Kanjoos Makkhichoos

Kanjoos means stingy. But it's the second word - Makkhi-Choos - that gives this delightfully alliterative phrase it's primal power.

The word Makhichoos means "To suck a fly" and alludes to the apocryphal story about a stingy shopkeeper who retrieved a housefly that had fallen into a tub of ghee, and then proceeded to suck the ghee from the body of the fly. "Why waste good ghee," he apparently said.

Although commonly heard in schools all over India, it can be heard being muttered in boardrooms and corporate offices as well, especially after employees do not get the raise they expected.