title: Past participle of a verb created from an acronym

text: > Standard GPL would require that those applications be GPL'd (or compatible > licensing), whereas LGPL requires only the library's source to be made > available. Is the use of words like _GPL'd_ common to other acronyms?   Is the meaning of such words understandable from common people?


title: Etymology of million vs. millennium

text: Why is it that a period of one thousand years is a millennium, but one million is a thousand thousands?


title: All X is Y but not all Y is X

text: I am looking for a specific word to describe a concept such that its meaning is linear and one-way. Such is the case for the title of this question. X would be of this concept and Y would not, Y would be the opposite of this concept. For example, all automobiles are motor vehicles but not all motor vehicles are automobiles. I cannot seem to find any word to relate to this. Any advice/guidance is very much appreciated.


title: "Ph" for the /f/ sound; Is Old English responsible for this swap?

text: Is Old English responsible for creating the /f/ sound from _ph_ , as in _Philip_ , _Pharoah_ , _Physics_ , _Sophia_ , etc? Many European countries keep the _f_ for all of their /f/-sounding letters, as in _Sofia_ and _Stefan_ , for example.


title: Where is the subject and verb here etc.?

text: The sentence "The principle is, the farther from the scene of horror, the easier the talk." looks and sounds fine to me, but if I wrote it my internal editor would worry vaguely. To make things less vague here are some questions: Is "the principle" the subject? Is "is" the verb? Are the phrases "the farther[...]" and "the easier[...]" adverb phrases or prepositional phrases or something else?


title: hands on training

text: when can we use "hands on training" ? Does it mean that you have some thorough knowledge or a practical knowledge about that particular thing ?


title: Does "lying" only refer to something you know is not true at the time you speak it?

text: Is it proper to use _lying_ to refer to something one says one will do (or not do) and then later fail to follow through on, either due to neglect or forgetfulness? I have heard twice in the same week, in completely different circles, people use _lying_ to refer to something other than the intent to deceive. I corrected it, the first time. When it came up the second time in a different context I wondered if I was missing something! **So sorry to even have bothered you all with this. Apparently these were folks making use of one particular definition of lie and ignoring or not aware of the obvious primary definition. You're right! It is right there in the dictionary!**


title: "Crisis", "drama" and similar words in the news

text: Today I read the economist headline: > On to the next crisis. Automatic spending cuts took effect on March 1st; > more drama is to come I startled at the word ‘drama’. It would be regarded as inappropriate in my mother tongue, German, to use the word ‘drama’, because it would have too much connotation of a theatre play. One would either use some alternative generic term like ‘crisis’, which has a grave connotation in German, or get more specific,like ‘recession’, ‘tense times’, ‘unemployment’. On the other hand, German media frequently use the term ‘drama’ whenever people are trapped or being held captive, like in ‘rescue drama’ or ‘hostage drama’. It seems that ‘hostage drama’ loses by numbers against ‘hostage crisis’ in the English language, according to Search engine fight. Similar with ‘rescue crisis’ and ‘rescue drama’; see Another search engine fight Question: Is ‘drama’ an appropriate word for serious problems? Question: What are the conventions or commonalities in using the words ‘drama’, ‘disaster’, ‘crisis’, ‘calamity’, etc., in the news? How do these reflect in non-journalist speech?


title: What do we call an adjective made of a verb?

text: What do we call adjectives formed from verbs? For example:   * _Lost_ is an adjective made from _lose_ ,   * _Forgotten_ is an adjective made from _forget_ ,   * _Broken_ is an adjective made from _break_. What is the technical term for such adjectives? Do they have a name at all?


title: Description of physical labor

text: Looking for a phrase that means putting your back or muscle into a task, like rowing. Is there another word for "it", as in "put your back into it"---is there another way to say it, such as "leaning into..."


title: What does ‘Stubbed toes” mean in the sentence, “Curse words used to be reserved for “stubbed toes,”?

text: I came across the sentence, “Curse words used to be reserved for private conversations or stubbed toes,” in the article in Education section of New York Times (February 1), titled “Have curse words become so common they have lost their shock value?” The article begins with the following lines: > “Curse words used to be reserved for private conversations or **_stubbed > toes_** , but over the past few decades they seem to have solidly found > their way into popular culture — into hit songs and television shows, even > book titles and company names.” I know “stubbed toes” is an accidental but painful injury on the toe. Is it common to use ‘stubbed toes’ in psychological connotation in this way apart from physical injury accompanied with an acute pain that was my original perception? P.S. As I reflect my misinterpretation of “stubbed toes,” it might come from behavioral (or cultural) difference of expressions of pains used between Westerners and Japanese. When we Japanese stubbed toes, pricked hands, pinched fingers, stamped a nail, whatever, we don’t or seldom curse, though sometimes we blurt “Chikushou畜生 –God dam.” We simply shout “itai-痛い!” “Oh ite-e おお痛え!” meaning “Ouch.” It didn’t come to my mind at first that “Stubbed toes” can be associated with swear words.


title: When making a decision, how many "choices" are there?

text: Suppose I put a coin on a table. I can do this in two ways: heads up or heads down. > **Question** : How many choices do I make? It looks like I have one choice in the sense of having one _decision_. But, at the same time, I have two _options_ (which is a synonym for "choice"; ref. Wiktionary, Thesaurus.com), so we could also say that I have two choices too. This grammatical situation arises frequently in combinatorial mathematics; some random examples are > When you have n things to choose from ... you have n choices each time! -- > MathsIsFun.com and > You can count the number of permutations of a set of n elements in the > following way: there are n choices for the first item, then (n-1) choices > for the second item, and after choosing those two, (n-2) choices for the > third item, and so on. -- Albyn Jones In both of these cases, there is a single decision to be made at each step, but there are (in general) multiple options.


title: How to refer to a specific floor of a building

text: Are there any differences between "floor" and "Floor" when talking about areas of a building? For example, "The children book section is on the 4th floor" or "The children book section is on the 4th Floor" And I found a sentence like "Computers are available on the 5th and 6th _floors_ "? Why is "floor" plural?


title: what does it mean when some one says " I was calculating your cake penalty"?

text: Someone sent me an email with the following phrase. I was wondering if this is a known phrase. > I was just calculating your cake penalty.


title: Is it possible to regard -id as a suffix forming adjectives in Modern English?

text: The morphemic status of -id can be proved by its regular occurrence in Modern English adjectives (mostly of Roman origin): horrid, stupid, rapid, acid, sordid, valid, solid, etc.


title: What does "last month" mean?

text: Let me explain the situation. Today is Oct 31, 2012. After I got my October pay-slip yesterday I had the following conversation: > Me: Hey guy, I have a question to ask you about the pay-slip of the last > month. I think the number is incorrect.   >  X: It is $10, is it correct?   >  Me: No, I mean last month (I mean September) not this month.   >  X: Last month? Okay. I want to know, did I use "last month" correctly in this case? I used "last month" because this month is not passed yet, so I used it to refer to the month before this month. And if it is incorrect, what word should I use.


title: Synonyms for "curate" in US English

text: What synonyms are there for "curate", as in (to quote here) to > select, organize, and present (suitable content, typically for online or > computational use), using professional or expert knowledge I'm from the UK – I just passed a sentence under the eyes of a US friend who said it didn't sound quite right. The best alternative we could come up with was "pick and choose". I'm wording a press statement, so I'd like something succinct. The contexts are > Blah today introduced Blah, a revolutionary experience on the Apple® iPad > that curates the best ... for the user. > > Blah learns what you like, and curates streams of it for you


title: "The pair was ..." or "the pair were ..."

text: I've recently read a blurb from a local paper that included the following: > The pair was drinking prior to the shooting. To me, this appears wrong and I would say that the proper way to make the statement would be: > The pair were drinking prior to the shooting. Is the original article correct?


title: Usage of "if and only if" as a nontechnical term

text: The phrase _"if and only if"_ (`iff`) is commonly used in the field of mathematics (`⇔`) and computer programming, as a conditional expression in classical (Boolean) logic. Within that scope, it might not mean the same as a simple _"if:"_ > If it rains, I will get wet. _I will get wet if it rains, but, there are numerous ways to get wet._ > I will get wet, if and only if it rains. _Only rain, exclusively, can make me wet._ Do these distinctions apply in this way (example above), outside of the aforementioned domain?


title: Expression for "cold headhunting"

text: Is there an expression for the case when someone receives an email from a recruiter with whom he had no previous contact? I am looking for a term other than _headhunting_ , like _salesman knocking on cold doors_ , as it's said in other languages.


title: Past Perfect vs. Simple Past Usage

text: I've been brushing up on the past perfect tense recently, and after reading the following sentence on a website, I feel like it's missing a key element: > "Many progressives, who thought well of Wilson's dream of a new world order, > drew back in revulsion when the terms of the treaty were published." Shouldn't there be a _had_ after _who_?


title: Usage of “as per”

text: Could you show me how to use the word _as per_ in a sentence? Can I make sentences something like the following: > I changed the image _as per_ the suggestion of my boss. Or could you give me an alternative to the phrase?


title: "Had changed destiny"

text: I want to write something that means the same thing as "had changed destiny." I was going to use those words, but something didn't seem right. I googled that phrase, and came up with only one thing. So I don't think it's grammatically correct. Is it? What could I say that means the same thing?


title: Use of "would" for subjunctive phrases

text: This has been bugging me for some time; I tried to look for previous questions here but my language tools may not be sharp enough to phrase my query correctly so please forgive me if this has already been posted here. Speakers of English as a foreign language tend to incorrectly use the word "would" when using some particular subjunctive constructs. Here is one example (this time presumably by a native English speaker): > If that would happen, you won’t be alone. (One correct version being "If that happens, you won't be alone".) I have detected this in speakers of a number of languages so I feel this is more likely to be a feature of the English language itself than a carry-over from their native language. I have a faint intuition that this is because the English subjunctive is not very distinctive, and it certainly doesn't help that a number of correct forms _do_ have subunits like that, but I can neither make that precise nor even really phrase a concrete question. Can someone shed some light on this?


