title: How is "organic" different from "natural"?

text: Looking into my dictionary, one meaning of the word _organic_ is: > occurring or developing gradually and naturally, without being forced or > contrived And you see this word being used like _Organic Google Search_ or _Organic Food_ or things like that. My question is, can't we just use _natural_ instead of _organic_ , as in _natural Google search_ or _natural food_? What makes _organic_ different from _natural_?


title: Is "quaver" a blend word of "quake" and "waver"?

text: Dictionary.com has this etymology for _quaver_: > 1400–50; late Middle English **quaveren** (v.), **blend of quake and waver** But Wiktionary disagrees: > From Middle English **quaveren** , **frequentative form of quaven** , > cwavien (“to tremble”), **equivalent to quave + -er**. Cognate with Low > German quabbeln (“to quiver”), German quabbeln, quappeln (“to quiver”). > **More at quave, quab, quiver**. Given these differences, I am interested which statement is right.


title: Is it idiomatic to say "learn knowledge"?

text: > In this book, the author has introduced many good ways to learn knowledge. Is it good English to say _learn knowledge_? Is this a common collocation in English?


title: Is there a term for words that have a single meaning or are only used in a single context?

text: Certain words you hear in English are only ever heard in a single context. For example, _skirl_ is used to describe the sound a bagpipe makes. Etymonline generously says the word is "rarely" heard outside that context, but I can't recall ever hearing it used for anything else. I imagine one could use it figuratively to describe another godawful high-pitched screech (sorry, bagpipe lovers), but there's no other bona fide usage for it. What I want to know is stated in the title of the question: Is there a term for these one-off words? I'm sure there must be, but I can't think of what it might be. **Edit:** Judging from some of the head-scratching comments I've received, there seems to be some confusion. Perhaps I did not make my meaning clear. I'm not looking for a word to describe the single instance of _skirl_. I'm asking about a class of words like _skirl_. I know there exist other examples of words that are only ever used in one context, but I can't think of any others at the moment.


title: Any English phrase whose words appear nowhere else?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Is there a term for words that have a single meaning or are only used in a > single context? I want to find some English phrases whose individual words are seldom used outside of that phrase. That way its words show up in the phrase alone, but nowhere else.


title: Why does appraisal have so little to do with praise?

text: _Appraisal_ and _praise_ can be traced back to a common Latin root: _pretiare_ (“to reward”). One thing that I do not understand, though, is how they came to have such different meanings: **_praise_ is positive, while _appraisal_ is entirely neutral**. This latter was a surprise to me, when I first heard it, because I tried to figure out its meaning from the root I knew, and wondered why my boss would want to have an “yearly appraisal”: why would we meet one-on-one once a year, to give him the opportunity to praise my work? Or was it working the other way around, was I supposed to give him praise? Anyway, with that anecdote out of the way, the question is: can this evolution in meaning, from a common Latin root, be traced through history? Can we know (or guess) when the meanings started to diverge?


title: Word for - an item that belongs to a group or list

text: This is one of those word / phrase on the tip of my tongue things. What is a technical word or phrase for an item that belongs to a group? **Some Context** I am creating a relational table (database) and am trying to add a comment to describe the column as briefly as possible. (Limited to 60 characters.) Column name: `groupid` \- Sample comment `Organizational Group this item belongs to` The point of the comment is to indicate that `groupid` is a reference meant for visual / organizational purposes only and has no functional purpose in the software. Not a big issue, just bugging me cause I can't think of the / a word (or better way of stating this). * * * I don't know if this helps anyone, but some words floating around in my head right now (as I try to find the right word) are `catalog` and `chronological`.


title: Yards, courtyards, and gardens in American English

text: As long as reportedly Americans commonly designate an area of land, usually planted with plants, trees, flowerbeds, etc., adjoining a house as a yard (front yard/backyard); and a plot of land used for the cultivation of flowers, vegetables, herbs, or fruit as a _garden_ — what do Americans call what is referred to by the British as a _yard_ , i.e. a piece of open ground, usually paved or laid with concrete or gravel, and often adjoining or surrounding a building or buildings? Is it also commonly designated by Americans as a _yard_ ( _front yard/backyard_ )? Or as a _courtyard_? Or is there another term to it? If indeed it's also called a _yard_ , isn't there — if context is unclear — any chance of ambiguity or misunderstanding as to whether it's a planted area or a paved/concreted/graveled one that one is referring to?


title: How did "-ish" suffix come to denote the approximate meaning of the word it is attached to?

text: I know it's currently more of a slang to attach and use it as normalish (see what I did here?) suffix, but still — was there any evolution for this? Also — maybe it had some special meaning?


title: Why are 'blueish' and 'bluish' both considered correct spellings?

text: My nine year old son fought hard on this and is taking a stand on spelling _bluish_ as _blueish_. I'm certain his teacher will mark it as a spelling error in his writing... Several dictionaries have indicated both spellings are acceptable. A character in his story says > What is that blueish white piece of ice floating in the freezing cold > Antarctic waters?


title: How to pronounce terminal "-al"

text: I'm confused about how to pronounce _-al_ at the end of the word. These words end with _-al_ and are pronounced without a "ə" sound.   * dig·it·al _/ˈdijitl/_   * men·tal _/ˈmentl/_ These words also end with _-al_ , but are pronounced with a "ə" sound.   * lo·cal _/ˈlōkəl/_   * glob·al _/ˈglōbəl/_   * herb·al _/ˈ(h)ərbəl/_ Why does the first group not have the "ə" sound, but the second group does?


title: What is an expression for something you particularly like?

text: I'm not a native English speaker. I want to find the English equivalent of > ho un debole per le ragazze svedesi that, in Italian, basically means "I particularly like Swedish girls." (It's just a random example; it might apply to many other things as well).   The point is that you want to emphasize the fact that you like, in this case, Swedish girls more than others.


title: "On the other end / side" of the phone line

text: What's the proper way to reference somebody who're you talking with by a peer- to-peer phone line, usually if you don't know who's there exactly? Russian language, for example, has the idiom               (они) на другом конца провода      which is literally               (they, who appear to be) on the other end of the [phone] wire      Note that it is in plural and it can be used even for wireless (i.e. cell) phones. What is the proper way to say that in English? I've stumbled a couple of times to usage "(at/on) the other end", "(at/on) the other side" in some texts, but I'm not sure that they're authentic, correct and relate to precisely what I'm talking about. I've checked the dictionaries, but I couldn't find anything relevant. Possibly related, but still doesn't give the exact answer on telephone line specific case:   * "Our end" vs. "our side" Definitely not related:   * "On the one/other hand" vs. "on the one/other side"


title: Possessive of crowds

text: The subheading of this news story says, _"Threatened showers don't mute crwods' enthusiasm"_ [sic]. Separate from the misspelling of `crowds`, is it appropriate for the apostrophe to go before or after the 's'?   * The enthusiasm of the crowd.   * The enthusiasm of the crowds. I feel that an argument might be made for both.


title: Is a participial phrase at the end of a sentence a dangling modifier?

text: In this sentence: > John walked outside, carrying a jug of water. Is "carrying a jug of water" dangling? If it isn't, what about the sentence: > John walked to the car, carrying a jug of water. In this sentence, is "carrying a jug of water" ambiguous, possibly referring to either "John" or "the car", or is it unambiguously referring to "John"?


title: What is the "final frontier"?

text: I know it is a reference of some sort to "space", but in what sense and why?


title: Helping someone climb

text: I know this is kinda stupid but what is the word for "helping someone climb by allowing him to stand on your hands" (to allow him/her see above some wall or climb something)?


title: What is this Dad going to say?

