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38,700 | 25,087 | 76823_0 | I'm currently proof-reading my girlfriend's Ph.D. thesis (neither of us are native speakers) and I came across the following sentence snippet: "the switching-off induces eddy currents", and the word 'switching-off' struck me as odd. I think it should be written without a hyphen; my reasoning is vague, but seems to hinge on the distinction I feel there is between 'the turning on' (i.e. 'the activating') and 'the turning-on' ('the causing of arousal'). A quick search in my Concise Oxford Dictionary hasn't given me any ideas, so my question is: What's the correct way of writing the gerund of compound verbs? Any online resources going into this would also be much appreciated! |
38,701 | 2,086 | 76823_0 | According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a diatribe is defined as _a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something._ I had previously understood it to mean something more along the lines of _drawn out, longer than it needs to be, impassioned persuasion._ For example, in a friendly letter, _My [diatribe] begins here._ Any alternatives? |
38,702 | 103,827 | 76823_0 | I want to compare two things, one of which is random and the other is not, in favor of the latter. I'd like to do it in a more sophisticated way than simply using the word "random". Like, for example, > In this case, your pay will not depend on the roll of the dice. But Google Ngrams doesn't find a single occurrence of "depend on the roll of the dice", so I guess there's something wrong with this particular phrase. What would be a better substitute? |
38,703 | 105,573 | 76823_0 | > A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy > under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things > to happen. Harry Potter [a baby] **rolled over** inside his blankets without > waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, > not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would > be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the > front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few > weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... > (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) What’s the meaning of ‘over’ in the example? (1) If we adopt the meaning of ‘roll’ as "to move or rock from side to side,” I think ‘over’ could mean ‘repeatedly: adv 11.’ So the baby might have been swaying in the blanket repeatedly. (2) If we adopt the ‘rolled’ as a participle, the sentence can be a noun phrase that has a participle in it; ‘rolled over’ could mean ‘wrapped: v.tr.12a completely: adv 4.’ - Next sentence also has participle in its noun phrase (absolute phrase).; for the letter was closed on by an adult. (3) I think one of the two above would be proper, but ‘roll over completely, 360 degrees’ wouldn’t. What can be the proper meaning of the ‘over’? |
38,704 | 36,578 | 76823_0 | I run comedy shows, and at these comedy shows there is always an "open mike" section. Frequently I get people saying to me, shouldn't it be "open mic", because "mic" should be the shortened version of "microphone". My case is that "mic" is not a short form, it's an abbreviation, which is different. It's not really meant to be a word, it's only used in conditions where the display of the word does not accommodate all the letters. With an abbreviation, it is sometimes conventional to place a period at the end to convey that this is just part of a word. Like one would use approx. for approximately. Mike is the correct short form, the same way "bike" is short for bicycle. Looking around on the net, there is a lot of discussion, mostly heated, and there are a lot of proponents for "mic". However, I don't think this is a democratic issue. I believe the only reason "mic" has bled into spoken English and is mistakenly thought to be more correct than "mike" is because electronic equipment is widely used and seen. The space above a microphone jack is limited, and thus it is shortened to "mic", not to follow any grammatical rules, but just for space. There is no similarly common and parallel situation for "bicycle", which is why we never see "bic" in place of "bike". In order to make my case that "mike" is the appropriate short form for "microphone", I feel that one can look to the conventions of English usage that support that. I would like to know if there are formalized rules for the conversion of words like bicycle and microphone to bike and mike. Or nuclear to nuke would be another example. Also, the difference between abbreviation and shortening of a word seem distinct to me, but I find that when explaining this issue they are too synonymous and people don't see a distinction. Is there a better way to convey the difference? Please note I am firmly in the camp that thinks that "mic" is wrong, I am just looking for linguistic terminology and etymological roots to explain it. It would take a stunningly compelling argument to change my position. ... Or maybe I should just say to heck with it and call it "open stage"... |
38,705 | 36,579 | 76823_0 | This got a bit lost in the excitement over my first question, (k+1)th or (k+1)st?, so I thought I'd spin it off into its own question. I'm not sure if this is too abstract to be appropriate for this venue, but I thought I'd give it a shot. When trying to figure out which of two variants of the same phrase is more common, a good first step is to Google both (putting each in quotation marks) and seeing how many hits each garners. As we discovered in my other question, this fails when one or more of the variants contains punctuation. You'd be out of luck if you wanted to decide whether to put a hyphen in _full time_ : _"full time"_ and _"full-time"_ give exactly the same search results, even with quotation marks. (The situation is a bit more complicated with _"(k+1)st_ ", but the bottom line is that it returns many results which don't contain the literal string I was searching for.) Is there any way to measure how widely a phrase **with a specific punctuation** is used? Note that this is question is about measuring usage, not deciding what variant is best for a given situation. For that, the best way is presumably to ask a question here :) |