title: The word order and prepositions in an example

text: Background to the sentence: a system activates itself after temperature has been deviated for [X] seconds. Now I want to describe what X does and I just cannot figure it out. My best attempts are: > The value X specifies the time period for which the temperature has to be > deviated. > > The value X specifies the time period during which the temperature has to be > deviated.


title: Is "non-vegetarian" a correct word?

text: I've heard that the words "non-veg" and "non-vegetarian" are not legal English words (i.e aren't in the dictionary). Is this true? If so, what is the right way to say that something contains ingredients that are not pure vegetarian or that someone eats meat?


title: "[wh-word] X [verb] Y?" in Indian English

text: In Indian English, you will often hear constructions like the following: > Why Lord Ayyappa isn't a avatar of Lord Mahavishnu?   >  Why each day of the week is dedicated to a particular god?   >  Why lord Shiva has a crescent moon on his head? That is, rather than being of the form "Why [verb] X Y?", we have "Why X [verb] Y?". This occurs with all kinds of verbs (not just stative ones), e.g. "Why you went there?" for "Why did you go there?"; and also with other wh- words, e.g. "What you are doing?" for "What are you doing?". I don't think I natively speak any variety of Indian English, but I've heard enough of it to know that the "[wh-word] X [verb] Y?" construction is considered perfectly grammatical (albeit I think it is proscribed in writing?). "[wh-word] [verb] X Y?" would probably be acceptable in Indian English, though I suspect it would mark you as a non-native speaker (of that dialect). Now, as we know, this construction is ungrammatical in British English (and also American, for what it's worth). What I want to know is this: **how did this construction come to be common and even grammatical in Indian English?** Is this word order "calqued" (so to speak) from Hindi or something like that? (If nothing else, I can say that the Dravidian languages probably have nothing to do with it - they're all SOV languages.)


title: Is this list punctuated correctly?

text: I am in the process of writing my CV/Resume and want to list my skills with a brief explanation of how I learnt them. So far I have been using:   * Marketing Experience - Gained from owning a small online business.   * Flexible Worker - A basic requirement of my previous role as a general assistant.   * IT Skills - Gained from 2 years of software development as a hobby.   * etc... Is this correct? I thought about using a colon instead of the dash but would that be grammatically incorrect?


title: What is the word for inserting additional letters when pronouncing a word?

text: A while back I ran across a word that described the act of inserting additional letters or sounds when a person pronounces a word (which results in a mispronunciation). What is the word that has this meaning? Update: My original example wasn't very good, but Brian Donovan provided a good example--decathlon pronounced as "decathalon" (inserting a second "a" sound where there is no "a"). Another example: hamster pronounced as "hampster"


title: Commutative, or "semantically palindromic" sentences

text: Being a mathematician with mathematician friends, my friends and I occasionally like to joke about the peculiarities of the English language. This one came up recently: Obviously, most English sentences and phrases cannot be read backwards and forwards and maintain the same meaning. For instance, "watch this" and "this watch" have clearly different meanings. In mathematics, we call this _non- commutativity_ , and it is deeply interesting. So the question is, can anyone think of a phrase or sentence which has the same semantic meaning when the _words_ are read from right to left?


title: Is there a term for the phenomenon of adding more words to a sentence makes it less clear?

text: This article ends with "Judicial races in Washtenaw County are nonpartisan ...". This is technically accurate, but is also misleading (or is it?) as it implies races elsewhere (such as Wayne County) _are_ partisan. (They are not, **all** judicial races in Michigan are nonpartisan). Writing the sentence as "Judicial races ~~in Washtenaw County~~ are nonpartisan ..." is also correct, and with fewer words; and presumably (?) less misleading.   1. Is the original sentence misleading?   2. If so, is there a name for the unintuitive phenomenon where **adding** words makes a sentence _less_ it accurate?


title: Is “shall” an appropriate word for a scientific thesis?

text: May I use the word _shall_ in my scientific thesis? As in > The relevant ones shall be introduced in the following. Or is _shall_ considered slang or outdated?


title: Does "the way around" means the same thing as "the opposite"?

text: A talks with B, A says, the universe revolves around the earth. B says, no,it is the way around. Is this use of "the way around" comprehensible, just meaning the same as "it is the opposite"?


title: Why "step into a car" but "step onto a plane"

text: Why do we say _stepped into a car_ with cars but can't say the same with planes? Instead we say _stepped onto a plane_.


title: synonyms for "copying a person"?

text: Hey could someone please tell me what is the word or synonym for "copying someone's pose, style , get up"?


title: "Whip" in British politics

text: In Britain (and perhaps former British colonies) the term "whip" is used in a number of different ways in politics. The below article, in particular, talks about "losing" or "removal" of the whip. There are 3-line whips, and other references to the term common in British politics. ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/ll5xg.png) Can someone please explain the origin, etymology, and the variety of usage of the term in common political parlance?


title: "To search for something" versus "to look for something": are these verbs synonyms?

text: Are the verb phrases "to search for something" and "to look for something" synonyms?


title: For an unlimited time or For unlimited time or other ways

text: Is there any other way of saying 'unlimited time'? We are giving away a product for free for unlimited time. The actual sentence looks like these: Now FREE for Unlimited Users for Unlimited Time. Do I have to add an 'an' before unlimited or just leave it as it is? Or, is there any other way of saying 'unlimited time'?


title: “Woman” is to “coquette” as “man” is to what?

text: _Wiktionary_ reads: > **coquette:** a _woman_ who flirts or plays with _men_ ’s affections. Is there an English word which fits the following definition? > **???:** a _man_ who flirts or plays with _women_ ’s affections.


title: Continuous present tense in the place of simple present tense

text: Given the following sentence in the continuous present tense. > Are you doing your work regularly (or daily)? It is a major source of my confusion. It is very unlikely to have such a tense. Although it is the event that occurs regularly (mostly occurs daily), some speakers use such compositions especially those who study in English medium schools in my country, I do not know anything about native English speakers (It should **not** be mentioned here but very unluckily, I could not join a school because of some unavoidable circumstances, I am a self-learner). In my native language, I have never seen such a sentence, neither in speaking nor in writing. We always use the following composition in the simple present tense. > Do you do your work regularly (or daily)? How likely is it possible to have such a sentence in English (the first one)? In which particular situations, is it used?


title: Idiom/expression for "responsible for what happened."

text: Example: > I doubt the kids are responsible for what happened. What idiom/expression can I use to replace the _responsible for what happened_ part? Something that isn't as straight forward as the example.


title: Is there a word for the day after a due day?

text: Is there a word for the succeeding day after the last day of a period? Let’s say I had to do a homework assignment and I had to submit it before a specific date. One that due date passes, I may be subject to penalties according to the number of days late. Here is another example. Suppose I had to pay a bill until a specific date. I'm running late by one day. I can still pay, but I have to pay interest too, according to the number of days in late. If it was one day late, is there a word for that? What if it were two days late? Is there a word for the second of the two, or for both these days together?


title: "Advise" vs. "advise that"

text: > ... and I want to **advise** they, too, come for a session. > > ... and I want to **advise that** they, too, come for a session. The first is how I first wrote it. Do I need _that_?


title: "Let's/We let A be a variable"

text: Suppose I am giving a math talk and I am going to write on the board _Let A be a variable_. What do I say while I write? Can I say _Let's let A be a variable_ or should I write _We let A be a variable_ and say the same thing?


title: Equivalent for "inhumane" in regard to animals

text: It's probably appropriate to use the word _inhumane_ when referring to the improper treatment of animals, but I was just curious if there was another term in the English language that refers to the improper way to treat an animal. Generally speaking, _inhumane_ simply means _lacking qualities of sympathy, pity, warmth, compassion, or the like; cruel; brutal_ , but it can also mean _not suited for human beings_. But I think that the ethical standards for treating a human are slightly different than the standards for treating any other animal, so it would be appropriate to have its own word. Does such a word exist?


title: Origin of the idiom "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts..."

text: I'm interested in the origin of the idiom: > If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas. Furthermore, how should its meaning be interpreted? Are there alternate endings?


title: Omission of "and" in headlines

text: What is this phenomenon called? Is it common in all English-speaking countries?


title: What is the name of the truck shown in this picture?

text: I noticed that questions on trucks are generally welcome on EL&U. The truck in the picture below is called "bisarca", a single Italian word. Translating "bisarca" with Italian-English dictionaries, I found "transporter" (a large vehicle used to carry heavy objects) and "car transporter" (a large vehicle used to carry cars). The former seems very general to me, and the latter is formed by two words. I'm therefore wondering if a _single_ English word exists to name this kind of trucks: ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/DL8nn.jpg)


title: Is it a good practice to refer to countries, ships etc using the feminine form?

text: While talking about ships and countries, is it a good practice to use the feminine form? For example: "Her economy" - while referring to a country's economy "Her flag (or deck etc)" - while referring to a ship Is this practice common? Is it used today?


title: Why are some English nouns referred by "she" but never by "he"?

text: > **Possible Duplicates:**   >  Is it a good practice to refer to countries, ships etc using the feminine > form?   >  When referring to a noun, when does the gender matter? What is the origin of referring to some nouns by "she" but never by "he"?   Can I refer to Internet as "she"?


title: When referring to a noun, when does the gender matter?

text: In most languages, gender plays a much more important role than in English. Nevertheless, it _is_ possible to refer to a noun using its gender. > The ship was launched on 4 October 1853. Tayleur left Liverpool on 19 > January 1854, on **her** maiden voyage. How does one know that "ship" is feminine? Are there masculine nouns?


title: What is the origin of the phrase "you've got another thing/think coming"?

text: What is the origin of the phrase "you've got another thing coming"? And — perhaps more importantly — is it more correct than the alternative "you've got another think coming"?