text: Here is a situation: Dad is talking to his 5-year-old son while watching TV: Dad: I really like this movie. Son: But I don't like this movie. Dad: I am a bit hungry. Son: But I am not hungry. Dad: You must be doing your homework at the moment, isn't it? Son: No, I won't do my homework. Dad (angrily): Stop **___ __ ___ _** So, what do you think Dad's natural response should be here? (I would really want to have it started with the word "stop", but if you think it won't sound natural in English, then you can drop it. It is very likely that this whole conversation will sound not natural - do, please, comment) Here I have some of my options - none of them seem to be natural to me:   1. Stop arguing with me! (But it’s not really an argument, as far as I can tell);   2. Stop saying things opposite to what I am saying! (Too long and kind of too complicated for an angry response);   3. Stop it! (Looks kind of too general to me and, perhaps, a bit soft)   4. Stop reasoning with me (It’s not really a reasoning, but just a case of one being stubborn);


title: Differences between "fortification nouns"

text: What are the practical differences between these nouns?   * Fort   * Fortress   * Fortification   * Stronghold   * Citadel   * Castle   * Palace **Context** In Norway we have a lot of old stone buildings, typically built for war in the 1600s. Most of the their names are translated to English using _fortress_ , but, sometimes, one of the other nouns are used. I have looked up these words in different dictionaries, but I haven't been able to determine the differences between them. When is it appropriate to choose one over the other?


title: Is there a name for letters that "cross the line" (hang low) when written in lowercase (g, j, p, q, y)?

text: Is there a fancy name for these letters that "hang low"?


title: What is a "Dublin Castle Knight"?

text: I was reading Surtees' _Young Tom Hall_ the other day, and came across this... > Sir Thomas, whose father had been a great army tailor, was a Dublin Castle > knight, but, like all truly great men, condescending withal - and no feast > or fete, or wedding, or christening, in Fleecyborough, or within a radius of > three miles, was considered perfect without Sir Thomas Thimbleton of > Thimbleton Park (so he called his villa and twenty acres of land). Does anyone know what a _Dublin Castle knight_ is? It doesn't sound terribly complimentary. Farmer & Henley, Partridge and Green have _Dublin dissector_ , _Dublin packet_ , _Dublin trick_ and _Dublin rules_ , but no knight. A search of the internet produces thousands of references to a song, whose lyrics I have perused but which doesn't appear to be relevant.


title: Does “uxorious” have sexual connotations?

text: I understand the literal meaning of _uxorious_ , but does it have sexual implications? That is, does it just mean that one is excessively devoted to one’s wife, or does it imply excessive sexual interest in her? For example, Lord Byron wrote: > _The same things change their names at such a rate;   >  For instance—passion in a lover’s glorious,   >  But in a husband is pronounced uxorious._ There it seems to carry a possibly sexual tone, but I’ve seen other cases where it doesn’t.


title: Words whose pronunciation remains the same with the last four letters removed

text: A friend told me that the English word _queue_ is the only word whose pronunciation remains the same when the last four letters are removed. I tried to think of others, but just couldn't. However, I don't feel this is true! (Just like when someone says the only word without rhymes is _orange_.) I was wondering if anyone can help? Edit: I am going to broaden things to allow more possibilities. The shortened version does not have to be an English word. For example, _thorough_ and _thoro_ I feel are close enough to count as removing three letters. Also, things like _though_ and _tho_ definitely count! (This is the best example so far by my standards.)


title: "What needs to be done" vs "What is needed to be done"

text: When you are looking at a task remaining, it seems right to me to say, "what needs to be done" in the simple present tense.   I have seen some people write "what is needed to be done." While I don't know what is wrong in the second sentence, it doesn't seem alright. Can you tell me why is it wrong?


title: Is this correct usage of a semi-colon?

text: I always have problems with the use of semi-colons. Is the following proper usage? They are connected but also standalone sentences. > I speak and write English fluently; as you can see from my CV, I have lived > and worked in the UK for over 5 years.


title: What’s the original version of “I see, said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw”?

text: What is the original saying of > I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.


title: What is the origional saying of I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw

text: How does the original saying go... "I see said the blind man, ...?" Is it: As he picked up his hammer and saw Or To the deaf dog Or As he waved his wooden leg Or something else?


title: "Silent fail" or "silent failure"

text: When an operation fails silently, i.e. without providing a notification that it failed, is that operation a silent fail, or a silent failure? Example: Given a variable `x` that stores the value `1`, when we try to assign a different value to it:               x = 2       then the outcome of that operation can be:   1. a success (the new value was successfully assigned; the value of `x` is `2`),   2. a silent fail/failure (the assignment failed silently; the value of `x` is still `1`),   3. an exception (the assignment failed and an exception was thrown). My question is about word choice. I'm not sure which of these two terms is correct, or if both are correct, which is more suitable. Also, if you know a better phrase for this (for outcome 2), I'd love to hear it.


title: Right tense for conditional event in nondescript time?

text: What is the right tense to describe an event that might have occured, be occuring or occur in the future, if (not) for something that happened in the past? Unike, in the examples, which anchor the event to: > If you hadn't killed him, he would have killed countless innocents.   >  _(past, i.e. his killing spree would have started in the past and possibly > ended by now)_ > > If you hadn't killed him, he would be killing countless innocents now.   >  _(present i.e. his killing spree started before and would be occurring > currently)_ I'm interested in a form that does not suggest the time in relation to current moment, but only in relation to the moment of when the condition ocurred. **Edit:** Would this simple form be what I need? > If you hadn't killed him, he would kill countless innocents. Does this leave the event/period as future relative to the past event, but unanchored to the present moment of time as intended? Or am I understanding it wrongly?


title: On Paddington Station?

text: I was interested to read that Paddington Bear was found _on_ Paddington Station, not _in_ or _at_ Paddington Station. I would never have chosen this usage (I speak Canadian English). I had a look at Google Ngrams and found that **at** is by far the more common usage, with **on** and **in** coming far behind and with comparable usage. I did a similar search for _on_ , _in_ and _at_ Euston Station with similar results. Then I did the same search for Grand Central Station, which, unlike Paddington and Euston stations, is in New York. Here, **at** and **in** are neck-to-neck, with **on** coming a distant third. I assume, therefore, that "on X station" is a mainly British English usage. I'm curious to know _why_. What is it that one is _on_? Is it the platform that we're on? Surely not the rails? Does anyone know where the use of these three prepositions comes from wrt train stations? How does usage in other English speaking countries compare? Writing as a Canadian, I would lean toward the Grand Central Station usage i.e. _at_ or _in_ , but not _on_. How about other places such as airports? We're not _on_ Heathrow, are we? Are we _on_ the bus station?


title: What does "F.I.T." stand for here?

text: Context (New York Times), > Despite all the sartorial trappings, guests dressed like any in your typical > off-the-rack hotel. On a recent Monday, there were **F.I.T. parents** in the > slate-gray lobby, and suits trading airport stories in the elevator. There’s > a chatty cocktail scene at the lobby bar, but Rare, the fiery orange dining > room, was desolate.


title: How should I express the idea of a website having very few visitors?

text: I just checked the Chinese Language & Usage site and found that there had been only one or two questions being asked per day. I need a word or an expression to describe a website like this. In particular, I'd like to fill in the blank in the following sentence. > The **_** of the CLU site makes me want to join the sales team and help > promote the site. The words I have thought of include _depression_ , _unpopularity_ , _inactivity_...None of them seems a good fit.


title: Meaning of "suits trading airport stories"

text: It's still from this sentence in New York Times, > Despite all the sartorial trappings, guests dressed like any in your typical > off-the-rack hotel. On a recent Monday, there were F.I.T. parents in the > slate-gray lobby, and **suits trading airport stories** in the elevator. > There’s a chatty cocktail scene at the lobby bar, but Rare, the fiery orange > dining room, was desolate. If _suits_ is a verb here, I think this sentence is grammatically incorrect, right? But if it's a noun, what's the meaning of _suits_ here? I don't understand the part in bold completely. Can you help break it down and make it clear?


title: How to describe "punishing" some text by making it less visible?

text: For example, downvoted answers on StackExchange. More-or-less normal variant seems to be "to gray out", but it's seems limited to gray colour (not to small font, pictures, strike-through or other methods of making the text visibly less important)... **Answers I like so far:** (in short)   * obscure   * fade/bleach/blanch/gray out/strike though (i.e. the specific effect)   * [be]dim   * deemphasize   * mute   * demote


title: Suggestion for English phrase dictionary?

text: I am not native English guy. One of the problem when I learn English is that I don't understand phrases, the phrase used cannot be found in the dictionary, which only contains single word. > Examples:   >  \- blow up   >  \- carry on   >  \- screw up Sometimes I encounter such phrase which I don't understand and my dictionary doesn't have it. Do you know any such dictionary, standard online? I just found an online one : http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page Would you please suggest more dictionaries?


