Are you one of the Four Hundred?

Today’s English
June 23rd, 2017

Did you notice the capital letters used in “The Four Hundred"? Yes, the phrase refers to people of high society and it came into use from a social event in the New York City in which the guests were reduced into the four hundred most important people since the host's ballroom was only that much spacious enough. Now any person of the high society is mentioned as one of the Four Hundred. I hope, you can also become one of the Four Hundred, can't you?

Let’s see other interesting and fruitful expressions connected with hundreds and thousands:

1. A / one hundred percent = Not feeling completely well; completely

A. Are you feeling well now? Oh, no. I’m not a hundred percent yet. (= I haven’t recovered from illness completely)
B. I’m one hundred percent sure that he is the culprit/ black sheep.

2. 110% = To take extra efforts than usual one to be successful or to complete a work

A. Let’s all give a hundred and ten percent so that we can win the match.
B. It’s a Herculean task and you need to give 110%.

3. Ninety-nine percent of the time = almost on all occasions, almost in all time

A. I have seen her with him ninety-nine percent of the time.
B. My guess never goes wrong. It has been correct ninety-nine percent of the time.

4. A hundred and one (things) / hundreds of, thousands of = a lot of , a large amount of
A. Still we have a hundred and one things to do.
B. Hundreds of students assembled there to welcome the chief guest.

5. The $64000 question =  what we/ all people want to know…/ a crucial question

A. His idea sounds good but the sixty-four thousand dollar question is whether it will work out.
B. The $64000 question is how to save our children from the internet monsters.

(The phrase has its origin from a popular American game show (from 1955-58) in which the correct answer for the last question carries $64000. )

6. The feeding of the 5000 = a situation in which food is to be served to a lot of people (it need not necessarily be thousand)

A. What we are doing here in the hostel is the feeding of the Five Thousand and it’s often difficult to satisfy all the students.
B. I have to cook for all guests and I feel like the feeding of the Five Thousand.

(The phrase is from the Bible, Matthew 14:13-21 in which Jesus feeds five thousand people just with five loaves of bread and two fish.)

7. One common error with hundred and thousand
Don’t add -s to thousand and hundred when you add number before it. If you use “hundreds of” or “thousands of”, you should use plural verb in all cases but not while talking about an amount of money.

A. Incorrect: two thousands of products, four hundreds of people
correct : two thousand products, four hundred people, four thousand trees
B. Correct: Ten thousand people have complained about that.
Correct: Ten thousand rupees is not a matter to me.
Incorrect: Ten thousand rupees are not a matter to me.
Correct: The expenditure for my kid’s education ran into thousands.

(Teacher: To be one of the Four Hundred, you should devote yourself to the study 100%.

Student: Yes madam.

Teacher: haven't I told a thousand and one times that there should be no complaint about you.

Student: No madam, you told only 13 times.

Teacher: Shut up.

Student: which window madam?

Teacher: Nonsense. Haven't I told you hundreds of time not to talk like this.

Student: No madam, only 9 times you told.

Teacher: you look brilliant but I see you in the college canteen ninety-nine percent of the time. How will you clear your hundred and one arrears then?

Student: No madam, I have only 18 arrears. I will give 110% madam to clear them.

Teacher: let me first know.  what’s your ambition in life?

Student: I can become a collector madam, can’t I ?

Teacher:……….?!  it’s a $64000 question...)