> **Possible Duplicate:**   >  What is the origin of the phrase "you've got another thing/think coming"? Which is correct: "another think coming" or "another thing coming"? I have seen/heard both. Is one correct or more common?


title: Why are bacteria referred to using botanic terms (flora, blooming)?

text: I've seen a lot of information lately about _intestinal flora_ or _gut flora_ but I was under the impression that _flora_ refers exclusively to plant life. So how did bacteria come to be called flora? I am aware that they aren't really animals either, but naming them after plant life seems... wrong. To confuse matters further, aquariums often suffer from a condition called _bacterial blooming_ which has nothing to do with flowers. P.S. There is indeed a Yahoo Answers! post about this topic, but it would be nice to have a more language-based discussion.


title: Is there a verb for remaining silent?

text: Dutch has the verb _zwijgen_ , which means _remaining silent_. _Ik zwijg_ means _I remain silent_ or _I say nothing_. It is also often used as an imperative, similar to _shut up_. I have been discussing this with some native English speakers who have sound understanding of Dutch, and we couldn't come up with a verb in English. Does it exist?


title: Divided by half - meaning

text: If someone says "Fifteen divided by half", I would interpret that literally to mean 15/0.5, or 30. However, I usually see it interpreted as 15/2, or 7.5. Which interpretation is correct?


title: "Recommend you to" vs. "recommend that you"

text: > I recommend you to define those parameters beforehand.   >  I recommend that you define those parameters beforehand. Are both sentences grammatically correct? If yes, do they mean the same thing? If yes, which one should I use?


title: Usage of 'customs' in lieu of 'immigration'

text: Over at the Travel SE beta (it's in private beta so I'm not sure how many here will be able to access it), I came across a question whether the OP uses _"clearance through US Customs"_ when I'm assuming s/he actually means _US immigration_. (Here, I'm relying on the definition that 'immigration' handles visa clearance, 'customs' handles tax collection for goods.) I have come across this particular usage earlier too, mostly among American travellers. Is this usage US-specific - and is it an 'error'*? (* An error in the sense that the actual department at the airport, say, is US Immigration but people mistakenly call it 'Customs'.)


title: How did oxytonic come to mean “final accent” rather than “acute accent”?

text: In Samuel Martin's _Reference Grammar of Japanese_ (1975), the author describes the location of lexical accent on Japanese words using the following terms:   * _Prototonic_ : The accent is at the beginning of the word.   * _Mesotonic_ : The accent is somewhere in the middle of the word.   * _Oxytonic_ : The accent is at the end of the word.  _Prototonic_ and _mesotonic_ seem clear enough to me, literally meaning something like "beginning tone" and "medial tone". But _oxytonic_ is less obvious to me. It seems like it should mean something like "final tone", but when I look up _oxy-_ in dictionaries I instead find something like "sharp, acute". This is explained somewhat in _The Oxford English Dictionary_ in the definition for _oxytone_ : > **oxytone** , _a._ and _n. Gram._ , chiefly _Gr. Gram._ > > (ˈɒksɪtəʊn) > > Also **oxyton**. > > [ad. Gr. ὀξύτον-ος having the acute accent, f. ὀξυ- sharp, acute + τόνος > pitch, tone, accent.] > > **a.** _adj._ Having an acute accent on the last syllable. **b.** _n._ A > word so accented. So it seems that _oxy-_ refers to an "acute" accent. But I must confess it's still not entirely clear to me. How did this word come to be used for an acute accent on the **final** syllable specifically? Weren't acute accents used historically on **non-final** syllables as well? Was there a language where acute accents only fell on final syllables? In short, how did _oxytonic_ come to mean "final accent" rather than "acute accent"?


title: Differences between "different", "divergent", "disparate" and "distinct"

text: What are the differences between _different_ , _divergent_ , _disparate_ and _distinct_?


title: How to write a proper research paper with the use of pronouns referring to myself?

text: I am writing a research paper or report that is based on the development of my own product. Traditionally, the University I study in recommends that a research paper or report must be written by groups of 3 at least; however, due to the lack of students in my own college, I have to do mine alone. I am developing a certain product that has several types of functionality, attributes and features, and I am required to document all of it. Usually, I would write a paper that would only involve the "author" and the "reader" with the pronoun "We". For example, > "It is likely that we will experience several improvements.." My problem is that I came across a section of my paper to which I must explain to the reader that "I" myself have prepared a table that will further explain the product's functions in details. Is it right that I use the phrase, > "In order to better explain the features and functionality of this product, > I have prepared a table that simplifies and broadens the information > regarding the aforementioned subjects." Or, is it better to only refer "we" being the author and the reader? I know it probably depends on the actual author, but I am curious to know which might be the best to recommend.


title: A person who finds peace or pleasure in seeing other people in same trouble that he is in

text: Consider a person who is in pain, sad and in a difficult position/situation, and finds another man in the same situation and feels happy. What would we call such a person? There is a word having its roots in German, "schadenfreude", which means "to derive pleasure from someone else's misfortune", but this does not fit exactly here as _schadenfreude_ does not take the situation of the subject into consideration. It cannot be sadism either, as that is when the person revels in inflicting pain. There is a sense of camaraderie in this situation where the person relates to the pain of the others and somehow his own pain is alleviated. Is there a more precise word to fit the bill?


title: Why numbers are sometimes pronounced as individual numbers?

text: 456 four hundred fifty-six. four, five, six. Is there any rule or something? Is the second one just for faster pronunciation?


title: Recognizing a Welsh accent

text: For an American, I'm pretty good at UK dialects. I can immediately tell an Irish or Scottish accent from a typical (educated, Londoner) English accent. But I'm on shaky ground with _Welsh_ accents, which I hear are also distinctive.   * What phonological characteristics are distinctives of a Welsh accent?   * Are there any good recordings I can listen to in order to hear the difference between Welsh and English accents? **Edit** : To clarify, I'm not asking about the Welsh language, but about the English language as pronounced by people from Wales.


title: What's the difference between "universality" and "pervasiveness"?

text: The meanings of these two words seem the same, but their spellings are very different.


title: Smileys inside or outside quotation marks?

text: Should smiley be merged into quotation marks as if it were punctuation? > I don't like to "move it, move it ;-)." > > cf. Did she say "you shall?" Or be kept outside quotation marks, as a word? > I don't like to "move it, move it" ;-) > > cf. Sure you can "move it, move it" _wink_


title: "Please let me know."

text: Is it okay to answer "Please let me know", short (without "when...", "if...", "what...", etc.)? Consider for instance > \-- I can check that for you tomorrow morning. > > \-- Yes, please let me know.


title: What is the earliest recorded pun in the English language?

text: So, I'll admit I love a good pun. Done correctly, it is humor for the clever that builds up rather than tears down. Plus, it beats an emetic in the right situation. That said, I wonder how far back puns go. My assumption is that all languages have puns, but even still, it would be fun to know how far back they go. Is there a commonly accepted "Ur-pun" that could be considered the first in the English language?


title: "It is black's turn" or "it is blacks turn"?

text: Is it _black's turn_ to move in chess, or is it _blacks turn_?


title: "Please, cut the apple in halves." or "Please, cut it in half."?

text: I've heard native speakers use "half" but never "halves" in such sentences. If we cut an apple into two identical pieces, we get two halves. It shouldn't, therefore, sound wrong if one used "halves". Would it be wrong to use the plural here?


title: Is there a term for co-opting one word into a secondary, derogatory meaning?

text: Is there a term for when a word is co-opted and converted into a derogatory variant of the original term? For instance, "OCD" is defined as: > Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by > intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry; by > repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety; or by a > combination of such obsessions and compulsions. Symptoms of the disorder > include excessive washing or cleaning; repeated checking; extreme hoarding; > preoccupation with sexual, violent or religious thoughts; relationship- > related obsessions; aversion to particular numbers; and nervous rituals, > such as opening and closing a door a certain number of times before entering > or leaving a room. But if you actually _hear_ the term OCD it is almost always in a context similar to: > Lol, I always organize my library alphabetically. I'm so OCD... > > I organize things by color. OCD, I guess. This cultural redirection has very little to do with _actual_ OCD but it is an incredibly popular usage. The term I am looking for would fit into the following sentence: > OCD originally referred to a serious anxiety disorder but was [word] into a > description roughly meaning "appreciates order and organization." The reason I mention it being "derogatory" is because most of the time I hear this alternative usage it is a self-derogatory manner or somehow poking fun at a self-consciousness around the (not actually OCD) behavior. Other terms I have heard get used this way:   * retarded -- originally a description of someone's IQ but now a blanket description for any foolish or stupid thing   * ADD/ADHD -- originally a diagnosis around having severe concentration problems but became a blanket description for anyone that _could_ become distracted   * dyslexia -- originally a learning disorder focused on learning to read but became a description of isolated instances of spelling errors * * * This is somewhat related to How do words become derogatory or politically incorrect? but I'm looking for a very different word.


title: How did 'oyster' come to mean 'an extremely taciturn person'?

text: Merriam-Webster definition #4 of 'oyster': ' _an extremely taciturn person_ '. Since Online Etymology Dictionary says nothing about, can anybody say when and how 'oyster' assumed that meaning?


title: Syntax of have - already - yet

text: I am not sure about the last bit of the following sentence whether it is grammatically correct or not. Isn't the usage of the two words "already" and "yet" tautologous? I think one of each is actually enough to express what I want to say > Thus, to avoid any clashes I would be very grateful if you could inform me > about any dates you may have already arranged yet. Many thanks!


title: Common word for discount and supplement

text: I need a common word that in its meaning include either _discount_ or _supplement_.


title: Usage of brackets/parentheses

text: When and how do we use the different kinds of brackets/parentheses — (){}[] — while writing English (not code)?


title: Retroflex approximants in AE dialects

text: While looking up the best way to describe the aboriginal pronunciation of Uluru (`/uluɻu/`), I stumbled across retroflex approximants. The linked Wikipedia page states: > The retroflex approximant occurs in **American English** , Mandarin Chinese, > Pashto, a few Brazilian Portuguese dialects ... It then proceeds to state that red is pronounced as `/ɻʷɛd/` in certain American dialects. Going by the audio sample provided on the page, I find this a little hard to imagine. The article links to another wiki on English phonology which confirms that: > Depending on dialect, /r/ may be an alveolar approximant [ɹ], postalveolar > approximant, **retroflex approximant [ɻ]** , or labiodental approximant [ʋ]. So, who in the US pronounces _red_ as `/ɻʷɛd/`? How did this come about?