title: Antonym of "superlative"

text: A friend of mine was talking about a film he has seen a trailer for and sarcastically heaping superlatives on it. He then wondered what the opposite of _superlative_ (as a noun) is. I suggested _sublative_ , which I hadn't heard of but made up based on the idea that _sub_ is the opposite of _super_. However the definition of sublative is > Having power, or tending, to take away. So is there a word that is the opposite of _superlative_ (the noun form)?


title: Should decades (e.g. '70s) be singular or plural

text: Are specific decades singular or plural? Which of the following is grammatically correct? > The '70s _was_ a great period for rock music. or > The '70s _were_ a great period for rock music. Please provide references if you have any.


title: What are initials?

text: I am filling a form for living in the campus on a university in Australia. The due date for sending this application is near, and I have asked the very same question to them in e-mail and haven't got an answer. I fear that I will not get the answer before the due date, so hopefully I have come to the right place to ask this question. Bottom of the contract it says "Resident initials here", now what's initials? I searched a bit and found out that it's the first letter of my name followed by first letter in my last name and surname. If my name is Muazam Al Ace, are my initial "MAA"? So do I write "MAA"? So my question is, are they asking for my signature or initials which does not make sense to me. One more question: "Resident’s Representative for Notices" - is it here I fill in my parents?


title: "You aren't in" vs. "You're not in"

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  "They are not": "they're not" versus "they aren't" I noticed that _you aren't in_ and _you're not in_ are two ways to shorten _you are not in_. Are they always interchangeable? Are there situations where you would choose one over the other?


title: What are the different names of "canvas chair"?

text: I call chairs like this![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/NkpNx.jpg) "canvas chairs". But I'm not sure if this is the proper name. Are there other names for this type of chair in America, Britain, and other English-speaking countries?


title: Where does the slang word "bad" + "ass" (badass) come from?

text: What is the origin of the word badass? Why a "bad" ass/"bad" + "ass"? What is an ass that is bad and how can an ass that is bad describe a tough person?


title: The origin of "It's just one of those things"?

text: According to the Cambridge Dictionary, " _It's just one of those things_ " means: > said about an event or situation that you cannot explain, or do not like but > cannot change But what is the origin? Why do people use this phrase to express such a feeling?


title: What is the difference between "used to" and "I was used to"?

text: What is the difference in the meaning between the following two tenses? > I used to travel alone.   >  I was used to traveling alone.


title: 'Questions' vs. 'Concerns' vs. 'Doubts'

text: This is a region-specific question--Indian English I have noticed when working with colleagues from India that they use the word 'doubts' where the typical American would use the word 'questions' or 'concerns'. This is most prevalent at the end of a meeting or discussion where an Indian colleague will ask "Do you have any doubts?" I have noticed the same word being used in the same way on several StackExchange forums (I assume from Indian users) and I'm curious how this word came to be used this way in India. I don't think I've ever heard this in British English (should that be the Queen's English?), so I _doubt_ it started directly during the colonization period. How, then, did it come about? * * * Edit-clarification for some very good point already provided in answers below: In current American English, 'doubt' could be considered to be a synonym of 'question', but the difference is that 'doubt' implies _lack of belief_ rather than _lack of knowledge_. For instance, a math teacher may explain that any number raised to the 0 power is 1. For the uninitiated it may seem counter-intuitive because raising to a power implies multiplication and any number multiplied by 0 is 0, not 1. In this case an American student might say "I have doubts", meaning "I don't believe you", rather than "I don't understand you."


title: Words for different types of leatherworking

text: I'm looking for as many words (and corresponding definitions) as I can find for different specific types of leatherworking. Archaic words are fine, even preferred. Of particular interest is a single word for repairs performed by cutting away damaged areas and stitching together with lanyard, if available. I'm looking for words related to leather _crafting_ and _repair_ , not so much production. Multi-word terms that aren't specific to leatherwork or may only be read as specific to leatherwork in context (like "rip work" for the specific term I describe above) are probably not useful to me.


title: Is "nonversation" a word?

text: Is there a word like " _nonversation_ "? Do people use this word in daily life? Where can it be used?


title: Where does "ta!" come from?

text: Where does the expression "ta" come from? Wikipedia has only this to say: > "ta!", slang, Exclam. Thank you! {Informal}, an expression of gratitude but no additional information or links about its genesis. I have only ever heard it from englishmen and -women. Is it used anywhere else in the world? How did it come about? What is its history?


title: Can this convoluted bit of "tax speak" be deciphered into plain English?

text: I am trying to understand a paragraph from a tax manual, and for the life of me I can't seem to understand what they are saying. The paragraph in question is from page 4 of publication 4681 > The amount of nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV of the property subject > to the nonrecourse debt to the extent nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV > of the property subject to the debt is forgiven. This is an academic question for me now, rather than something I need to know the legal meaning of. It is the worst piece of double-speak that I have encountered, and I was curious as to what the author was trying to get across. (The acronym "FMV" stands for "fair market value")


title: How do I pronounce "wrong" correctly instead of "long"?

text: When I say "wrong" people always mishear as "long". Pronouncing "r" and "l" correctly is always a big challenge for me. In Chinese we also have a syllable pronounced like "r" and a syllable pronounced like "l" and I can never pronounce them correctly. So how do I practice that in English?


title: "How come" vs "Why?"

text: What are the differences between the terms "How come ... we eat breakfast?" and "Why ... do we eat breakfast?" The words phrase based in _how_ seems really awkward to me, and I don't understand this convention.


title: When to use double negatives in written English?

text: I have always been a little confused as to when to use double negatives when writing (I am unsure if this is what they are termed in English, it is the term used in Mathematics). E.g. when to use: > "I am not staying!" Thus using two negatives - `not` & `staying` ...as opposed to: > "I am going!" Here using a single positive - `going`. Both sentences begin with `"I am..."` which infers that the person is going to do something, but then this can either be followed by two _negatives_ , so to speak; `"...not staying"` which cancel each other out and mean `going`, or it can simply be followed by the word `"...going."` In Mathematics a double negative is equal to a positive, and this also seems to be the case in the English language (and perhaps others). However when to use either one seems up for debate. There are plenty of other examples, e.g. `"I am not unregistered."` or `"I am registered."`


title: Punctuation with units

text: I remember reading somewhere that if a unit is abbreviated as _one character_ , there must not be a space between the number and the unit (e.g., _5m_ , _26K_ ). If the unit is abbreviated as _two or more Characters_ , there must be a space between the number and the unit (e.g., "10 km", "USD 5").   * Can you please help me find the source again?   * Is this recommendation correct?


title: How to write units?

text: In a scientific article, should I write "3m", "3 m", "3 meters", or "3 [meters]"?


title: What does "Plays pretty just for you" (a song's title) mean?

text: Should it be understood as "(He) plays, darling, only for you"?


title: Does “from the middle out” in Obama campaign ad mean ‘to start (growth) from,” or “to help out” the middle class?

text: In the recent ‘I believe’ campaign ad, President Obama talks to camera; > “I believe that the way you grow the economy is _from the middle out_. I > believe in fighting for the middle class because if they’re prospering all > of us will prosper. That’s the idea of America and that’s why America is the > greatest nation on earth.” What does grow the economy “ _from the middle out_ ” exactly mean? Does it mean to let start the economy growing from the middle class, and extend its benefits to other (upper and lower) classes,’ or it only refers to the middle? If we omit ‘out,’ from the line, does it ruin the whole sentence? What is the significance of having ‘ _out_ ’ in this context?


title: What does "insteadly" mean?

text: I have seen it couple of times in a chat room on the internet. What does "insteadly" mean? Is it a shortcut of "instead of"?


title: "Have you ever drunk XYZ?"

text: I am not a native English speaker. Suppose I wish to ask an audience whether they have ever had some particular drink (alcoholic)? How am I supposed to ask it? > Have any of you drunk Carlsberg Beer? Is the above question grammatically correct? If not, can anybody correct me? How do I change the question when I'm inquiring about a non-alcoholic beverage, such as tea or juice?