38,706 | 185,829 | 76823_0 | I have an idiom that is used in a sentence; which is correct? > * You are asked to copy this letter _word by word_. > * You are asked to copy this letter _word for word_. > Which is correct? |
38,707 | 188,818 | 76823_0 | I was thinking about how I walk to work while listening to "The Magnificent Seven" by The Clash, which depicts the stupidity of work. I thought that, in a way, is an oxymoron--listening to music that hates work while walking to work. It then spurred a runaway thought train: what if a person looks slender but has bodily strength that matches a champion weightlifter's--is that an oxymoron? Or are oxymorons used for feelings (like bittersweet)? I know the attributes aren't next to each other like a traditional oxymoron, but it's not a contradiction because you're not going against yourself. So what is it? |
38,708 | 125,686 | 76823_0 | In the Jewel song _Sara Swan Sleepyhead_ we have this passage: > There’s a knock at the door > **A funny suit Sammy wore** > And on his face an ear to ear grin The bolded part seems weird to me. Is this correct grammar, and how common a usage is it? |
38,709 | 36,572 | 76823_0 | From the very second paragraph of "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov: > There were nearly twenty-five million inhabited planets in the Galaxy then, > and not one but owed allegiance to the Empire whose seat was on Trantor. I presume he means that they all owed allegiance to the Empire, but that phrasing sounds like he's saying the opposite. I want to read it as if 'but' is the subject of the sentence meaning 'exception'. |
38,710 | 36,573 | 76823_0 | I came across the phrase _snake metaphor_ in the article of August 2nd New York Times reporting "Underwear run in the Central Park" under the title, “Got Briefs? This Run's for You.” It was a hilarious and humorous report. But I was caught with the phrase _snake metaphor_ in the following sentence: > Maybe it was the shirt, though in truth the sensation was something like > running with a Burmese python wrapped around your chest. Sorry; normally I > try to limit myself to one _snake metaphor_ per column. As I found no entry of _snake metaphor_ in dictionaries at hand or in Cambridge and Merriam -Webster online dictionary, I think this is a simple combination of words, not an idiom. But what does _snake metaphor_ actually mean? Does it mean weird metaphor? Can we say _snake joke_? I’m also not very sure of how I feel running with a Burmese python wrapped around my chest. Does it mean _heavy and cold_? |
38,711 | 188,812 | 76823_0 | When is it proper to use `1st` instead of `first`? For example, is the correct sentence acceptable? > Can you give more detail about why you 1st got involved? I tried finding some authoritative source on that but failed. |
38,712 | 139,841 | 76823_0 | Strictly speaking, both the biological term _Quantitative Trait Locus_ and its plural _Quantitative Trait Loci_ can be abbreviated as _QTL_. However, one often reads the abbreviations _QTL_ and _QTLs_. Is the _-s_ behind _QTL_ wrong or correct? After all, it's not "Locuses". |
38,713 | 171,292 | 76823_0 | According to Dictionary.com, Pedantic can mean > ostentatious in one's learning Ostentatious means to show off , to attract attention. The way I interpret it is that > one is so focused on learning that he attracts attention It sound wrong to me, how does one interpret **Pedantic** when it is used as above? What are some examples sentence? |
38,714 | 139,845 | 76823_0 | I'm looking for the antonym of "ex-": a word to put in front of roles or titles that the mentioned person will hold later in life. For example: In 1982 I met ???? president Clinton. The expression "Sunlight is the best of disinfectants" was coined before World War I by ???? associate justice Louis Brandeis. Would "future" work? Or "subsequent"? Or is there a better word or prefix or phrase? |
38,715 | 63,888 | 76823_0 | There is a novel titled 'Ball Don't Lie', and a film also based on the novel with the same name (visit: Wikipedia synopsis). Then the sentence becomes more famous in sports world after Rasheed Wallace used it in one of NBA games (watch YouTube video here). So I'm just curious, isn't there clearly a grammar mistake in this term? Shouldn't it be "Balls Don't Lie", or "Ball Doesn't Lie"? |
38,716 | 20,903 | 76823_0 | Which sentence is grammatically correct: > I will tell your consultant. or > I will tell to your consultant. |
38,717 | 29,680 | 76823_0 | > **Possible Duplicate:** > Punctuation to introduce a list: comma vs. colon vs. nothing Is this use of a colon **incorrect**? > I wrote an application whose features included: doing this, doing that, and > doing something else. If so, why? Is it because what precedes a colon must always be a complete sentence, or because—from Strunk & White—a colon should not separate a verb from its complement, or a preposition from its object? Or both? Am I correct that the correct form would be simply > I wrote an application whose features included doing this, doing that, and > doing something else. Or even > I wrote an application that had many features: doing this, doing that, and > doing something else. |
38,718 | 149,518 | 76823_0 | When one reads a fictional story, one can still learn about non-fiction things. I do not necessarily mean in "creative non-fiction", but this is nearly found in any realistic fiction. For example, by reading one of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's fiction novels, one can discover what society was like in his place and time. * The nearest word I can find to describe this is "subject matter", but I do not know if this accurately fits. Is there a term used to describe this "non-fiction information" that can be taken from a story? |
38,719 | 194,218 | 76823_0 | What is the correct terminology for a person or group to 'accelerate the success' for an entire organization? |