title: Why is the feminine equivalent of an earl a countess rather than an earless?

text: A comment by Tim Lymington notes that the wife of an earl is a _countess_. Why is this so? Shouldn't it have been _earless_? Was this perhaps a conscious decision due to its homography with ear-less? Did a jarl ever have a _jarless_? Ah. Perhaps not.


title: Is it “a company who makes ...” or “a company that makes...”?

text: Regarding the fact that a company is made up of people and we use _who_ for people, is it proper to use _who_ here?


title: "I'm going to help you like I promised." Good English? Informal? Only colloquially acceptable? Wrong?

text: I've often heard this kind of sentence where one substitutes the conjunction "like" for "as". Is it acceptable in written English? Is it considered wrong in spoken English?


title: Meaning - 'of us'

text: Would someone please explain its meaning? Also, what's the antecedent of 'which'? > In his Commentaries on the Laws of England, William Blackstone contended > that the distinction between private wrongs and crimes was: > >> ... As if I detain a field from another man, to which the law has given him a right, this is a civil injury, and not a crime; for here only the right of an individual is concerned, and it is immaterial to the public, which **of us** is in possession of the land: but treason, murder and robbery are properly marked among crimes; since besides the injury done to individuals, they strike at the very being of society; which cannot possibly subsist, where actions of this sort are suffered to escape with impunity. Source: P138-139, How the Law Works, Gary Slapper


title: What is the word for a person who does the opposite of what he speaks?

text: I am looking for a word to let others understand that somebody is a person who does exactly the opposite of what he speaks. Is there any word for this?


title: What does "Had X not Y" mean?

text: In this sentence, > It should have, had the umpire not been intimidated by the reputation of the > man who had come in to bat why "had" is being used here? what is its meaning in the above context? Can I write this instead? > The umpire should have not been intimidated by the reputation of the man who > came in to bat.


1. What the hell did I marry?    2. Why the hell did I marry?    3. When the hell did I marry?   4. Where the hell did I marry?   5. ... Can all question words be followed by "the hell"?


title: The attachment has "already been sent" or has "been already sent"?

text: While writing an email to my finance, I tried to convey that i had previously sent the referred attachment. Is there terminology that signifies a previous "File Attachment" Could anyone please help me to understand?


title: Should "et al." be in italics?

text: Should "et al." be written in italics, or not? My impression was that it was, but http://www.ece.ucdavis.edu/~jowens/commonerrors.html and http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/02/et-al-when-and-how.html says it should not be italicised, but I previously thought it should be, as does this side-remark in this answer.


title: When do we use "sports arena" and when "sports hall"?

text: What is the difference between "sports arena" and "sports hall"? It seems that both are sometimes used interchangeably.


title: Is it 'juice', 'bouillon', 'soup' or what?

text: I've just opened one can of canned corn. Besides corn there is always some liquid inside — just like in case with any other canned vegetable. So what is that liquid? How would you call it? Juice, bouillon, soup?


title: A Photoshop term for "body double" or "doppelgänger"

text: I saw a tutorial on TV. The tutorial was like this: > Take your snap sitting on chair, another standing on left side of chair and > then last one standing on the right side of the chair. Now, use Photoshop to > merge these three pics. After everything it will be three look alike on the > pic. Now, I want to search this tutorial on web but I don't know what to write for "How to create ___ _ in Photoshop"? Please suggest. **Edit** I tried _body double_ and _doppelgänger_ but it is not the word I am looking for.


title: What does "not for nothing" mean?

text: Is the meaning of the phrase "Not for nothing" literal, or idiomatic, and if idiomatic, what does the idiom mean? If you have a reference more reliable than urban dictionary, please share it. Here are two quotes using the phrase in which its meaning seems literal: > Not for nothing had he been exposed to the pitiless struggles for life in > the day of his cubhood, when his mother and he, alone and unaided, held > their own and survived in the ferocious environment of the Wild.   >  -Jack London > > It is not for nothing you are named Ransom.   > -C.S. Lewis However, this phrase comes up all the time in Aaron Sorkin's writing, especially the TV show The West Wing, and its usage there seems more idiomatic. For example: > Not for nothing, but, you know, we're gonna have to get into the thing at > some point. > > Josh Lyman: We elect these people. And not for nothing, but if we'd been the > world's policeman in the thirties, you and I...   >  Toby Ziegler: We'd have had a lot more relatives. In the previous two examples, the sentence structure was `"Not for nothing" <verb> <rest of sentence>` but in the last example, the structure is: `"Not for nothing", <but>, <full sentence>` I suspect that the phrase is being used idiomatically in the last example, but I am unsure of the meaning in this context.


title: Word meaning 'someone who has received a lot'

text: What's a generic word for someone who has been given a lot [of good things]? We were playing a party game last night wherein we were to describe our life in one word. Later, as we drove home, my wife said the idea she wanted to get across was that she received a lot in different areas of her life, but that the word 'blessed' wasn't quite the right word. Blessed has too much connotation of set apart or special. Is there a word for a person that has been given many good things without being especially deserving or noteworthy as an individual? (Note: I do think she is special and wonderful, but that doesn't help us think of a word that fit the description)


title: "This essay was translated from the Chinese" — what does this "the" do?

text: > Chen Guangcheng is a special student at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at the > New York University School of Law. This essay was translated from **the** > Chinese. Why don't they write: "This essay was translated from Chinese"? (Omitting the "the" before "Chinese".)


title: Conditional sentences

text: What type of conditional sentences should be used in a context like this? (This person graduated from school many years ago.) You know, my mother went to school and said that until she(the teacher) had apologised I wouldn't have attended her classes.


title: Are names of games proper nouns?

text: Are names of games such as "cricket", "football" considered proper nouns? And should the first letter of these words be capitalized?


title: Could anyone explain the meaning of the following sentence

text: In my offer letter there is one section named "End of Contract". In this section there is one item which I don't understand clearly. This is as follows: **Your service could be ended by giving thirty (30) days' notice or recompense one (1) month salary as replacement of notice.** Q: Could anyone explain the meaning of this sentence.


title: Difference between "Merchandise" and "Goods"

text: In an economics and accounting context, what is the difference between _goods_ and _merchandise_ ?


Do we add a full stop after an ellipsis at the end of a sentence? eg ‘There is a problem...’.


title: Word for young mustache?

text: How in one word do you describe the soft, thin, first-time mustache that grows when a boy goes through puberty? Tender? Immature?


title: Speak Slower or Speak Slowlier?

text: AFAIK the correct grammar for "speak slow" is " _speak slowly_ " (slowly being an adverb). Please correct me if I am mistaken. But in daily life I have not heard anyone saying " _Speak slowlier_ ". I think I heard folks saying "Speak slower" but I also think it is incorrect. Which is the best or correct form to convey the message? Could that be the longish " _Speak more slowly?_ "


title: "I like cat" type of sentences

text: The sentences seems a bit wrong but when you replace **cat** with something else it sounds right: I like A (Do you like A or B?).   I like apples (Do you like apples or oranges?). but... I like cat. (Do you like cat or dog?) What rule applies to these sentences?


title: "Vitriol" vs "caustic comments"

text: In choosing whether to use the expression > He spewed his usual **vitriol** or > He spewed his usual **caustic comments** does one carry more weight than the other?


title: Origin of the of the phrase "feeling blue"

text: Where did the expression "feeling blue" come from?


title: Does the word Effortless imply a negative or a positive comment?

text: I watched a TV show where a group of dancers were performing a number. After that, the host interviewed one of the audience and he was told that the Group A's performance was _effortless_ and gave a low rating to that group. However one of judges questioned the audience why did he gave a low score if the performance was effortless.


title: Names for automatic machines' programs

text: A machine can be programmed, and different programs can be chosen for different tasks. One such task may be to initialise the machine, while the main purpose of the machine is to manufacture something. Could such a program, that causes the machine to process/manufacture something be called a "work program" or "working program"? What other scenarios / classifications of programs can you think of?


title: €10 = "ten euro" or "ten euros"?

text: Which is the correct form: "ten euro" or "ten euros"?


title: "[Noun] upon [noun]" — singular or plural?

text: I am copy-editing a manuscript in which the author has written the following sentence: > Rank upon rank of theologians has envisioned God the Father as the > omniscient and omnipotent one. "Rank upon rank" suggests plurality, so my instinct is to change "has" to "have". Am I right? Alternatively, I'm tempted to suggest a more invasive change to avoid the awkwardness altogether. I suspect, however, that I personally do not understand how to handle countable and uncountable nouns with verbs, and I don't want to push this author unfairly toward a less creative sentence in the meantime.


title: "Content" or "Contents"?

text: _Content_ or _contents_ — when do I use which form? I realize that the one is the plural form of the other, but they seem to be used interchangeably.


title: Is "Everyone tends to get the best of my worst" a valid sentence?

text: Is there any alternatives to the above sentence? I just needed to know how to say : "everyone tends to find my worst qualities easily" in a subtle way. And i really had no what to tag it with :)


title: When should I use "can" and when should I use "will"?

text: This sentence talks about capability. > I can never do that. This sentence talks about a choice. A personal preference maybe? > I will never do that. Is this correct or can we use it interchangeably?


title: The camera adds ten pounds?

text: While trying to understand the term 'photogenic' better, I came across this Wikipedia page which mentions the expression _'the camera adds ten pounds'_. > With a camera, the subject is viewed through a single lens, and thus much of > the three dimensional qualities of the face are lost, and the face may > appear to be fuller than it actually is in real life(which is the reason for > the expression that "the camera adds ten pounds")... Does this expression refer to people looking 'bigger' in their photographs than they actually are or to refer to people looking 'better' in them? Since _adding pounds_ usually refers to putting on weight, I would think the expression suggests that people look heavier in the photographs. But is that photogenic?


title: Which acronyms do you use for epochs? Where do you place the acronym?