title: Terminology for differentiating models which are stationary versus which imitate functions of the original

text: If I have a model ship, car, aircraft, railroad, etc. what is the correct terminology to differentiate the following:   1. a stationary model, which is inert and does nothing, for example it has no moving parts even if the real life example would have. Is that the correct name, "stationary model"?   2. a functioning model, which is powered, and has motors etc. and for example can be remote controlled. Is it "functioning model" or "functional model", or is there a better word for it?


title: What is rose up here, and what does it mean "out of it"? And pantomime demon

text: > He never finished what he was going to say for at that moment something > happened. The high-backed chair in front of the fire moved suddenly and > **there rose up out of it** \- like a **pantomime demon** coming up out of a > trapdoor the alarming form of Uncle Andrew. They were not in the empty house > at all; they were in Digory's house and in the forbidden study! Both > children said "O-o-oh" and realized their terrible mistake. They felt they > ought to have known all along that they hadn't gone nearly far enough. I've looked up the dictionary: out of it [edit] English [edit] Adjective out of it (comparative more out of it, superlative most out of it)               (idiomatic) Not participating in some trend or group.              When my old friends turned up, my wife felt quite out of it.          (idiomatic) Disoriented; not thinking clearly.              Having the flu all week left me pretty well out of it.          (idiomatic) Drunk.      It's not quite right no matter it is talking about the chair or Uncle Andrew. And the pantomime demon?


title: Describing directions using the clock face

text: In Polish you can give relative directions (most often in military context) by using the clock dial analogy — you're at the centre and each number between 1 and 12 is a direction. For example, "Enemy at eight." would mean that the enemy is to the left and slightly behind you. Can you do a similar thing in English? I believe I heard something like this but Google searches turn up nothing.


title: Meaning of "my fool of a sister can't get at you"

text: Another phrase/sentence I don't understand from Narnia Book 1 Magician's Nephew: > Digory was quite speechless, for Uncle Andrew looked a thousand times more > alarming than he had ever looked before. Polly was not so frightened yet; > but she soon was. For the very first thing Uncle Andrew did was to walk > across to the door of the room, shut it, and turn the key in the lock. Then > he turned round, fixed the children with his bright eyes, and smiled, > showing all his teeth. > > "There!" he said. "Now **my fool of a sister can't get at you**!" Don't understand completely. I understand every word, but I don't know what he is talking about.


title: The origin of 'ghetto'

text: It seems that the term _ghetto_ was used for the first time at the beginning of the 17th century to specifically indicate an area in Venice where Jews were restricted. According to the Etymonline Dictionary and Wikipedia  various theories of its origin include: > a) Yiddish get "deed of separation; > > b) special use of Venetian getto "foundry" (there was one near the site of > that city's ghetto in 1516); > > c) a clipped word from Egitto "Egypt," from Latin Aegyptus (presumably in > memory of the exile); > > d) or Italian borghetto "small section of a town". Is there evidence that any of these theories, or others, can be considered as the most reliable source of the origin of the term or, is its origin to remain unclear as it appears to be now?


title: Antonyms of "shortlisted"

text: Are there any opposites of shortlisted? Currently, I am developing an application where candidates are `shortlisted` and I, the user, want to be `un-shortlisted`. I googled but no word was found. If there is no word related to it, then what will be the best word to select and reject a candidate other than select and reject?


title: Translation of Time Machine times

text: I am foreign student in Sarajevo, and trying to develop a small time machine for a software (not a real one, of course). And I need to show users specified place where currently they are. How can I translate for this specified times? I wrote like these:   * _The Present_ , or as second alternative _Now_   * _In the Past_   * _In the Future_ It looks like in my software: > February 2, Wednesday 2011 (The Present) or > January 8, Wednesday 1996 (In the Past) Are these good enough, or do you have any better advice?


title: "I'm right, aren't I?"

text: My dictionary reports that _aren't_ is also an abbreviation for _am not_ , when used in questions. Is this use of _aren't_ common? If it is common, are there any differences between the different English dialects? > Why aren't I being given a pay raise?


title: About the pronoun "one"

text: > and the choice of what to include and what not to include was necessarily a > personal **one** Could it be said: "...was necessarily personal"? Which is the "one" to substitute, "choice"?


title: "Versus" versus "vs." in writing

text: In writing, when should one use the abbreviation _vs._ as opposed to the full _versus_? This abbreviation seems to have special status from common usage. What is the origin of that, and in what writing contexts is it important?


title: What is a good word between 'slave' and 'servant'?

text: The word 'slave' suggests someone is owned and serves but brings to mind meanings of oppression. 'Servant' suggests someone is not owned but is merely employed to serve. Can anyone give me a word that may mean someone that is owned, serves, and is not oppressed by their owner, but is in fact taken care of and protected by him?


title: For a past situation: simple infinitive or perfect infinitive after "ought to"?

text: In Michael Vince's _New First Certificate Language Practice_ , page 92, exercise 2, sentence number 10, you are given the sentence: "I thought that you would know better!" which has to be re-written starting with "You …" and including the word "ought". The key says "You ought to know better." Isn't this ambiguous? Why not "You ought to have known better", since the situation in which the listener made the wrong choice is past, not present?


title: Are “unlevel / unleveler” not so common words?

text: Suzanne Mettler, a professor of government at Cornell University wrote the article under the title, “College, the Great Unleveler” in New York Times (March 1). She pointed out that the degrees of inequality between the richer students and poorer students in higher education in U.S. is widening by saying;. > "Most of us were raised to believe that going to college was the surest path > to a better life, but for many today that belief can be perilous. Unless we > can claw back polarization and plutocracy enough to restore opportunity in > higher education, the United States will become a society in which rank is > fixed and our ideal of upward mobility but a memory." > > http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/college-the-great- > unleveler/?_php=true&_type=blogs&hp&rref=opinion&_r=0 Apart from her criticism on polarization of opportunity in higher education, I was drawn to the word, “unleveler,” which I thought a pretty common word, because of its shortness and easiness to understand due to the simple construction of “un＋level.” However, when I checked the word on online Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam-Webster English Dictionary and Collins Cobuild English Dictionary at hand, none of them carries the word, “unlevel,” much less “unleveler.” Only Readers English Japanese Dictionary 2nd edition published by Japanese English dictionary specialist publisher carries ‘unlevel,’ which is defined as a. not flat. vt. make sth uneven. Is “unlevel (unleveler)” an uncommon word, though I think its meaning is obvious? **P.S.** I checked Google Ngram Viewer which gives incidence rate in 2008: level: 0.02636579705% unlevel: 0.0000015076% uneven: 0.0004579210% Apparently, ‘unlevel’ seems to be uncommon word.


title: What is the difference between behavior and act?

text: I think behavior is more about manner,act refers to a thing one does. But suppose I want to find a phrase to mean rules that stipulate what you can do and cannot do, such as you cannot kill a person, shall I use rules of behavior, or behavioral rules? Example 2 : All human beings shall obey the basic rules such as you shall not kill a person in their behavior.


title: "The End of All Things to Come" — what does this mean?

text: "The End of All Things to Come" is an album title of heavy metal band Mudvayne. There are two points that I do not fully understand: (i) I suppose that "X to do Y" is a general construction that expresses ( in a poetical way ) that "X is going to do Y". Is this correct? (ii) The predicate "to come" seems to refer to either "end" or "all things". My gut feeling tells me that it the title refers to an "end to come". However, I have read that, e.g., relative clauses are typically intended to refer to the most recent noun. With this principle in mind, the title would like roughly refer to "the end of all things that are coming". Could you clearify this grammatical construction for me?


title: Phrase interpretable as expressing A, or as B, or as "A and B"

text: Within the world of terms like _double entendre_ , _multiple entendre_ , and _polysemy_ is there a way of more specifically expressing the situation where > there is a remark that can be understood to say A, or to be saying B, and it > can be interpreted as saying both things. "Simultaneous", "joint" or "conjunct" entendre come to mind but I have never heard such phrases in real use.


title: "Home appliances", "household appliances", "domestic appliances", and "brown/white wares" in AE

text: In AE, do the terms "home appliances", "household appliances", and "domestic appliances" mean just about the same, or is there a subtle difference to these? You might want to consider this Ngram for this. Also, do "white goods/wares" and 'brown goods/wares" have any currency among AE speakers? Or, are these merely marketing terms found usually on directories in emporiums, malls, and department stores?