38,720 | 107,598 | 76823_0 | I am looking for a phrase or an idiom that means that i have selected the one object from a group or settled on some solution out of many others. Let me provide some examples: 1. I went to the travel agency and they offered me a list of tours. I thought long and hard over the 2 hours and finally selected the most interesting tour among others proposed. 2. I asked for a word on ELU and other users kindly provided me with a bunch of words with requested meaning. I thought for a moment and finally selected the only word I really liked. 3. I developed some C++ library and ran into a problem. I tried many solutions and finally decided which one will work for the situation. In Russian we usually use the idiom "ostanovitsya na" that means "to stop on something". What is the similar phrase (or idiom) in American and British English? ### Update I finally **end up with** "end up"! It is as close to Russian "ostanovitsya na" as it can ever be. Another 2 very similar phrases are "to decide on" and "to settle on". I would like to deeply thank all those who have contributed to the discussion of this question! |
38,721 | 37,670 | 76823_0 | Millennia are made of centuries and decades, centuries of decades and years. Years are months, months of weeks, but not precisely. Days are made of hours, but what do we call the several imprecise periods in a day: morning, noon time, afternoon, evening, night? I.e., answer this riddle, for which I have no answer: Days are made of these, which are themselves made of hours. What are they? |
38,722 | 107,591 | 76823_0 | I had a hard time finding the English origin of this interjection and how it technically should be written. I am often ridiculed in written conversations, especially those that are informal, because I might reply to something funny with, "Ha ha ha." It seems as if the accepted way to colloquially spell this is "hahaha." When asked about it, I actually admitted that the original spelling might have been something like "ha-ha-ha," similar to how "goodbye" seems to have been originally written as "good-bye." What is the correct way? |
38,723 | 33,432 | 76823_0 | Is there a word or short phrase that describes a person or animal that is the last survivor of a dying tribe/species? I'm trying to use the word facetiously to describe something technical and dry. For example, "the XXXX of the widgets," or "XXXX widget," or "widget XXXX." So the more creative the allusion the better! |
38,724 | 37,672 | 76823_0 | There are two separate meanings I'm trying to convey with the following two sentences: > 1) "I painted my brother sitting against the wall." > > 2) "I painted my brother, sitting against the wall." **My brother, in the first case, and I, in the second are sitting against the wall.** At least, those are my intended meanings. Is this correctly conveyed through the addition of the comma in the second sentence? I know that restructuring the sentence can, of course, make it more clear, but this format somehow sounds nicer to my ear. And as an aside, have I correctly put commas in the first line of my preceding paragraph? (The portion in bold.) |
38,725 | 33,434 | 76823_0 | As far as I know, those are the only two. They should be pronounced _Soogher_ and _Soor_ , shouldn't they? I looked them up on Dictionary.com, and their etymologies reveal no trace of an _SH_ , except where the listing for _sugar_ had: > Middle English sugre, sucre (noun) < Middle French sucre < Medieval Latin > succārum < Italian zucchero < Arabic sukkar; obscurely akin to Persian > shakar, Greek sákcharon I see an obscure kinship to _shakar_ , but the word morphed so many times since then that the _SH_ disappeared pretty much completely. And _sure_ is even worse, with no sign of _SH_ : > Middle English sur ( e ) < Middle French sur, Old French seur < Latin > sēcūrus Why are these the only two like this? |
38,726 | 18,415 | 76823_0 | I was wondering what each "miss" means in > I always miss you, so I miss you, so I miss you, so I miss you so much now. The only two meanings I know for "miss" are: the one as in "miss a chance" and the one as "think about". However, someone on the internet said that each had a different meaning: > I always avoid you, so I miss you, and finally I lost you, so I miss you so > much now. where the first "miss" meant "don't encounter", and the second "miss" meant "think about". Is this explanation correct? |
38,727 | 37,673 | 76823_0 | I found an amusing story titled “Lobster salad, but a key ingredient was missing” in today’s (August 11）New York Times NY/Region section. The article reports that Zabar’s, the famous grocery in Upper West Side have sold salad delicatessen of which main ingredient is crawfish, and doesn’t contain any bit of lobster meat by the name of “Lobster Salad” at $16.95 per pound for years. It has been a very popular item to New Yorkers. When the secret was betrayed by a reporter of The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, and soon the news widely spread through local newspapers, Saul Zabar, the 83-year-old president insisted selling lobsterless lobster salad was not dishonest at all, citing the case of a Japanese version of crab meat using pollock as the base being widely sold in Japan under the category name of “Crabmeat Resembling,” – which caught my special attention to this particular topic. Cutting to the chase, I was caught up with the phrase, “We didn’t think that we were doing anything that was not _completely up and up_ ,” in the following remark of Mr. Zabar: > “But by then Mr. Zabar had had enough. “We really didn’t think that we were > doing anything that was not completely up and up,” he said, “but there was > an element that might be confusing, and with all this stuff going on, I > decided now’s the time to clarify.” Eventually he changed the name of the product. What does _“completely up and up_ ” mean? Is this common, colloquial phrase? |
38,728 | 18,412 | 76823_0 | When someone says > ... `X` which is to say `Y` ... is there an implication that `X` is mistaken or false? In this construction is `Y` generally the opposite of `X`? Some random examples from the NY Times: > "When you are unemployed, _which is to say_ when you are underfed, harassed, > bored and miserable" (source) > > "But corruption levels are around the global average, _which is to say_ , > corruption is rife" (source) > > "There are journalists who cover the world of ideas, _which is to say_ they > report on the lives and work of people who have them" (source) |