text: For example, I usually use   * 560 BCE   * 1066 CE As opposed to the traditional:   * 560 BC    * AD 1066 Some people, when using AD, place it after the year:   * 1066 AD I'm interested in how other people denote epochs?


title: "For Heaven's Sake" or "For Heaven Sakes"?

text: I hear these used almost interchangeably. To me "for heaven's sake" makes sense grammatically, but is there something I'm missing?


title: Synonyms for "extra-"

text: I'm looking for prefixes similar to _extra-_ in the sense of 'outside of'. I'm attaching it to "mathematical" and in its context "extra-mathematical" or "extramathematical" can be misread as "very mathematical". I'm specifically trying to avoid "nonmathematical" because I want to stress the connections with, rather than differences from, that field. The term would be used to refer to fields of study aside from math, e.g. chemistry or engineering. * * * _I'm tempted to add a [single-affix-requests] tag for this question... that would be wrong in so many ways._


title: Why do we say "I might add" when we are definitely adding something?

text: Often when a piece of rhetoric is being added for emphasis, we put "I might add" before or after or sometimes inside of it. > Martin Brice - my old and good friend who promised me we would not get in > trouble and who, I might add, did not. All of the definitions of "might" that I can find include an element of "possibility." Why, when Cosmo is _definitely_ , not possibly, adding "[Martin Brice did not get in trouble]," does he still use the phrase "I might add?"


title: How to associate a participle with an exact word in a sentence like 'List of items'?

text: I have a problem with a sentence "A list of items grouped by category". There are two possible ways to understand this sentence:   1. (A list of items) that is grouped by category   2. A list of (items that are grouped by category) How to write it correctly?


title: How to say something like "A is x times as much likely ..."?

text: How to accurately, unambiguously and concisely say something in the following cases: case 1. "The predictor is significant, with 1.5615 times as much likely to get higher scores when it is true." case 2. Subjects with A are 1.5615 times as much likely to get higher scores as those without A. Maybe I can use "chance" instead of "likely" to form the sentence better?


title: What is "however" in this sentence referring to?

text: > No definite mass is identified. However, for further evaluation of this > patient given his symptoms, an MRI is recommended. In the above sentence, does the "however" refer back to looking for a mass or forward to further evaluation of the patient's symptoms?


title: What does "RP" mean in the context?

text: Can you help me understand what my client meant about **_RP_** in this context: > I canceled my application since the payment scheme wasn't validated in RP.


title: What do you call the phenomenon where a rectangle Ϳ is shown because a font lacks a glyph?

text: Is there a name to describe the situation where a particular character is shown on a computer screen in a particular font, but this font does not have a glyph for this particular character? Usually, the result looks like this: Ϳ   A kind of empty rectangle. Sometimes it shows the code for that character within the rectangle. ![tofubake](http://i.stack.imgur.com/LdjiI.png) What do yo call this phenomenon?   If there is no name, is there a common term referring to this "rectangle"? Some Japanese people call this "tofubake" because rectangles look like tofu. _(It is notmojibake. Mojibake happens when character encoding meta-information is lost. It is not the problem here. Using a better font solves this phenomenon, but does not solve mojibake. Selecting a character encoding solves mojibake, but does not solve this phenomenon.)_


title: Word meaning something is technically accurate but overly simplistic

text: I am trying to think of a word used to describe someone who is intentionally oversimplifying an argument by making a statement that is technically true, but ignores a lot of issues. Its an adjective similar to describing the person as being intentionally obtuse or too clever for their own good.


title: "...must have taken ‘after’ his daddy."

text: I read this phrase: > My son cracks me up. He's had me laughing all day long. Must have taken > **_after_** his daddy. I want to know what _after_ means in this construction, and if there is some formal construction equivalent to this one.


title: What does the sentence mean?

text: I have a physics book and am having trouble understanding this sentence: > When we say we are a pile of atoms, we do not mean we are merely a pile of > atoms, because a pile of atoms which is not repeated from one to the other > might well have the possibilities which you see before you in the mirror. > > -- Richard Feynman, _Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics by its most > brilliant teacher_ There is no comma between words which makes the sentence very complicated. Could you explain what he really wants to say?


title: What's the adjective of "conspectus"?

text: > This is a well-written **conspectus** for a project.   >  Since it's very well written, it makes the project ? **conspectible**. Apparently, _conspectible_ is not recognized by the dictionaries I've checked. What is a correct choice of word in this context? Please note that I'm not looking for a synonym in this case, although it'd be nice to get some.


title: Is there a term for a flaw in logic?

text: I write code for a living and I'm trying to find the right word for a flaw in logic. "Error" seems too vague, I'm looking specifically for a word that describes a flaw in logic. Addendum 1: This would be an unintended flaw in logic. Addendum 2: Preferably 1 word, please.


title: When should you use a semicolon *with* a conjunction?

text: I know the basics of a semicolon—at least I think I do. Aside from delimiting verbose lists, it separates independent clauses of a sentence. So, if you have two independent clauses in a sentence, you can either separate them with a semicolon, or a comma along with a conjunction—like "but". However, I've noticed a few authors actually using a semicolon with a conjunction, like: `<independent clause 1>`; but `<independent clause 2>` Can anyone shed some light on when this is preferable to just a comma? Is this simply a matter of personal preference?


title: What is the word for talking to someone as if they don't know anything

text: This is noticeable in conversation when person A keeps trying to educate the person B. Person A automatically assumes a position of higher knowledge. What is person A doing to person B? It's not patronizing is it, because he isn't necessarily trying to talk to the other person in a condescending manner.


title: Is "adorable" used to describe an adult?

text: I've heard _adorable_ sometimes used for kids. Is it ever used to describe an adult?


title: What is another way to describe an action based on a previous action?

text: In a turn-based game, each player's turn is based upon the turn their opponent took before them. You could say that each action taken in the game is an action based upon the previous action taken in the context of this game. Is there a word or phrase that describes each individual action in this chain- of-events more succinctly?


title: Correct Use of "Resort to"

text: Are "resort to" or "resorted to" (phrasal verbs followed by a preposition) always negative? For example, is it always incorrect to write any of the following sentences, or are there circumstances under which they would be acceptable?   * It began to rain, so we resorted to moving the event to the lodge.   * The chairman then resorted to a helpful, detailed account of the incident.   * If the proposal is well received, we will be able to resort to disclosing the dollar figures.   * The neck brace worked wonders, so the doctor was glad he resorted to it.


title: What does "drawn" mean in "Hung, drawn and quartered"?

text: I've always assumed the "drawn" in "Hung, drawn and quartered" meant eviscerated _(remove the entrails of; disembowel)_. A friend insists it refers to being _drawn/dragged to the gallows_ , which doesn't make sense to me since it comes _after_ "hung" in the stock phrase. I started trying to Google it, but my friend (who isn't good at Internet searching) has cried foul in case I'm selective about the evidence I produce! What's the bottom line on this one?


title: Incredulous proper use

text: Is it valid to say 'I'm incredulous." all by itself as a standalone sentence? The intent is to convey that I am in disbelief. Thanks.


title: Word meaning "un-decorate"?

text: I'm looking for a verb that means to remove decoration from a room, in the sense of taking paintings off walls or removing furniture. I would prefer a word that has negative connotations. I though of "redecorate", but redecorating involves adding new decoration and sounds too positive.


title: Word for light after it has passed through a window / glass

text: The most evocative image I can think of for this is when the headlights of a car pass through your bedroom. I need this word because I have a computer graphics application that requires me to name a class which has the projection of another object, and I don't want it to be either ProjectedVisualObject or ShadowVisualObject because the first one is just not the word I'm looking for, and the second one isn't really accurate because it still has all the color of the original object.


title: what is the difference between the words "tall" and "high"?

text: Are there any differences between the words **"tall"** and **"high"** ? For instance, `tall building` and `high building`   I'm not sure what are the differences between them.


Is "short fall" an acceptable synonym for "shortfall"? > We noticed an important short fall here that no-one else had planned for. Found on an English-language Korean news website. I search in my dictionary but it did not have a "short fall" entry. Maybe that is an acceptable word nonetheless?


title: To be "glad of" or "glad about"?

text: I was wondering about the correct usage of the term "glad". It seems to me it can be used (at least) in two different ways: "to be glad of something" or "to be glad about something", indeed I found both of them in some online dictionaries. But I cannot really understand what is the difference (if there is any), or if one of the two is more correct than the other. Thank you very much for your help!


title: How to say in English that I am going to test a given Unit from a student's book?

text: What is the best way to say that a given test is on a given subject? Can I say 'The test is on Unit 4 from your student book? How should I rephrase it to make it sound more natural or even correct?


title: Word for something difficult or nearly impossible to achieve

text: What is a word which means _something difficult or close to impossible to achieve_? For example, > A ten-percent growth rate is a **__** : it is certainly possible on paper, > but very difficult to accomplish. I can think of _a castle in the air_ or _an ideal prospect_ , but I would love to have a simple one-word substitute.


title: How should one properly construct compound nationalities?

text: Chinese American or American Chinese? Indian Briton or British Indian? In practice, I've come across both forms and I would love to know whether this is a matter of personal preference or whether there are, in fact, clear-cut rules to be followed. I personally feel the ethnicity should precede the nationality, i.e. Chinese American and not American Chinese when referring to an American citizen of Chinese origin. In other words, when I say "Chinese American" I am referring to an American citizen who is ethnically Chinese. When I say "American Chinese" I mean a Chinese citizen who is ethnically American (a rarity, I grant you). However, as mentioned, I have come across texts where the construct "American Chinese" refers to ethnic Chinese who are American citizens. Such a construct just strikes me as wrong but I have never been able to find any real evidence to back up my opinion on this matter. Is my interpretation correct or does the matter just come down to preference?


title: The math problem is too difficult for `X` to work out

text: There are four options: everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody. Which one should be used in `X` place ?


title: When your 10-year old boy says “It’s meta,” what does it mean? In what situation and of what sort of object they use this phrase?