title: Where to put a person's name in a question?

text: When I'm asking a person about something where should I put a person's name? Which of the following is correct? >   1. Jem do you know....? >   2. Do you know Jem...? >


title: "The last thing I want is..." vs "The last thing I wanted was..."

text: For the two phases "the last thing I want is..." and "the last thing that I wanted was", can you give some examples of usage and explanations in what situation when you want to use one over the other? Thanks


title: "A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst [...], keeps asking"

text: In the last chapter of The Catcher in The Rye: > A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps > asking me if I'm going apply myself when I go back to school next September. What is the real subject? 'A lot of people', or 'this one psychoanalyst guy'? It seems that the subject is 'this.. guy' because the verb is 'keeps', which does not match 'a lot of people'.


title: Should "and" be on the following line?

text: If a sentence contains the word "and" at a place where it needs to continue on the next line, should the "and" be put at the end of that line or at the beginning of the next line? > Capturing a Performance Monitor log **and**   >  comparing it with baseline performance throughput [...] or > Capturing a Performance Monitor log   >  **and** comparing it with baseline performance throughput [...]


title: What does "I cannot but totally agree" mean?

text: What does the phrase/expression "I cannot but totally agree" mean? The sentence was said after _Person A_ had praised _Person B_. I understand that _Person B_ is completely agreeing with what _Person A_ said. But Why is _cannot_ used at the start? What does it signify?


title: Is “I (you) don’t have to go any further than the mirror,” well-used phrase, or John Edwards’ invention?

text: Today’s Washinton Post reported that John Edwards, Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004 was aquitted of one count, and the judge declared a mistrial on five other charges on his campaign fraud trial on May 30th. It says: “Edwards emerged from the courthouse to deliver remarks that sounded more like repentance than triumph. He lamented his “sins” and said he would not have to go far to find who is responsible. ‘ _I don’t have to go any further than the mirror_ ,’ he said. ‘ _It’s me and me alone.’”_ I was attracted to his remark, “I don’t have to go any further than the mirror. It’s me and me alone.” We also have a Japanese stereotype, “ _Look (your face) in the mirror_ ” when asking somebody to consider a thing in light of his conscience. This phrase is also used to remind someone of his / her being not so handsome as he / she thinks. Is “I (you) don’t have to go any further than the mirror.” a stereotype or a phrase well-used in the case when you are placed in a position to search your conscience, or just a John Edwards’ improvision before press corps?


title: Term used for a quantum or package of medication

text: Whats the best term to describe how medication is counted? for instance, "these pills come in 12 per pack 24 per pack or 100 per pack". I'm trying name a column for a database, Im trying to have a short but descriptive term for the quantum of medication that for instance a pharmacy would/could dispense on any given medication. And i need someone coming after me to able to understand it. EDIT: Just to clarify this column is not for stock level.the purpose of this database is to facilitate operation of a travel packing application. i was looking for a term used to accurately describe how many separate units contained per packaged unit (UNIT_PER_UNIT was the original term, which is vague) . for instance "12 pack of paracetamol" alternatively "1 tube of Antiseptic cream"- both are the smallest yet complete unit of either medication.


title: Substitute for "give or take"

text: Is there a better word or way of saying _give or take_ to refer to the possibility of inaccuracy? For example, > I will be arriving in 30 minutes, give or take 5 minutes. I want to indicate the possibility of arriving within five minutes of either side. So _about_ or _approximately_ are too vague.


title: Why do we say "so much more" rather than "so more "? Why do we have to put the much in?

text: If the definition of the word _so_ is an extent, then why do we have to put another word that describes a quantity after it, as "so much more" or "so much better"? Why can't we just say, so more or so better ? Is there an explanation for this or is it just because it sounds right ?


Which grammatical features does English lack, which it is expressively poorer for? These could be features found in other languages – living, extinct or invented – or even be completely new imaginings. What features deny through their absence utile nuances of meaning? What features might drive us to more elegant and thus profounder speech? And what adaptations could be made to the way the English language is used to achieve equivalent results without creating ambiguity? Please post each feature as a distinct reply, so that they can be up- (or down-) voted individually.


title: What's a word to describe black humor of the variety that criticizes the injustices of the world?

text: For example, let's say I see a homeless man and woman eating scraps of food next to a garbage fire to keep warm and I say to my friend, "Must be date night" (with undertones of "This is a sad world"). Looking for an adjective, preferably.


title: Why are almost all vowels pronounced "i" in New Zealand English?

text: One thing I always notice when I'm hearing Kiwis speaking English is the fact that almost every vowel turns into `/ɪ/`. Here's a video which illustrates the point (listen to them when they speak vowels). Example words that video whose vowels I hear changed: > Has (sounds like ' _his_ '), neck ( _nick_ ), men ( _min_ ), death ( _dith_ > ), centre ( _cintre_ ), yanked ( _yinked_ ), says ( _siz_ ), said ( _sid_ ), > etc. How did this vowel change come about? It doesn't even seem to exist in Australian English, and it seems rather unhelpful as I find this pronunciation makes many words harder to understand.


title: Possessive apostrophe for song title ending in a exclamation and in quotes

text: I'm subbing a piece a of writing that contains the following sentence. > ‘Press Heavenwards!’ exclamation mark gives away a Godspeed influence. 'Press Heavenwards!' is a song title that includes an exclamation mark. In our publication song titles are distinguished by single quote marks. Obviously the possessive case of the song title is being used, but how to signify it?


title: To go + gerund (go fishing etc)

text: My question is aimed at the constructions of this structure "to go + doing something" which are: to go fishing, to go dancing, to go jogging and so on. I need some explanation about the verb "go" in them. As far as I understand "go" doesn't imply some "moving" on the part of the speaker in such phrases. If I say "I go jogging" it means that "I jog", right? However, I have noticed that native speakers say such things as "I am going jogging now", which basically means " I am leaving right now in order to go jogging." or "I am going to jog." As a result of this I find a few discrepancies. 1) If "I go jogging" = "I jog" then "I am going jogging" should mean "I am jogging (now)." but it means "I am going to go jogging." Is my observation correct? 2) If I say it in the past "I was going jogging yesterday" will it mean that "I was jogging yesterday" or "I was going to go jogging yesterday" or both?


title: Word for a poem in which lines begin with letters of a previous word

text: I was wondering if someone knew the word that describes a poem where each word begins with the letters of a previous word, of if such a word even exists. An example of such a poem is this: http://crosswords.net23.net/poems/Joshua.html (I wrote it) Someone told me there was a word for this kind of thing, but he couldn't remember it, either.


title: Why do so many newspapers use the word "Times" in their names?

text: It seems that the word itself doesn't mean news or newspapers, but many newspapers use it in their names. Is there a historic reason?


title: I'm British, so should I take a rain cheque?

text: I want to write the phrase "take a rain cheque" and am British. Should I therefore use the British spelling of the word cheque, or respect the baseball origin of the phrase "rain check" and use the American spelling?


title: “Would” in a reported statement

text: I am teaching some students changing original quotes into reported speech. Well, one of my students asked how the following quote can be changed into reported speech: > I would like to swim. From my understanding, "would like to" simply means "want to". So, the whole sentence is a "present tense", am I right? So, to change it to 'reported speech', is it: > You Bi said **she wanted to swim**. Is the above grammatically correct?


title: When writing out large numbers in words, should commas be placed at thousand separators?

text: Would a number, say, > 5,629,296 be written with commas: > Five million, six hundred twenty nine thousand, two hundred ninety six or without commas: > Five million six hundred twenty nine thousand two hundred ninety six


title: Are the words "merry", "marry" and "Mary" pronounced the same?

text: These three words sound exactly alike to me. Example: "The merry man married Mary!" Is there a different pronunciation between these three words? Does having an accent change the pronunciation? Is it a personal preference on how to pronounce these words?


title: Understand prefix out-

text: From Merriam-Webster > out- in a manner that is greater, better, or more than something else. in a > manner that exceeds or surpasses and sometimes overpowers or defeats. e.g > outmaneuver> Does _outmaneuver_ literally mean that manoeuvre the opponents out? How shall we explain _outset_ (meaning beginning) and _outtake_ then?