38,729 | 189,018 | 76823_0 | Can I say this: > I forgot about it minutes later. Or do I have to say it this way instead: > I forgot about it **a few** minutes later. |
38,730 | 15,627 | 76823_0 | > Ozzie announced his plans to **step down** from his role at Microsoft on > October 18, 2010 |
38,731 | 30,161 | 76823_0 | This sentence is from a transcript of a podcast: > The researchers say that even mammals that breed year round—which should > offer protection against seasonal shifts—may still feel the impact of > climate change. I don't understand what the word "which" means here. Does it refer to the "mammals"? If it does, I am confused by the whole sentence — what's the connection between the middle part of the sentence and the rest? |
38,732 | 131,623 | 76823_0 | The art of cooking is called culinary art. Is there a comparable term for the art of eating or dining? Is there a more sophisticated term? |
38,733 | 15,620 | 76823_0 | Are there more idioms, sayings or phrases similar to "needle in a haystack" that are relevant to hidden objects, or difficult to find items? Also interested in similar nouns relevant to the somewhat oppositional concepts like "needle" and "haystack" or "3-leaf clover" vs. "4-leaf clover" where one object is significantly harder to find. |
38,734 | 9,014 | 76823_0 | The phrase "If money were not an option" is often used to mean "Don't worry about how much it would cost". However, I just noticed that the last word, **option** , makes it sound like saying "If spending money was not one of your options". Should I keep using this phrase? Or is it a mutation of the phrase "If money were not an **object** " ? Going by exact quote searches with Google, they're about the same: "if money were not an object" (32,400 results) and "If money were not an option" (27,500 results). Or would I be far better off using neither of these and just saying "If money were not an issue" ? |
38,735 | 113,846 | 76823_0 | > This document has information about checks to be requested **from** each > department. vs > This document has information about checks to be requested **to** each > department. Is the usage of both correct? Downvoter: Any help improving this question? |
38,736 | 107,620 | 76823_0 | What does the _flustrated_ mean? Is it even a word? I am using Lingea Lexicon and it doesn’t know this word, but the Internet is full of it. I find myself hating people for using it both in English and in my own language (Czech), because if it actually has a meaning, I am afraid that those who use it doesn't even know it and use it with the meaning of _frustrated_ , which is wrong. I dug into it a while back, which only deepened my opinion about people who use it; see Urban Dictionary: _flustrated_. |
38,737 | 9,013 | 76823_0 | I just read this: It’s a (wo)man’s world out there. Is this an accepted approach to gender-neutral language, or is it just used when humor is intended? |
38,738 | 107,628 | 76823_0 | I came across the phrase, ““famous last words.” I took it literally as the last word delivered by famous people. But Wikipedia defines““famous last words” other than this sense as: 1. used in a conversation to show disbelief of the previous statement. 2. used as a warning that following the course of action just mentioned will result in impending doom. For example: A. "We won't miss the train. Mike's never late". B. "Famous last words!" However, Readers English Japanese Dictionary, a popular and reputed Japanese English dictionary published in Japan at hand shows the definitions: 1. n. Collection of famous last words. 2. (joc/iron) ①そうでしょうとも（That’s right / Exactly)．②それはどうかな（It’s dubious. / I can’t trust it.）. The definitions of the above ① and ② are clearly conflicting. ① is affirmative, and ② is skeptical, if not totally disapproval. Can “famous last words” be used in an affirmative or approving way as Readers Dictionary says in ① of the above definitions? |
38,739 | 24,026 | 76823_0 | I came across the sentence "Fortunately their are a variety of different offerings out there with zounds of features." Disregarding the misuse of "zounds," how would Elizabeth I have pronounced the word? To rhyme with "God's wounds?" Or otherwise? |
38,740 | 24,021 | 76823_0 | I’m quoting a part of the article titled “Pakistan Sees Shared Intelligence Lapse” written by Alan Cowell in today’s (May 4) New York Time’s Asia Pacific section (online edition) simply by cut-and-pasting of the text: > “After the meeting, Mr. Gilani that he did not believe the United States > Congress would show its displeasure with Pakistan by cutting aid to his > nuclear-armed nation and he said the West would continue to support Pakistan > as a “responsible nation.” “We are working together” against terrorism, he > said. Don’t we need ‘said’ or ‘told’ between Gilani and that in the first line, or omission of the verb permitted in press English, or it is simply erroneous drop of ‘said’? |
38,741 | 189,011 | 76823_0 | I am looking for an antonym of the phrase "to get used to" in the sense of doing beginning (or in this case finishing) to do something oneself. The only one i can think of is "to get out of the habit of". In Russian there is a word "отвыкать", that has that meaning, but i wonder if there is a phrase or a word that has that exact sense. |
38,742 | 37,229 | 76823_0 | I know that _they_ , _them_ , and _their_ did not exist in Old English. What language are they derived from? |
38,743 | 144,004 | 76823_0 | Is there a single English word for **a single hair** that grows on someone's head which is practically bald? I found a picture like this one, this is a movie character:  See that one hair? Is there an English word that describes that **hair**? [Not just that is _one_ , but also _a hair_.] |
38,744 | 37,225 | 76823_0 | Tags on _large_ size T-shirts will often have the letters _LGG_ to specify large. Why don't they simply say _LG_? Is _LGG_ simply short for _large/grande_? |