text: I asked about the meaning and usage of meta a few days ago, quoting Maureen Dowd’s review of the movie, “J. Edgar” in New York Times. I received six answers. But I still don’t get a clear idea of what “It’s meta” means because I don't understand (or have a total inability to comprehend) the concept of “self-referential.” An answerer answered: “Meta in this fairly recent, casual context is supposed to mean self-referential, or recursive in some way. This is the sense in which my teenagers would use this term.” So let me resubmit the question on “meta” in simpler format. When your teenager boy says “It’s (or this is) meta,” what does it mean? In what situation and of what sort of object they use this phrase? I’m sorry for many users who lent me kind answers to my previous question. But I would like to get it fully on the meaning and usage of “it’s meta,” as a colloquial expression, not the meaning of meta as a prefix.


title: Is there a term for a word that is the same upside-down?

text: I know _palindrome_ is the term for a word that works backwards and forwards, but is there a similar term for a word that can be flipped/reversed and remain the same? For example, the word _SWIMS_ or the number _6009_.


title: What does "make it last" mean?

text: There is a song but I am not sure about the meaning of "make it last" in that song. Please let me know what it means and which situation I should use this? **Make it last - Tim Mc Morris** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_cCVzyH8cY


title: What does 'A small medium at large' phrase means?

text: Just received this joke: * * * Q: What do you call a midget fortuneteller on the run from the law? A: A small medium at large. * * * the 'Q' I understood. It's a runaway psychic gnome. But what does `A` means? Is it geometric term or something?


title: Word for someone who receives commission

text: Is there a word that describes someone who receives commission for something? I am not only referring to a salesman but also to for example VISA that charges 3% commission on credit card sales.


title: How do we know how words were pronounced hundreds of years ago?

text: Recently, I've spent some time reading "The Canturbury Tales", by Geoffrey Chaucer. There are a number of resources out there to help make sense of the old language he uses, but I've noticed that several sources make matter-of- fact statements describing how the language was pronounced in Chaucer's time. For example, the WIKIpedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales) says that Chaucer's generation was among the last that pronounced the "e" at the end of words such as "care". How can anyone claim to know how words were pronounced hundreds of years ago? The only thing I can guess it is that linguists would make inferences about how some words were pronounced based on how rhyming poems were written.


title: Parsing possibility

text: What is the correct way to parse the following sentence: It is possible that one can be happy only if one can be free. Does the sentence say: It is possible that [one can be happy only if one can be free]. or does it say: [It is possible that one can be happy] only if [one can be free]. What's the clearest way to express the former so it does not get confused with the latter?


title: what does "But enough about me" mean?

text: I want to know whether or not "but enough about me" is an idiom ? if yes, what does it mean? and when and how we can use it?


title: What is the difference between "pliable" and "pliant"?

text: I am confused between _pliable_ and _pliant_. What's the difference? The explanation in the Oxford Dictionary seems vague:               pliable             1. easily bent; flexible                 [quality leather is pliable and will not crack]             2. easily influenced                 [pliable teenage minds]          pliant             1. easily bent                 [pliant willow stems]             2. easily influenced or directed; yielding                 [a more pliant prime minister]


title: Plural of "iPod Touch"

text: What is the plural of _iPod Touch_? Should it be _iPods Touch_ or _iPod Touches_?


title: How to Say Something was 'Not an Improvement'

text: There is a mother, Ann, who has a stereotypical 'good' personality: she is religious, a teacher, and a very generous lady. Her daughter, Emily, isn't the nicest lady: she whines a lot, insults people, and is ignorant to her family history. My professor asked to mention in my essay that Emily's personality was an 'un- improvement', as compared to her mother's. I can't find a way to say this without sounding awkward. What I have so far is: "Emily's personality shows a degraded structure as the generations of her family trickle down." I already know that I do not want to use that sentence: it sounds awful and confusing, in my opinion (I can bet that you had to read it twice before understanding what I was trying to say). Can anyone else think of a way I could say this?


title: How do you format a sentence to avoid or use "to to" correctly?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Rules about prepositions and duplicating 'to' > Where did you travel to to get that? Using to, to has always looked/seemed awkward to me. What is the proper way to express this?


title: Way to do something

text: I was wondering if "way to do something" means it is right or wrong to do something? I thought it means it is right to do something until I read this: > Just a few doors down, Lynette's sister shows up just in time to help her > through her split with Tom. Unfortunately the once messy sibling shows up > looking fabulous and on the arm of a sexy new boyfriend. **Way to make > Lynette feel good about herself!!!** Don't you hate when that happens? When > a friend or loved one shows up to try to help you through a troubling time > and all they do is flaunt all of the fabulous things that are going on in > their life.


title: which is better, dead or deceased or passed away?

text: I was not able to serve the letter to Mario because he is dead. I was not able to serve the letter to Mario because he is deceased. I was not able to serve the letter to Mario because he passed away.


title: Etymologies of noun and verb _wimple_

text: Wiktionary and etymonline show a different etymology for the noun _wimple_ (which has senses including “A cloth which usually covers the head...” and “A ripple, as on the surface of water”) than Wiktionary shows for the verb _wimple_ (which has senses including “To cover with a wimple” and “To cause ... to ripple or undulate [eg] _The wind wimples the surface of water_ ”). From Wiktionary: > Etymology 1 [noun]   >  From Middle English _wimpel_ , from Old English _wimpel_ (“veil, an article > of women's dress; a covering for the neck, a cloak, a hood”), from Proto- > Germanic _wimpilaz_ (“wimple, scarf, veil”). ... > > Etymology 2 [verb]   >  From Middle English _wimplen_ (“to cover, conceal; to fold, drape”) Because Middle English _wimpel_ and _wimplen_ are so much alike, I assume they have a common ancestor, perhaps _wimpilaz_ , perhaps something older. What is that ancestor, if any? Is there a better and more complete etymology for the verb _wimple_?


title: Is "With the Wish of Wellness" grammatical?

text: Recently one of my friends who is not a native English speaker sent me a mail. In the last phrase he used a harmonic but strange structure instead of the usual phrases like "Best Regards", "Best Wishes", "Sincerely", etc. That phrase was: "With the Wish of Wellness". Question: Is this a legitimate English phrase? If not, which grammatical rules does it violate?


title: "Whether or not" vs. "whether"

text: >   1.     * This will depend on whether he's suitable for the job. >     * This will depend on whether he's suitable for the job **or not.** >     * This will depend on whether **or not** he's suitable for the job. >   2.     * It is still not defined whether we're following that approach. >     * It is still not defined whether we're following that approach **or > not**. >     * It is still not defined whether **or not** we're following that > approach. > "Or not" doesn't really seem to be needed to complement "whether". Why do people use it then? Is it redundancy and nothing more? Or is it for emphasis? Or are there cases when "or not" is required for the sentence to be grammatical?


title: Is the "or not" in "whether or not" optional?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  “Whether or not” vs. “whether” I am not sure about the usage of _whether_. My confusion over it is whether _or not_ is optional. Suppose I have the following sentence: > The results of the pathological test will definitely show whether the frail > patient has an infection **or not**. Is _or not_ compulsory to make this sentence more appropriate, or is it optional?


title: Does "it is entirely possible that" require the subjunctive form of the verb following "that"?

text: For instance, take the following sentence (from a real email exchange):               it is entirely possible that one WebEx is not enough      Is it correct? Should it be               it is entirely possible that one WebEx be not enough      ? My reasoning is as follows:               (1) it is necessary that you be here -->     (2) it is necessary that one WebEx be here -->      (3) it is necessary that one WebEx be enough -->      (4) it is necessary that one WebEx be not enough -->      (5) it is entirely possible that one WebEx be not enough -->       Is it true that the grammatical context is preserved throughout the entire transformation, starting with a sentence known to require the subjunctive (1) and ending with my example (5) ? I have performed a few simple Google searches and the results are quite confusing:   * **"it is necessary that he be"** yields 170,000 results   * **"it is necessary that he is"** yields 342,000 results   * **"it is possible that he be"** yields 985,000 results   * **"it is possible that he is"** yields 4,040,000 results Of course, no conclusions can be drawn from these results ...


title: Is the "to" required in "the person (to) whom I granted freedom"?

text: I had this phrase _"the person whom I granted freedom"_ in something I wrote; a friend maintains that it must be _"the person_ **to** _whom I granted freedom."_


title: Correct use of the word "damage" in this sentence?

text: Correct the bold section of the sentence: Federal Legislation establishing a fund for the cleanup of the sites damaged by toxic chemicals permits **compensating state governments for the damage to** their natural resources, but does not allow claims for injury to people. > A. compensating state government for damage to   >  B. compensating state government for the damage of   >  C. giving state governments compensation for damaging   >  D. giving compensation to the state government for the damage of   >  E. the giving of compensation to state governments for damaging


title: Incorrect gerund to simple past conversion?

text: I'm a non-native speaker of English, so this might or might not be something very basic. Nonetheless, it's baffling me and I'd love some help. A friend of mine wrote this sentence in a story for which I'm a pre-reader: > They crossed a highway along the river shore and then a bridge, leading them > to a dirt road winding down a thin peninsula that jutted into the river. In my mind, based on how my native Portuguese phrases things, I felt that "leading" gerund there could be replaced by the determiner plus simple past "what led", and the phrase would "sound" better: > They crossed a highway along the river shore and then a bridge, what led > them to a dirt road winding down a thin peninsula that jutted into the > river. The "what" in there is supposedly a determiner referring to and meaning the whole of "They crossed a highway along the river shore and then a bridge". However he told me, and I quote him, "your suggestion in this case would cause the sentence to make absolutely no grammatical sense whatsoever." I'd like to understand why that's the case, what the exact rules are, and whether there's a correct way to do a gerund to simple past conversion in this and similar cases. Thank you very much!


title: English Article

text: I have come across a sentence where 'Niagara Falls' is used without an article. I seem to remember that there is a basic rule of the English language that there should be an article before any specific countable noun. Niagara Falls is a set of three spectacular waterfalls located on the US-Canadian border which makes it plural specific noun. Then why not 'The Niagara Falls'?


title: Flattering vs. flatter

text: Of two sentences >   * You are flattering me. >   * You flatter me. > Which is correct? Are both correct, or is one better than the other?