title: "Run on an OS" vs. "run under an OS"

text: What is the correct way to specify the operating system you are targeting or using? Is a program running _on_ or _under_ an operating system (OS)? Is a machine running an OS or _under_ an OS?


title: Semantic or pragmatic ambiguity?

text: When one says "Do you want a cup of coffee?" he can mean:   * either an informative question — "Do you feel a desire to a cup of coffee?",   * or a polite offer — "I can make you a cup of coffee if you want". What is the general name of this type of ambiguity? I think it should be either semantic ambiguity or pragmatic ambiguity, however the examples I found for both of these types, for example this one, are unlike the above case. Better references will be appreciated.


title: Alternative (short) way of saying “a three-pronged approach to X”

text: I rather like this construct, as exemplified by “a three-pronged approach to physical therapy” (or four-pronged, or whatever). However, I tend to use it too much, and I am wondering how I could replace it by other short constructs with the same meaning. So, I wonder:   * Does “a three-fold approach to…” have the same meaning? I think it does, as my dictionary says of the _-fold_ suffix: “consisting of so many parts or facets”.   * Do you know other ways to express this in only two or three words? It being a short adjectival phrase is useful to me.


title: Opposite of 'Midas touch'?

text: I'm wondering what word or phrase could be used for the counter examples of 'Midas touch' effect. > The Midas touch, or the gift of profiting from whatever one undertakes, is > named for a legendary king of Phrygia. Midas was granted the power to > transmute whatever he touched into gold. > http://www.mythweb.com/today/today04.html For example: "Jack has the Midas touch but is still penniless because Sally is/has ?????"


title: Statement ending in "should"

text: Is this statement constructed correctly? > So because of their compatibility they were able to work closely together as > a strong team should Particularly, is it OK for it to end in should? If not, what rule is it breaking?


title: What is the 'last_name, first_name' format called?

text: Is there a name for the format of listing names by 'Last name, first name'? For example, how names were listed in phone books when those existed. Ex: this list of names is sorted (blank style): Goodman, Leo Herman, Bob Smith, John


title: Should 'good morning' be first greeting irrespective of the time you meet a person. Whether its afternoon or evening

text: Is there any kind of rule that the first greeting to a person should be 'good morning' irrespective of the time you meet that person. Whether its afternoon or evening. Please clarify with with facts and proof.


title: What does "off ..." mean in a script?

text: Could anybody, please, enlighten me as to what "off" means in the following excerpts taken from the script for the TV show "Breaking Bad"? (I've also come across the same use of "off" in other scripts). "Our two scary Cousins glare at Heisenberg. **Off them** , wrathful and unblinking, their lips moving in silent prayer... and us thinking ”Oh shit. THIS can’t be good...” He stands chest-high, frantically splashing water at the last few lumps of cash still BURNING poolside. **Off our hero**... PAMELA Alright. I usually open with “So sorry you’re here...” ( **off Sky’s sad smile** ) Where would you like to begin? PAMELA And it’s not an apartment, it’s a house that you live in? ( **off Skyler’s nod** ) Do you own outright, or is there a mortgage, or do you SKYLER Okay. I will think about that. **Off the two of them shaking hand**s -- friendly, but strained **Off Walt** , staring at him... then lowering his head in assent: **Off her** , frustrated and grieving and not allowed by circumstance to even explain herself to her son... The two slices are carefully mated. **Off come the crusts** , sliced with a sharp knife. **Off come their Canali suits**. **Off these strange events**... MARIE He must have! Why not just say it?! -- **Off Marie, left stewing now** **Off Jesse** , maybe just now beginning to see the light...


title: Advice for using multiple same-gender personal pronouns in the same sentence

text: I have often struggled with sentences that contain two characters of the same gender. For example, if there are two females, Alice and Carol, then the following sentence can be confusing.               Alice reminded Carol about how she helped her last week.      Clearly, Alice is telling Carol something, but who helped whom?    When the genders differ, the ambiguity is resolved.               Alice reminded Bob about how he helped her last week.     Alice reminded Bob about how she helped him last week.      Is there a rule that addresses this or a rule of thumb for handling it?


title: Why is “underhaul” not listed in dictionaries?

text: “underhaul” is not listed in dictionaries. Did I spell it wrong? Or is it slang?


title: To feel undermined, stepped on

text: I'm looking for a word describing someone that felt undermined, stepped on by an action I did. It would work in a sentence like "I am sorry if I (word) you". I'm looking for a softer word than "offended", something with a more emotional connotation.


title: Should sentence-to-sentence allusions allude only to subjects?

text: For example, "My friends asked me to kick his butt. He was just a scrawny kid, though. I didn't want to fight him." vs., "My friends wanted me to kick his butt. They're jerks. I don't know why they always need to pick on him." vs. "...they're jerks. I don't know why they always need to pick on people who are smaller than them." This sounds strange to me: "My friends made me go to a nice restaurant, yesterday. I went there again, just a little while ago." But perhaps it isn't strange at all?


title: Can et al. be applied to companies?

text: I am used to seeing this used to condense a list of authors; however, is it correct to apply it to a list of companies? For example, would it make sense to say: Seminars being held by Google, Microsoft, et al. I understand it to read as "and others" which seems to make sense in this example, but I wasn't sure if it connoted "and other people" or not.


title: Register your interest/interests?

text: What would be the correct way of saying this: > _**If you would like to register your interest in..._** > > _**If you would like to register your interests in..._** Both seem to sound correct to me but I was wondering if one was better to use than the other?


What is the difference between "conquered" and "won"?


title: What does "Nothing like anything" mean?

text: What does the phrase "Nothing like anything" mean? Literally it doesn't make sense to me and also I do not know its figurative meaning either.


title: What does "scratch below the surface" mean?

text: In _Outlier: The Story of Success_ Chapter 2 Section 4, there is a sentence saying > Is the ten-thousand-hour rule a general rule of success? If we **scratch > below the surface** of every great achiever, do we always find the > equivalence of the Michigan Computer Center or the hockey all-star team - > some sort of special opportunity for practice? I look it up in LDOCE5 and Merriam-Webster but only find what _scratch the surface_ means. Googling this expression seems only examples rather than a good explanation.


title: Why to use "May" before using "May God bless you"?

text: I heard it many times but I haven't really pondered on that. We can hear these following sentences in our daily lives: >   1. May God bless you. >   2. May God be pleased with you. >   3. May God accept your prayers. > But why do we use "May" at the beginning of the sentence? Apparently, it doesn't make the sentence a question but more polite and respectful towards the God maybe? I cannot tell I heard this structure in any other sentence but religious ones. Which grammar rule does it belong to? And how do we use it in different forms?


title: What is it called when you add 'im' to 'possible'?

text: I took the ESL certification test and I was wondering: what is it called when you add 'im' to 'possible'?


title: is that + <subject> + <verb> OR is the + <noun>

text: I am writing a paper and I want to criticize some other related work. I want to say that the problem of their work is that they don't support advanced composition rules. So which one is a better phrasing and why: > The shortcoming of their approach is that they only support simple > composition rules. Or > The shortcoming of their approach is the lack of support of advanced > composition rules. I will be grateful if you suggest a better phrasing.


title: The definite article usage with objects that have names

text: For example, I have a database and several tables in it. One of the tables is named Clients for this example. When I speak about a table and need to mention its name do I have to use the definite article? > Insert a record into the Clients table. or > Insert a record into Clients table. Which one is correct?


title: Does 'should' imply an unquestionable command?

text: My question is prompted by a question on the programmers.stackexchange: This may be a duplicate of another question here on english.stackechange, but the answers given to that question did not provide a definitive legal definition of ' _should_ ' vs. ' _must_ '. It has long been my impression that 'shall', 'will', and 'must' have about the same imperative weight; that is, the phrase that follows these words is a command that is not to be questioned. However, in my mind, 'should' falls in a category of lighter imperativeness, almost to the same level as 'may'; that is, the phrase that follows 'should' is a command that does not need to be completed. Does 'should' imply an unquestionable command, as is the claim in the chosen answer on programmers.stackexchange and the second definition on wiktionary, or is it closer in meaning to 'may'?