38,745 | 69,501 | 76823_0 | What does the phrase mean in "He annoys me to no end"? Literally, does it mean that he annoys me forever? Or does it mean that he annoys me to no result? |
38,746 | 115,449 | 76823_0 | Anyone who's ever seen much American film or television has heard some variation of the following sentences countless times: > You have the right to remain silent. If you choose to give up that right, > anything you say **can and will** be used against you in a court of law. And the phrase "can and will" can be seen in other contexts as well. My issue with this is not the "can" part, but the "will" part. "Can" implies that anything you say _may_ be used against you in court, but "will" asserts that it is a certainty. The person being arrested could obviously say any number of things that would not be of any use in a case against them, so it's not true to say that anything they say _will_ be used, only that it _can_ be. Does Hollywood have it wrong? I looked around to see what the official text of the Miranda warning is, and it seems there isn't any - it varies from one jurisdiction to the next, but the Hollywood version is always pretty much the same. (The Miranda _rights_ are universal, but the actual words to be spoken by the arresting officer are not mandated so long as the rights are properly delineated.) And more to the point, is this phrase just being incorrectly used in these (and other) cases? Does "can and will" maybe bear more legal weight than simply "can"? Or could the officer leave out the "and will" part and consider the Miranda warning just as properly given without it? |
38,747 | 115,444 | 76823_0 | In his song "White Wine in the Sun", Tim Minchin sings > I'll be seeing ... my grand and my Mum. This apparently stands for grandparents, but what is the 'default' visualization of that word by native speakers? Do you see multiple grandparents or, for instance, one grandmother? For me as a non-native English speaker, the latter seems more natural, since, along the musical motion and harmony change, the scene's attention is somewhat focusing gradually on the Mum character, going from plural of _sisters_ to singular of _Mum_ , dragging the intermediate point to singular. It could also be undefined, so that you'd only sense just a vague odor of grandparenting. Is this the case? |
38,748 | 115,441 | 76823_0 | There's a term for taking leftover budget funds in one calendar year and using them the next year, in the context of government budgeting. I am having a brain freeze and can't remember it or find it on google. I know it's a reasonably short word (my guess is in the 5-9 letter range, 2-3 syllables) and it rhymes with a common word, possibly a food item. Don't ask me why I remember that. :-) |
38,749 | 180,954 | 76823_0 | I was suggested to use the term `bullet-proofed` by a colleague. Someone else now pointed out that `bullet-proofed` might not even exist, because we can't build the past tense of an adjective. Part one of the question is: can `to bullet-proof` be a verb which describes "making something bullet-proof"? And in consequence `bullet-proofed` then means "having made something bullet-proof"? So far, that's just for me, learning about it. I actually have decided to replace the word by something else. The word is intended to be used like "a bullet-proofed solution", which is close to `foolproof` or `stable` or `tested`. However, I would not use `foolproof` as a term here, because it might sound offending in the business context it is used. Can you think of the correct term my colleague might have had in mind when suggesting `bullet-proofed`? Note that we're both non-native English speakers. Update: @skymninge hit the definition. The intended use is like "not subject to correction, alteration, or modification", so I am looking for a synonym of that. |
38,750 | 180,952 | 76823_0 | I have just finished to describe a research project and I would like to mention that I have received money to conduct this research. Does the following sentence sound natural to native speakers? > I have received a three-year grant to pursue this research as a joint > collaboration between the University of City-1 and the University of City-2. |
38,751 | 154,606 | 76823_0 | I know that non-married lovers address each other by saying " _This is my girlfriend/boyfriend._ " I know that married couples address each other by calling " _My wife/husband_ ". I also know that gay lovers who are not married (yet?) address each other by saying " _My boyfriend_ " (for **gays** ) and " _My girlfriend_ " (for **lesbians** ). But if they are married, **how do they address each other**? And **how do we describe them**? I mean if they are gays, so are they **_husband and husband_** or **_husband and wife_** (one of them "acts" like the wife)? And if they are lesbians, are they **_wife and wife_** or **_husband and wife_** (one of them "acts" as the husband)? I know they can be referred to as _a gay couple_ or _gay lovers_ from here, but I couldn't find the answer to address each of the two. |
38,752 | 146,941 | 76823_0 | "Small initial discrepancies may not be seen as meet for a federal case, particularly when the employee, trying to succeed in a nontraditional environment, is averse to making waves." Is there a legalistic meaning for _meet_ or did the author mean to use the word _meat_ in the text quoted above? |
38,753 | 146,946 | 76823_0 | I'm a non-native speaker . I noticed that there are two kinds of statement to describe polity , federal republic of Germany and commonwealth of Austrilia . So I'm confusing what's the difference between federal republic and commonwealth? |
38,754 | 146,944 | 76823_0 | I just saw someone write that they were a "die heart" fan. I always thought the term was supposed to be "die hard" but I decided to google it just in case I was wrong. Google was unable to give me a definitive answer as there were folk on both sides of the fence. Anyone know the true answer? |