title: Other words or phrases for "Little Black Book"

text: I'm trying to find if there are any other words or phrases that have a similar meaning to Little Black Book. More looking along the lines of a word or phrase to mean a list or book where you keep important information, but usually about other people. Little Black Book: n. a book containing the names and addresses of acquaintances who are potential dates, usually put together by men. : Am I in your little black book, or can you already tell that I wouldn't go out with you?


title: As/so sth as: subjective or objective pronoun?

text: Which of the following is the correct grammar usage? >   1. We scored as many runs as they. >   2. We scored as many runs as them? > Wren and Martin says nothing about this case. Please explain the rule involved.


title: What should be filled in "Honoring", "Given by" and "R.S.V.P"

text: In the invitation letters, what should I fill in to the fields "Honoring", "Given by" and "R.S.V.P"? ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/EPsmv.jpg)


title: How to use particles like 'back', 'on', 'off', 'around', 'up', 'down' or 'out' are used sometimes with phrasal verbs? Use of English

text: How to use particles like 'back', 'on', 'off', 'around', 'up', 'down' or 'out' are used sometimes with phrasal verbs? **back** \- return **on** \- continue **off** \- travel to another place **around** \- do a pointless activity **up** \- complete something/have no more to do **down** \- (1) put something onto paper, (2) reduce (speed, number, etc.) **out** \- (1) distribute something amongst people, (2) lose ability to function For example: > Drink it up (but is there more meanings than finish it) > > Speak out


title: Which one is better: "wipe out" or "wipe away"?

text: > If justice is wiped out, then society will fall apart in no time. I vacillate between "wipe out" and "wipe away". I do not know which one is better in this sentence.


title: Why is "hysterical" applied to women but rarely to men?

text: > _hysterical_ :  affected by or deriving from wildly uncontrolled emotion, > _Janet became hysterical and began screaming_. Why is the adjective _hysterical_ usually applied to women and rarely to men? For what it's worth, Google Books shows 42,700 hits for _hysterical woman_ and 2,820 hits for _hysterical man_ , but the fact is I rarely hear _hysterical_ used in reference to men.


title: What does I.p. mean in this context?

text: The following is from a reader's response to a book review. What does `I.p.` mean? > The reviewer is pretty much right on target and helpful in his review; he > nicely qualifies the benefits of the large book. I.p., his observation of > knots repetition is correct--he is not citing "variations". I find no listing in OED.


title: Subtask vs sub-task vs sub task

text: We provide tests for candidates. Each test consists of several tasks. Each task may consist of several subtasks / sub-tasks / sub tasks? So far we've used all these terms both internally and in communication with customers. At least we should be consistent and choose one over the other. But which one?


title: "take the initiative" vs "make the initiative"

text: What is the difference between "taking the initiative" and "making the initiative"? Context : I recently sent an email asking advice on whether I should " **take** the initiative to contact professor X". The person answered "Yes, you should **make** the initiative".


title: Should a serial comma be used when mimicking Victorian-era British text?

text: I am editing a manuscript that mimics the style of late 19th-century British writing. To what extent were serial commas used during this time period?


title: Can "may" be an infinitive

text: I was reading this article http://www.organics.org/8-beers-that-you-should-stop-drinking-immediately/ when I saw > Propylene Glycol is controversial, and is said **to may** be potentially > harmful to your health As far as I know, "may" cannot work as an infinitive like this, but I decided to try to Google for it, and found other cases, e.g. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2007/11/11/21341/experts-danger-of-nuclear- armed.html > Now it is Iran that is said **to may** be bent on acquiring nuclear arms, > and President Bush who has declared that "unacceptable." I'm beginning to think that these are not mere typos. But what's going on? I tend to believe that the authors are native English speakers, at least I didn't find any other signs of non-native-ness in the articles. Is it dialectal? Please note: I am not looking for answers along the line of "This is wrong".


Is "revelationary" a word in the English language?. If it isn't a word in proper English, then which word, if any, can be used for something that leads to a revelation?


title: Unsure if an apostrophe is needed before an 's' in a sentence

text: In the following sentence should there be an apostrophe before the s in "transfer"? I don't think so because it's not possesive but on the other hand the transfer should be singular so I'm not sure. > Used for sending out e-mails each time an owner transfers an asset.


title: English idiom related to time

text: I wonder what is the English idiom with the following meaning. "There are two opinions and only time could decide what is true". It should be something like "survive time's exam" or something like that.


title: Is "it makes following five-fold contributions" a good expression?

text: I saw some papers using expressions like "five-fold contributions". What's the difference between this and "five contributions"? Which one is better? What are the appropriate scenarios for the word "fold"?


title: Usage of "symmetrical" and "symmetric"

text: What is the appropriate usage of "symmetrical" and "symmetric" (using the geometrical adjectival definition of both terms)? Are they synonymous?


title: Can a hyphen be used without anything on the right side?

text: From this page: > [...] in early parts of this century when it was the most user- and > hardware-friendly Linux operating system available [...] Is the **user-** fragment valid (outside this technical/informal context)? The usage in this context is clear, as it's just avoiding the repetition of **-friendly** , but is it correct? Would it be more correct to omit the hyphen?


title: "I didn't think of it [at first/before]" — which one is acceptable?

text: > I like the idea of contract signing with my customers. I didn't think of it > before. Should I say _at first_ instead of _before_ , or is the sentence acceptable as it is?


title: Under what circumstances should I use 'requisite' and 'required'?

text: The context of this is in the writing a technical document. The statement I am writing is something of the ilk: > The package then updates the [requisite/required] number of tables. I was wondering which is more appropriate here, and more broadly, which circumstances each should be used.


title: Can object complements make any difference to sentences?

text: I'm reading a grammar book, and I have some questions. ## A. >   * We ate the fish raw. >   * I want Sue drunk. >   * I prefer the music soft. >   * I like coffee black. >   * We drank the beer cold. > This type of sentence (Verb + Object + Object Complement) is in frequent use. Then the meanings are the same as the following? >   * We ate the fish which was raw. >   * We ate the fish while it was raw. >   * We ate the raw fish. >   * I prefer the soft music. >   * I like black coffee. >   * We drank the cold beer. >   * We drank the beer while it was cold. >   * We drank the beer which was cold. > I suspect there will be differences, but I can't catch them. ## B. Another type of sentence is as follows.   * >     * I know that London is the capital of the U.K. (o) >     * I know London to be the capital of the U.K. (?) The book says the latter is not natural, but no reason for it.   * >     * I believe that the rain is falling. (o) >     * I believe the rain to be falling. (?) Same here. The second is said not to be natural.   * >     * I know Mary to be a Christian. >     * I believe John to be a man of interity. But these two are said to be acceptable. Why?   * >     * I remember him to be tall and lank. >     * I remember him tall and lank. Could be there any difference, if any?   * >     * I find that this chair is comfortable. >     * I find this chair to be comfortable. >     * I find this chair comfortable. It says each has a slightly difference nuance, but the contexts are not given. And I don't understand the explanation, perhaps because it was translated word for word into my mother tongue.   * >     * If you look in the files, you'll find —  >       * that she is Mexican. (o) >       * her to be Mexican. (?) >       * her Mexian. (?) This is very strange to me. Are all the sentences not acceptable? ## C. I'll type up some more sentences below. >   * NBC announced Henry to be the winner.   >  vs. "… Henry the winner." >   * They report the sea level to be down considerably.   >  vs. "… the sea level down considerably." >   * He hates gin to be diluted.   >  vs. "… gin diluted." >   * The police want Bill to be alive.   >  vs. "… Bill alive." >   * Quick, get in here! Tommy needs his leg [set (o)/to be set (?)]. >   * Tommy needs his leg [to be set (o)/set (?)] eventually, but let's not > rush things. >


title: "My latest five novels" or "my five latest novels"?

text: Is it okay to say "my latest _five_ novels" when I want to express "five of my _latest_ novels"? As far as I know, "five" is a postdeterminer, so it precedes an adjective (except for "last/following/top", to name a few) as a rule.


title: Is there any difference if Peeves said “Not doing anything” instead of “Not doing nothing?

text: Peeves the Poltergeist is a practical joker in _Harry Potter_ books. Why is he saying ‘nothing’ for ‘anything’ in the following citation? Does this express his character? Is it possibly a dialect or anything? > ”Peeves, get down here NOW!” barked Professor McGonagall, straightening her > pointed hat and glaring upward through her square-rimmed spectacles. > > ”Not doing nothing!” cackled Peeves, lobbing a water bomb at several fifth- > year girls, who screamed and dived into the Great Hall. **N.B.:** Peeves is floating in the air and throwing water bombs.


title: Difference in usage and connotation between "attenuate" and "extenuate"

text: What is the difference between _attenuate_ and _extenuate_ in terms of their usage and connotation?


title: Preposition to choose when referring to something from a book

text: Which would be better to say? >   * He reminds me of Dill **from** _To Kill a Mockingbird_. >   * He reminds me of Dill **in** _To Kill a Mockingbird_. >   * He reminds me of Dill **of** _To Kill a Mockingbird_. > Also, which is more appropriate in a formal context?


title: Has "mother" become politically incorrect?

text: Has _mother_ become politically incorrect? The word _mom_ now seems to have replaced _mother_ throughout popular news articles. Is there some reason besides political correctness, which until now has always seemed to have been connected to racism, no matter how tenuous the connection, or have I missed something?


title: Usage of the word 'from' and 'between' in the sentence

text: Which of the following sentences is correct? > The children are **from** the ages of five and fifteen. > The children are **between** the ages of five and fifteen.