Is there a phrase for "the first thing I want to see in the morning as I wake up"?


title: Origin or root of eke?

text: I understand that "eke" means "survive". Where does it come from?


title: What's the meaning of 'Polypropylene ear right/left'

text: What's the meaning of _'Polypropylene ear right/left'_? Polypropylene is a kind of material. What does **ear right, ear left** mean?


title: How do you interpret "Who are you?"

text: This might be kind of vague, but I was thinking about this the other day. When someone asks "Who are you?", what are they really wanting to know? Is your name really enough to explain who you _are_? Maybe the answer represents what you think of yourself... or maybe I'm just taking this way too philosophically.


title: What is the correct use of present participle and "by" in a sequence of actions?

text: When writing a sequence of actions that happen after each other I get regularly confused about the correct use of the present participle. For example in: > **A:** I prefer learning by gaining an overview first and then deepen the > understanding of the details. > > **B:** I prefer learning by gaining an overview first and then deepening the > understanding of the details. > > **C:** I prefer learning by gaining an overview first and by then deepening > the understanding of the details. I’m not sure which grammatical rules should exactly be used here.


title: "Quote" vs "estimate" (business context)

text: I'm interested in the semantic implications of using the words _quote_ and _estimate_ in a business scenario. Here's the situation: When someone wants to purchase a service that I provide, they can fill out a form on a Website with information about the work to be done. Based on that info, they are instantly given a predicted price. This is intended only to be a ballpark. Once I manually review the work order, I will contact them with a personalized, much more accurate guess at the price. My instinct is to use _estimate_ for the ballpark and _quote_ for the more precise guess, but I'm interested in both your opinions and the more subtle distinctions and implications of the two words.


title: Pronunciation of "spring"

text: I found this text on the internet: > We must polish the Polish furniture.   >  He could lead if he would get the lead out.   >  The farm was used to produce produce.   >  ...   >  There was a bow tied in the ropes on the bow of the ship.   >  You should **spring** that on us next **spring**!   > http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/hlanguage2.html Could you clarify the difference in pronunciation of the word **spring** in the last line?


title: presenting a list followed by a verb, should the semi-colon be used?

text: Consider the sentence               We consider how different strategies; (1) running, (2) hiding and (3) fighting      affect the mating success of bears.      Is the above sentence grammatically correct with the semi-colon? I usually only use the semi-colon when the list ends a sentence.


title: The use of the colon before enumerations

text: I would like to check the correctness of two constructions containing enumerations. The first one is as follows. > Let us note the following two aspects: First, here comes the first aspect. > Second, here comes the second aspect. Is it acceptable to begin with a capital letter after a colon? Also, is it acceptable to keep one item together with the corresponding introduction whereas the other one comes as a separate sentence? The second construction is as follows. > Let us note the following two aspects: > > First, here comes a separate paragraph with a long explanation of the first > aspect. > > Second, here comes a separate paragraph with a long explanation of the > second aspect. Is it acceptable to end a sentence with a colon followed by two paragraphs? The correctness of the structure of my question is also a question. Thank you!


title: Dative whom with accusative who

text: When I am not bound by a style that mandates otherwise, I like to use _whom_ in dative constructions and _who_ in accusative constructions (I am aware that English doesn't have a proper case system, but it is convenient for the purposes of this qn). Let's call this _who/who/whom_ usage, matching nominative, accusative, and dative respectively. This appears to be moderately widespread, the death of _whom_ notwithstanding. For an accusative example, consider _Is there anyone who I could ask?_ vs. _Is there anyone whom I could ask?_ Are there authorities who explicitly recognise the possibility of differentiating between the accusative and dative constructions in this way? To document what I have looked at so far:   1. _APA 6th_ stands by the old-fashioned _who/whom/whom_ , saying "Use _who_ as the subject of a verb and _whom_ as the object of a verb or preposition" (3.20). _Chicago 6th_ has a very similar formulation (5.63). _The Economist style guide_ has a nice discussion explaining its identical prescription.   2. _Butcher's_ and _New Hart's Rules_ both say that grammar should be correct, but say little about what correct grammar consists of. I think _MLA_ also doesn't prescribe on this point.   3. _Fowler's 3rd_ articulates three rival views, namely that (i) _who/whom/whom_ is moribund, stifling, or artifical, and _who/who/who_ is the right usage, (ii) the righteous _who/whom/whom_ should be defended against the slacker _who/who/who_ , and (iii) _who/whom/whom_ is appropriate for written language, but _who/who/who_ for spoken language (from CGEL). Fowler's further talks about tricky issues about the use of _who/whom_ as a relative pronoun vs. as an interrogative pronoun. _Fowler's_ makes no prescription about this. _Who/who/whom_ is defensible according to Fowler's reasoning, but the possibility of this usage is not discussed. Bonus points to anyone finding relevant guidance from CGEL.


title: Is the "sorry to [infinitive] " structure always grammatical?

text: >   * I'm sorry to be so late. >   * I'm sorry to hear about your sick mother. >   * I'm sorry to waste your time. >   * I'm sorry to make you feel so sad. >   * I'm sorry to frighten you. >   * I'm sorry to disagree with your decision. >   * I'm sorry to call so late. >   * I'm sorry to admit what I did. > Is it always correct to use "sorry to [infinitive]" in Standard English? Does it depend on the verb?


title: Meaning of "backwards"

text: What's the meaning of backwards here? Does it mean it's going towards a worse state? > > English is hands down the most comprehensive and efficient language. The > language of an advanced civilization > > lol I know you are goofing around but after learning Spanish and being able > to speak it fluently for almost 15+ years now, English is such a backwards > piece of s***.


title: Is it better to be "hung like a pike" or "hung like a stickleback"?

text: More from the British movie _The Football Factory_. The background is that the main character and his best friend have picked up these two girls at a bar; things proceed swimmingly, and the two head over to the girls' house for some hanky-panky. Unfortunately for the guys, both have imbibed a little too much alcohol, and they promptly pass out in drunken stupor, before any intercourse. The two girls seem mutually disappointed; one calls out to the other across rooms, > Shame! He's hung like a pike in 'ere. And the other replies, > Good for you. I've got stickleback in 'ere. I'm guessing the meaning here relates to the properties of the two fish, but I don't know anything about them, and don't understand what _hung_ means in this sentence.


title: How to better phrase "I'm Alec who enquired about..."

text: I'm writing an email to an angel investor I met recently. The context is: > Hi John, > > Pleasure to briefly meet you at the ... event last Thursday. I'm Alec who > enquired about the best way of taking my iPhone app, ..., to market. The "I'm Alec who" feels clunky. How can this be better put?


title: Idiom for "don't put me with somebody together in the same sentence"

text: I am looking for an idiom used when people say that you are as good/bad as somebody, but you don't agree with it because you think you are not on the same level as them, or that you are way better than them. Is there any idiom like "don't put me with somebody together in the same sentence"?


title: Does "all in" mean... "tired"?

text: When I used to play video games, "all in" meant that you were devoting your army to a "do or die" effort. In other words, you were either going to win or lose in the next battle. The "all in" meant that you typically brought all of your soldiers to fight, holding none back. But years ago I was doing the Daily Jumble, and the hint was something like "After running a marathon he was ___ __". This was before the web, so I had nothing to fall back on. It turns out the answer was "ALL IN" meaning "tired". I asked a friend and he said "that's a usage from the eastern U.S." I certainly hadn't heard it before then and I still haven't since. Is this a common meaning? Maybe some easterners can chime in?


title: Dialogue: “had” or “have”

text: > She: I had an awesome time yesterday. > > He: Haha. I'm glad you **have**! Did I use the wrong word? Is it suppose to be _had_?


title: Should I replace "me" and "I" with "he" or "she" when quoting?

text: If I quote someone saying "me" or "I", when I quote them should I replace them with "he" or "she"? For example, if someone says: > I went to the movies. Should I quote that like this: > He/she said "He/she went to the movies". Or this: > He/she said "I went to the movies".


title: Which one is correct "et al.’s" or "et al."?

text: I want to use the possessive noun form with _et al_. as in **et al.'s** versus **et al.**


title: What does "better-tailor" mean, used as a verb?