38,755 | 146,945 | 76823_0 | In the first Venn diagram below, the two circles represent Freedom and Love, in that order. In the second diagram, they are the same Freedom and Love, but the label “Love without Freedom” puts each title-word under the wrong circle. I need to be able to express “Love without Freedom” without changing the order of the words: “Freedom ___ Love”. Is there a word which reverses the focus of “without”? I don't want to change the order of the circles in the second diagram because that won‘t be an obvious change, and they are supposed to fit together as a whole in the ideal option.  _**Edit_** Is this clearer?  |
38,756 | 182,886 | 76823_0 | I guess _is located in_ is nicer, but is it correct English? |
38,757 | 147,095 | 76823_0 | What is correct? imaging features suggestive of appendicitis or suggestive for appendicitis. We are wondering which is correct - "of" or "for" in this sentence. |
38,758 | 147,092 | 76823_0 | Is there a common expression to describe a situation where everything comes together perfectly? UPDATE: The phrase that kept going through my head was "perfect storm," but that holds more of a negative connotation. |
38,759 | 147,091 | 76823_0 | When someone does something that is not allowed in a computer game, others tell him that he is **cheating** or **hacking**. Which word is more suitable? |
38,760 | 50,315 | 76823_0 | I am considering a social media account for updates that are personal, chatty, opinionated, and specific to my geographic location. That is to say, not career-oriented or professional. I need a term that describes this idea. I will use it to qualify my normal account name. The term needs to be short (say 6 letters or less). I am drawn to 'hyperlocal' but it is too long. I'm happy to entertain poetic ideas (e.g. 'garden', 'backyard', etc). |
38,761 | 71,881 | 76823_0 | What is the difference between these sentences? > Have you heard of the man in the moon? > > How could a man be in the moon? and > Their house was on an island. > > Their house on an island was washed away. |
38,762 | 76,354 | 76823_0 | Many of you have probably heard the phrase "to no avail", as in "I tried to talk them out of it to no avail." (Which means I tried to talk them out of something but failed to do so). However, I was wondering if the opposite of "to no avail" existed. Something like such: > I took advantage of the ignorant _to all avail_. Thus implying I took advantage of the ignorant in all extent possible. Is this correct, or would you phrase it differently? |
38,763 | 68,260 | 76823_0 | I often stumble over the fact that in English, apparently, we imply the reverse when we negate a positive. For example, > That wasn't very good. [⇒ That was bad.] > That wasn't bad. [⇒ That was good.] Sometimes I wish to convey a more literal meaning of "That was not very good.", i.e.: "That wasn't very good, but it almost was." (I think there are a couple more contexts in which this problem has arisen, but I can't think of them at the moment.) Is there a proper way to do this? Or a more efficient way than explicitly outlining the precise measurement, as in "That was better than good, but not quite very good."? |
38,764 | 76,350 | 76823_0 | There was an article titled “The short life and lonely death of Sabrina Seelig” in July 29 New York Times reporting the death of a young woman who was a student of classics at Hunter College. She was carried to a hospital by ambulance after feeling sick, and died there. The article says: > “The family of Ms. Selig, 22, says she suffered an agonizing death because > the care she received at a struggling Brooklyn hospital (Wyckoff Heights > Medical Center) was _indifferent to negligent_.” I thought the expression, “indifferent to negligent” an idiom. I checked NGram. It doesn’t register this phrase, neither “indifferent and negligent,” or “indifference and negligence” which were obviously used in the following ways: * Could a husband be _indifferent and negligent_ towards a wife during pregnancy...at a time when she has chosen to bear his offspring in her womb? Can he consider her a liability? －Redif com. * President Ilves: volunteers stand like a protective wall against _indifference and negligence._ Press release from the Office of President of Republic of Estonia 7/12/2012 Is “indifferent to negligent” a simple repetition of synonyms for emphasizing the meaning? Then, how different is “indifferent _to_ negligent” from “indifferent _and_ negligent”? |
38,765 | 68,266 | 76823_0 | What's the right way of expressing a desire to meet with someone in the future on the multiple basis (unspecified number of times, but definitely more than once)? > 1. **We should surely meet again and keep in contact.** > → This may mean that I want to meet only one more time and then just keep > in contact. > 2. **We should surely be meeting again and keep in contact** > → This will probably mean the same thing as 1. > 3. **We should surely meet again — and not once — and keep in contact.** > → This may mean that I want to meet perhaps only two or three times and > then just keep in contact. > 4. **We should surely meet again in the future on the regular basis and > keep in contact.** > → This may mean that I almost require a certain level of frequency of > future meetings, while I am a far cry from putting such a burden on the > person. > So, what should I say here? |
38,766 | 143,679 | 76823_0 | I'm writing an article on games developed by Open Source principles. The games are not software, as "Open Source" might suggest, but made from paper, wood or something else physical. My problem is that most readers who only look at the title would assume it's about software, not hardware. What would be a good term for these games? So far I have thought about "physical games" or "hardware games", but I'm sure there is something more catchy. |
38,767 | 68,269 | 76823_0 | I've looked up the translation of the word _bisutería_ in Spanish and it translated to _imitation jewelry_ or _costume jewelry_. Which of the two is mostly used in British English? |
38,768 | 68,268 | 76823_0 | Which is correct: _What is the course fee?_ or _What is the course fees?_ Also, are the two words _fee_ and _fees_ interchangeable? |
38,769 | 76,358 | 76823_0 | I know one side is called 'flower'. But I don't know the other side's name. And any other common ways of calling them. Are 'head' and 'tail' right? |
