:

Does a one-year “top-up” degree meet standard criteria?

Is a degree obtained completely online considered equivalent?

Should we recognize institutions with weak invigilation, allowing students to cheat?

What about curricula that are heavy on “notional hours” but light on functional, practical knowledge?

What if the medium of instruction is English, but the graduates have no functional English proficiency?

Members of the UGC need to seriously rethink this approach. A rubber-stamp certification of a foreign university is insufficient. The current system ignores the need for strict quality assurance. When looking at the origins of some of these foreign institutions (Campuchia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Sudan..) the intentions behind these “academic” offerings become very clear. Quality assurance is urgently needed. Foreign universities offering substandard degrees can be delisted.

M. A. Kaleel Mohammed
757@gmail.com
( Retired President of a National College of Education)