title: How to interpose cross references to sections in the presentation of an outline

text: In academic papers the introduction usually contains a description of the outline of the paper, i.e. a description of the structure of the paper, such as a description of what goes in what section. In writing such a description one might want to interpose the cross references to sections instead of having them in the main flow of sentences, e.g. to write "I will start out with an introduction (section 1)" instead of "I'll start out with an introduction in section 1". What are the proper/best ways to do this? Here's two examples. If parentheses are used to interpose the cross references to sections, then the parentheses might be distracting (especially if they occur frequently): > I will start out with an introduction (section 1). After that I'll present > some additional background (section 2). Then I'll present my position > (section 3), argue for it (section 4) and present some of its applications > (section 5). Finally, I'll sum up the main points (section 6). If commas are used, then the disposition might get confusing (e.g. by confusing the list and the interpositions in the second sentence): > I will start out with an introduction, section 1. After that I'll present > some additional background, section 2. Then I'll present my position, > section 3, argue for it, section 4, and present some of its applications, > section 5. Finally, I'll sum up the main points, section 6. There might be other possible constructions, e.g. by use of semicolons or dashes.


title: Tri-Parts Phrasal Verbs and Categories

text: There seem to be three categories for tri-part phrasal verbs:   1. genuine non-separable (come up with);   2. flexible in that the final particle can be omitted (brush up (on);   3. mandatory separable (talk (.) out of). Are there any that have been missed here?


title: What is the word for an adult who is not mature?

text: What term can be used for an adult, especially a man, who is in his forties and still behaves like a teenager, shunning responsibilities typical of mature people, preferring to enjoy himself?


title: When can verbs precede subjects?

text: I saw a sentence in which "is" precedes the subject though the sentence is not interrogative. Here comes the sentence:     * _In fig. 4_ **_is_** _shown [the approach to equilibrium absorbance for a glass illuminated at three different intensities]._ In general, when can we precede a subject by a verb? Personally, I used such a structure a little earlier ( _Here comes the sentence_ ) which I think is correct as it looks so. What is the underlying principle behind when to bring the subject first or the verb?


title: What's the difference between "someone" and "somebody"?

text: What is the difference between "someone is waiting for me" and "somebody is waiting for me?" Please make it clear for me.


title: Do you make a difference between “anybody” and “anyone”

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Is there a subtle difference between "somebody" and "someone", "anybody" > and "anyone"? Not being an English native, I’m totally unable to distinguish between the two words. Is there any difference? Could you use one instead of the other at any time?


title: Someone vs Somebody

text: Can anyone please explain the difference between "someone" and "somebody"? Or they are same?


title: No one or nobody? Someone or somebody?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Is there a subtle difference between "somebody" and "someone", "anybody" > and "anyone"?   1. Can "no one" and "nobody" be used interchangeably? If not, when is the correct time to use either one?   2. The same but for "someone" and "somebody".


title: Finding out the proper word out of book-learned vocabulary

text: I've been learning English for many years already, using many ways available for me. It is mostly reading, as I have very few opportunities to use English in real communication. Due to this fact my vocabulary is rather one-sided: I can read fast and without problems but to find out the proper word in real conversation is really hard for me. My live expressions are full of book- learned words and phrases. I guess I often use formal and archaic words instead of simple spoken ones. I simply don't feel the difference between them as a native speaker does. Are there any online resources that could help find out the most appropriate words for the contemporary usage, helping to sound less artificial, formal and archaic? Or, maybe, other advices for the learners like me?


title: What are the possible words for a task?

text: I am looking for similar words to _task_ for a document on scheduling tasks in the context of a project. My goal would be to find words that would denote meanings for three things.   * A word for a small atomic task of short duration that is to be done. This would be the fundamental unit. I'm thinking to: _job_ , _assignment_.   * A word to denote that this _small task_ has been done. I'm thinking to: _work_.   * A word for a larger task that is made of several _small tasks_ , or even several _tasks_. I'm thinking to: _task_ , _labor_. As a non native English speaker, I am having troubles finding the exact meaning of all these words, and if my hierarchy, from small to large, is correct. Do native speaker have suggestions for other words?


title: What does "ain't" mean?

text: What does the contraction _ain't_ mean? Is it appropriate to use it in formal settings?


title: "You're not" vs. "you ain't"

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  What does "ain't" mean? What's the difference between "you're not" and "you ain't" ("...coming home")? I do realize that _ain't_ is a contraction of _are not_ — but still. Which of the two forms should be used and when? Which is the most formal/informal?


title: Was “ain’t” at one time acceptable in “proper” English?

text: I contend the word _ain’t_ is a useful contraction of _am not_. **_Ain’t_** I correct in thinking that in the early 1800s, Bostonians thought of _ain’t_ as an acceptable word without stigmatization?


title: What is the full form of ain't

text: ## Ai'nt > I know, Ain't is the same as aren't But i want to know full form of **ain't** , Anyone know this?


title: Why is "ain't" not listed in dictionaries?

text: Google finds 52,000,000 matches for _ain't_ but non-natives simply can't look up this word. Wiktionary isn't helpful. Is it some kind of 'wildcard' for "am/is/are not"?


title: Can you say “which goes in a downward direction” in English?

text: > The inventory check conducted by a private contractor (name-of-the contract) > has revealed a 20 percent discrepancy **which goes in a downward > direction**. The warehouse ledger shows the total inventory (crude oil) > worth to be at 1 million US dollars, however the inventory check report > provided by a private contractor shows the total inventory worth to be at > around 800 thousand US dollars. The internal investigation of embezzlement > has been initiated as of the 4th of may. The phase _which goes in a downward direction_ is where the rubber meets the road and where the shoe pinches, for it is a Russian idiom written in English words. I personally think that with the context at hand one can easily infer what it means. PS: If it is incomprehensible to native speakers, I’d like to know how it should be phrased to be comprehensible.


title: Need a computer tool to find words with certain patterns of letters

text: I am trying to decipher some illegible writing by a nurse. For instance, I have a word where I am fairly certain the word starts with an _E_ , ends with an _L_ and contains a _T_ somewhere in the middle. It could be _emotional_ for instance, but I'm not sure. Does anyone know of a computer tool out there where I can get lists of words that satisfy criteria such those in the example?


title: Special words in soccer

text: I would like to know a couple of words so special about soccer even Google can't help me.   1. How is the "gate" called (if you make the score, you kick the ball into the "gate". We call it "gate" (maybe door or front door) in Hungarian language. Maybe "net" or "goal" in English? Which is the right word?   2. How you say if somebody makes a score? (We say "He made a goal", "kicked in the goal", "kicked the ball into the gate", etc., but we rarely say "he made a score", because scores are for the final standing of the match, so teams make scores (0, 1 or 3) not players.   3. We have the word _labdabiztosság_ which is a special word in soccer to show the player's ability to be able to secure the ball and not lose it against the enemy easily. If somebody is _labdabiztos_ it means he is not easy to dodge and have the ball taken away from him, so the ball is "secured" for his team. The literal translation is "ball security" (e.g. "This player is ball-secure".), but I don't think that's the phrase I'm looking for.   4. Another word is _gólveszélyes_ which means "how dangerous this player is for making a score, what the chance is that this player makes the score if he is in the right position (in front of the 'net')". Word-for-word my best shot is "goal-dangerous" or "score-dangerous". How do you say these soccer skills and phrases in English?


title: How is “so” used in this sentence?

text: I found this text in one of my reading. I wonder what the role of **so** in the text because I find it hard to translate into my language. > Since I am a teacher of and consultant in engineering and management, the > majority of my contacts are with people who are analytical. quantitative, > verbal, logical. These are certainly exellent traits for any problem-solver. > However, **so** is the ability to conceptualize freely, an activity that > requires a somewhat broader thinking vocabulary. I am deeply concerned with > attempting to better define this cocabulary and with helping people expand > in this direction.    Is **so** still the conjunction or is it carried any other meaning?      Where is the subject of the text (is it eliminated for speficif reason)?      is using **so** here familiar with academic writing?      are there any other words carried the same funcion as this **so**? Thanks.


title: In what context do we use "subject to"?

text: I came across a situation where a customer had agreed to pay a certain amount but in the contract it was mentioned "Rates are subject to particular charges." So when we say "rates are subject to particular charges," does it mean rates are calculated excluding those particular charges?


title: Is there a word for "underneath a tree"?

text: Is there an adjective to describe an object ( _edit:_ e.g. a dog house or a headstone; the object is not necessarily a living thing) on the ground and underneath a tree? I thought of _"treeside"_ , but its meaning is obviously a bit different.


title: Etymology of the word 'sin'

text: In the Oxford English Dictionary of 1989, Vol. VII. under the verb 'sin' it lists the earliest recorded use of the word as from circa 825 AD. The word 'sin' was written then as 'syngian'. If the Latin suffix 'ian' means: of or belonging to, how does the verb sin derive from syng or sing which could be interpreted as a substantive or a separate entity?


title: Capitalization of "Theorem 1" in mathematics papers

text: In many mathematics papers I read sentences like "...with an appeal to Theorem 4.5 we get...". Is the capitalization of _theorem_ in this case correct? If it is correct why do we capitalize the word?


title: Why "meth-", "eth-", "prop-", when there is "uni-","di-","tri-"?

text: In chemistry, the homologous series for hydrocarbons uses the following prefixes: >   * Meth- >   * Eth- >   * Prop- >   * But- >   * Pent- >   * Hex- >   * Hept- >   * Oct- > Why are these prefixes used, instead of just using "uni-", "di-", "tri-"? I looked up the prefixes, but there is no dictionary record of them. Still, I think "uni-", "di-", "tri-", were invented first. Is there a specific reason why, instead of using the normal counting prefixes, new prefixes were used or made up, assuming they were made up for this specific purpose?


title: Is using "an idea" instead of "a good idea" good English?

text: In colloquial German, you can say something to the effect of > Would it be an idea to move the bike shed a bit to the left? and it is immediately understood that "an idea" is supposed to mean "a good idea". I tend to use this "an idea" in my English conversations as well, but I am unsure about its validity. Sure, it's never a problem to _understand_ what is meant, but is it commonly used and good style? Googling seems to suggest that it indeed is valid and relatively broadly used. Is this true? Is it, like in German, a more colloquial thing? **Edit:** Note that I am specifically asking about the use of "an idea" instead of "a good idea".


title: Are there any plans to extend the English alphabet

text: Certain sounds possibly deserve their own letter in the alphabet, are there any indication that some more letter may be added to the English alphabet?