38,770 | 189,857 | 76823_0 | "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Is there an idiom, phrase or preferably a single word that we can call people that **could have helped but didn't**? _Bystanders_ don't necessarily have help to give. _Cowards_ aren't particularly helpful either. * * * Addendum: For example, once EMS has arrived on scene, bystanders are encouraged not to try to help, unless they're a nurse and therefore have the necessary skills to, and sometimes even then so. If in The Service, I would not want a coward (a liability) next me holding the line. Not to take anything away from these great answers, or to insist on a non-militaristic point of view, I would like to veer into the commercial or civilian realm in which I find this quote most often alluded to, E.G., "If we all gave 5 cents we could cure cancer tomorrow." Pretend most of us did give 5 cents and we did cure cancer, but you didn't give. You are now a(n) **____**?... yes, I know what we _call_ them, but what is their proper designation? |
38,771 | 178,991 | 76823_0 | At first, let's take 2 example expressions: "Books list" and "Book list". As far as I know, the first one is incorrect and I should use the second one - "Book list". And it means "List of books". But now let's replace "Book(s)" with something more complex. Let's assume that we want to have not "just" list of books, but list of books that belong to particular user. So, we are about to replace "Books" with "User's books". So now we should have "User's book list", which is ambiguous - is it list of user's book, or list of user's books? So we can change it to "User's books list", which is incorrect according to my previous paragraph... Where am I wrong? |
38,772 | 67,433 | 76823_0 | The context I am thinking about is a sport competition or league, along the lines of * GM's Tennis Competition (settled) * Premier league will be (settled) this weekend * The football game was (settled) last week "Settled" sounds a bit like some legal dispute that is over. Any ideas of good synonyms? |
38,773 | 128,106 | 76823_0 | So I am sure the title of this question makes little sense, but I don't know how to ask it (feel free to edit it to make it more direct, but not so direct that it answers the question). There is a certain sentence format that's used mainly in movie titles that's not really a complete sentence, but more along the lines of a clause of sorts. You've seen movie titles like: > Being John Malkovich > Forgetting Sarah Marshall > Driving Miss Daisy > Gleaming the Cube (good one, right?) It seems to me that this fragment of a sentence has a name or is at least identifiable in some way. Edit: The only tag I can think of is `grammar`, so feel free to add additional tags. |
38,774 | 67,431 | 76823_0 | Please tell me, is there any difference when saying take his photo and take a photo of him? To me, the first one sounds awkward. |
38,775 | 154,609 | 76823_0 | I'm looking for a word to replace "pouring" because it doesn't sound professional. Any suggestions? > Phones were constantly ringing, e-mails were **pouring** in, and since we > were located above a branch people would often come to us in person whenever > they had a problem. |
38,776 | 67,437 | 76823_0 | > 1. The fact that I communicated to Mona is irrelevant. > 2. The fact that I communicated with Mona is irrelevant. > The only difference might seem to be the different prepositions, _with_ and _to_. Now, try replacing the _that_ in each sentence by _which_. Do you agree that you can do it with 1) but not 2)? If so, what exactly is wrong with "The fact which I communicated with Mona is irrelevant"? |
38,777 | 67,436 | 76823_0 | Most people use the words _curd_ and _yogurt_ interchangeably. Both are made by fermenting milk. Is there a difference between the two, or are they the same? |
38,778 | 184,397 | 76823_0 | I'll take one day leave for my family affair. I'll take one day leave for my family stuff. What's the different exactly? Or what situation is the best to use "affair", and "stuff" ? |
38,779 | 67,434 | 76823_0 | I am creating a base interface for both the class `Upload` and `Download` but I can't figure out what to call it. Is there an English word that can mean _upload_ and at the same time _download_? |
38,780 | 137,559 | 76823_0 | Are these words interchangeable? When would you use one over the other? For example, is it correct to say you "feel nervous" or "feel anxious"? Is it correct to say you are an "anxious person" or a "nervous person"? |
38,781 | 180,483 | 76823_0 | I just read this quote from nytimes's opinion section. "In love’s service only wounded soldiers can serve." What does this quote mean? I can faintly feel what it means, but I want to understand it more clearly. Can somebody help me? Thanks. |
38,782 | 137,551 | 76823_0 | Which of these is correct? What is the origin of this expression? I've searched here on the exchange and haven't found an answer. |
38,783 | 4,346 | 76823_0 | It seems the noun derived from the verb "disable" is **disablement**. " **Disablement time**" or "disablement duration" sounds a little awkward to me though. " **Disable time**" sounds better, and also gives much more Google hits. But would you say that is correct or acceptable? How about "disabling time"? (Or is my question misworded; are you even supposed to use a noun in such context?) Background: I'm trying to decide the name of a setting that specifies the time for which a certain software functionality is disabled. |
38,784 | 137,553 | 76823_0 | I have read exchanges such as the following being described as Irony: > A: "I'm going they're now" B: "It's "there". Your such an idiot" However I'm a bit at a loss whether it could be described as an irony or not, since it's hardly the opposite of what is intended to happen. What word could be best used in this context instead? I was thinking _hypocritical_ , but that doesn't fit very well either (since there's no real intention of making the mistake). |
38,785 | 4,343 | 76823_0 | Ok, it's my first question and I'm not sure if this subject can be asked in here, but here it goes: On past January I was on my vacations in London taking some photos of London Bridge when I made a joke with some foreigner photographers (Germans I think) : I was holding a very common Sony camera, and I told a something like that: "let me teach you how to take photos with my professional camera". Everyone laughed and one of them offered me to take a panoramic photo for me using my memory card on his camera. I was very pleased, said "Thanks so much!" and left. My question is: In this situation, was "thanks" appropriate to politely demonstrate that I was very pleased with what they did? |
38,786 | 4,340 | 76823_0 | From the definition found at Merriam-Webster and elsewhere, it seems that _to ravel_ has completely opposite meanings; i.e. it means to unravel, to disentangle as well as to entangle. What's going on here? |
38,787 | 170,076 | 76823_0 | My teacher teaches me that if one puts an - ing to the end of a verb you will get the gerund of the verb which has the function as a noun. Example: > mix-mixing, > understand-understanding. But there is also another form noun to the relative verb. Example: > mix-mixture. Both mixture and mixing have the noun meaning. I want to know does every verb have another noun besides gerund. What is the difference between them? Can they be used instead of each other? |
38,788 | 170,074 | 76823_0 | I'm a native English speaker (American). I was trying to explain a sentence to a non-native speaking friend, but didn't do a very good job of it. The sentence is: > Sam got to the station just in time to catch the train to the airport. If he > _had missed_ his train, he _would have missed_ his flight. I explained that the words "had missed" could be changed to just "missed", but now I'm not sure. I've researched mixed conditionals in sentences and have found answers that support my use of the language and some that do not. Perhaps being American has made me use the language a bit "less formal" or just plain wrong. If there is anyone that can help me, I'd be most appreciative. Thanks a bunch. |
38,789 | 108,261 | 76823_0 | I know that dramatic irony is when the audience knows things the characters don't, but what do you call it when the characters in a story know information that the audience does not? |
38,790 | 91,083 | 76823_0 | Is it possible to greet someone asking "How is doing?" When I was in US, many times I heard a phrase "Hi! How is doing?" or maybe it was a misunderstanding and the phrase was "How are you doing?" |
38,791 | 79,372 | 76823_0 | I came across the verb _muse_ , which roughly means to be absorbed in thought about any given thing. I wondered, when specifying what someone was musing about, would it be better to say: > I muse about what happened that day. Or: > I muse on what happened that day. Which is correct, or better? |
38,792 | 109,794 | 76823_0 | For example if I said - > "I shipped ten Dell 360s this morning". where _Dell 360_ is the model number and I don't want people to get confused by the " **s** ", how should I write this? Is it more correct to mention the word laptop? For example : > "I shipped ten Dell 360 laptops today". The reason I didn't do this was because I'm not sure if they are considered laptops or notebooks etc. Could an apostrophe be used? |
38,793 | 91,084 | 76823_0 | I called out someone's comments as racist when someone decided to correct me and say that the term was incorrect. According to this person, the word _racism_ only seems to apply when referring to another race (e.g. Sub-Saharan African, White European, East-Asian, South-Asian, Native American, etc.) What is the similar term then for hatred towards a particular _ethnic_ group? (E.g. Italian, Serbian, Sri Lankan, etc.) |
38,794 | 79,379 | 76823_0 | From the Wikipedia entry on Swing (Java): > Conceptually, this view of the layout management is quite similar to that > which informs the rendering of HTML content in browsers, and addresses the > same set of concerns that motivated the former. There are a few points I can't understand: 1. What does "informs" mean here? 2. I don't understand "address the same set of concerns that motivated the former." |
38,795 | 172,501 | 76823_0 | I am supposed to make a translation for a session to be submitted, but I'm stumbled upon this. We say "content is fed from a centralised location", right? How about "hundreds of websites' content"? Is it still "is", or is it now "are"? Thank you in advanced :) K. |
38,796 | 172,503 | 76823_0 | * _She thinks herself able to best him in this argument._ * _She thinks that she is able to best him in this argument._ * _She thinks herself to be able to best him in this argument._ Are the first and the last sentence the same in meaning? |
38,797 | 187,139 | 76823_0 | I am a foreigner and now I am in America. I always use the word _delicious_ whenever I like food. For example: > This meat is so delicious! But one of my friends, who is not a native speaker, once told me that Americans rarely use _delicious_. The more frequent expressions would be “This meat is good” or “This meat is yummy.” Is _delicious_ more of a British English word than an American one? |
38,798 | 172,508 | 76823_0 | I'm looking for a word for the **name of a business**. The word " _business_ " itself is not appropriate for me as it designates the entity and not the name itself. The word " _name_ " is too generic, just like " _title_ ". |
38,799 | 132,453 | 76823_0 | > Is something the matter? I've read or heard this usage of _matter_ many times. For instance, in _The pleasure of finding things out_ , R.P. Feynman writes: > I could tell that something was the matter. This usage doesn't seem right to me. It's hard for me to pinpoint what exactly bothers me, but I think it has to do with the use of the definite article "the" when the existence of a problem hasn't even been confirmed/acknowledged yet. I know this usage of _matter_ is accepted by many, but how does it make logical/grammatical sense? * * * Instead of: > Is something the matter? I would much prefer > Is there a problem? Instead of > I could tell that something was the matter. I would prefer > I could tell that there was a problem. Note that my issue is with the choice of article, not with that of the noun. |
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