text: I'm a bit flummoxed as to a usage of "better-tailor", apparently used as a compound verb. It was used in this sentence I saw: > But just like with the White House "We the People" thing, they will be able > to better-tailor the letter that tells you they're shoving it down your > throat whether you want it or not. I'm guessing from context it means something like "create in a skilled way" but I've never seen this used before; can someone give me a specific meaning?


title: Word for "library staff member"

text: I'm looking for a word to indicate a member of a library's staff. The obvious choice, _librarian_ , is not appropriate, because it refers to someone with a specific degree, usually in Library or Information Science. (Referring to all staff members at a library as _librarians_ would be akin to referring to all medical practitioners in a hospital as _doctors_.) Can anyone think of something more concise than _library staff member_ , preferably one word?


title: Did I "get" (or "take") my degree "from" (or "in") the University of Somewhere?

text: I would like to know what is the preferred way to indicate that I took a degree in some subject while also naming the place where I obtained the degree from:   * I got my master's degree _from_ the University of Somewhere;   * I got my master's degree _in_ the University of Somewhere;   * I took my master's degree _in_ the University of Somewhere. I would say that "in" is more suitable to mention the particular subject (a degree in maths, for instance) than to indicate the place, but I still have doubts. By the way, is it a "master's degree" or a "Master's degree"?


title: Twice vs Two Times

text: When I was in primary school we were told once by one teacher that if "twice" sounds correct in a sentence that you should never use "two times" instead. Has anyone else encountered this "rule" before? I have found the following similar questions (and more) but none of them answer my question. Once/twice/thrice vs one/two/three times "2 times", "twice" and "2X", when to use which and why? two times or twice Examples: It has happened **two times** before. - Replace with "twice" 24 is **two times** as large as 12. - Replace with "twice" It only happened the last **two times**. - "twice" sounds wrong, don't replace Note: "It only happened the last **one time** " sounds weird. You would say "It only happened the last **time** ". So was our teacher's rule right or is "two times" correct and "twice" usually more correct?


title: In a tournament, do I get a "by", a "bye", or a "buy"?

text: If there are an odd number of competitors at any stage of a single-elimination tournament, one player is excused from play and continues on as if he had defeated his (nonexistent) opponent. This is called "getting a by". Or "getting a bye". Who knows, maybe it's even "getting a buy", although I doubt it. My dictionary lists _by_ as meaning "pass" in card-games, so that suggests that spelling. On the other hand, the image of the referee looking from the single player, to the empty and undefended far side of the field, and then back to the player, shrugging, and saying "Bye", is too strong to easily discard. Like other parts of the anatomy, everyone's got an opinion. I'm looking for _a cite_.


title: Meaning of "Ain't Seen Nothing Yet"

text: Was a little surprised I couldn't find a previous question asking about the phrase "Ain't Seen Nothing Yet". I try to decode its meaning every time I hear the song of the same name by Bachman Turner Overdrive. If you process each word by itself it seems (to me) that the message is "You have _not_ seen nothing; therefore, you have seen something"; but I don't think this is the intent of the phrase. Maybe I've over-analyzed this too much? The addition of "yet" even further complicates things. Music Lyrics snipplet for the unmusical: > I met a devil woman   >  She took my heart away   >  She said, I've had it comin' to me   >  But I wanted it that way   >  I say that any love is good lovin'   >  So I took what I could get mmh, mmh, mmh   >  She looked at me with them brown eyes   > > > And said, You ain't seen nothin' yet   >  B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen n-n-n-nothin' yet   >  Here's something that you're never gonna forget   >  B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen n-n-n-nothin' yet   >  And you're thinkin' you ain't been around, that's right   > EDIT: Definitely not looking for lyrics interpretation... this song is the only time I really hear the phrase however and it distracts me every time I hear it.


title: "In regard to" or "in regards to"

text: Is it incorrect to say either of the following? > In regards to your previous email > > In regards to your previous emails I was asked this by a non-native speaker, and after thinking about it I decided that _in regards to_ sounds more natural than _in regard to_. Google confirmed that I have the same intuition as most speakers by returning 73 and 110 million results for the singular and plural expressions respectively. I came here and found the related question What alternative would you suggest to "in/with regard(s?) to"? Although my question was asked as a part of that, no one gave much of a defense of their opinion. The closest was this comment: > No, I think that's just wrong. You have to watch out, people love to make up > "just so stories" about grammar. This arises in part from the very common > misapprehension that all points of grammar make some kind of rational sense, > when in fact a lot of the details are purely conventional. For instance, you > can still say "In regard to the strawberries..." The plural there is just > another (probably incoming) variant. If you don't want pedantic people to be > irritated with you, then by all means don't use it. – Alan Hogue Is this a case where the most common intuition is wrong? Can someone better explain the rationale behind the use of the plurals? * * * A comment mentioned Google Ngrams and I'ved posted the graphs below. In my opinion, Google search results or any other kind of Google result are only misleading if you're taking it to imply something more than what they're giving - raw data from some source. Firstly, here are both _in regard to_ and _in regards to_ in the same search. The plural doesn't show up because it's so low. ![Both](http://i.stack.imgur.com/EBgxi.png) Now here is just "in regards to" in its own graph so we can see it. ![just plural](http://i.stack.imgur.com/SeyDP.png) I suppose I should refrain from offering interpretation. I'd like for people to do that in their answers. Nonetheless, this does absolutely beg for certain conclusions to be drawn. As a final note, Google Trends shows _in regards to_ winning out of the two with about the same ratio as the search results.


title: “The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything”

text: Yes, this is the original quote from Albert Einstein. I tend to put it this way: > The world is dangerous not because of those who do harm but because of those > who look at it without doing anything. which seems to have a more balanced structure. However, I do observe the original quote conforms to common English usage (i.e. commonly used in newspapers, books, etc.). I feel inclined to follow the language convention rather than make it subject to my own judgement. Any suggestions?


title: Word meaning "to convert into a numerical form"?

text: Let's say that one possesses some data or information that one wishes to map to some kind of numerical representation. I can't seem to come up with a word or phrase that describes it well. As an example, it could be used when converting something like a date string (`"2014-01-02"`) to a UNIX timestamp (`1388620800`). Generally, I would imagine such a word would be used when the data has some kind of _inherent ordering_ , but perhaps isn't directly usable with other numbers. I thought of "quantize", but this seems to imply that the data is somehow discrete, i.e. not continuous, which would (arguably) be inaccurate when referring to time.


title: "All Things Is/Are Ephemeral"

text: > All Things _Is/Are_ Ephemeral I know that _are_ is meant to be the verb connecting the two fragments together, but why...? (Gut instinct)


title: Business Jargon "Blue Ocean Market"

text: What is the meaning of the expression "blue ocean market" used in business jargon?


title: What quantity am I saying here?

text: What quantity am I saying here? _"3 million athletes, trainers and businesses use my product..."_ Am I saying 3 million in total, or am I saying 9 million in total use my product (3M athletics + 3M trainers + 3M businesses).


title: What objects can be classified as anonymous?

text: While answering and commenting on another question I discovered that I am apparently thinking about anonymity differently than everyone else who responded. There are two questions stemming from that discussion, this is the first: What words can fill the gap in this sentence? > [Word] is anonymous. The examples I seem to find acceptable: > The writer is anonymous. > > The paper was anonymous. > > The call was anonymous. Should I be saying: > The paper was written anonymously. > > The call was made anonymously.


title: Why does "I got 'busted' for smoking weed" mean 'caught'?

text: How did the word 'busted' morph into a synonym for 'caught'? Busted, down on Bourbon Street, Set up, like a bowling pin. Knocked down, it gets to wearin' thin They just won't let you be....


title: Is "every... doesn't...." really the same thing as "not every..."?

text: I have noticed a to me confounding linguistic trend in the last few years of which I came across an example tonight: "Every receiver doesn’t become a star." (from here) This type of wording just sounds wrong to me, and doesn't even make sense (or it doesn't mean, in my mind, what the writer obviously thinks it means). To me, when you say (or write), "Every receiver doesn’t become a star." you're talking/writing about "every receiver" and so what is really being said/written is "no receiver becomes a star." It seems manifest to me that the correct phrasing should be, "Not every receiver becomes a star." And, if I'm not mistaken, that's the way people used to speak and write, but now they have adopted this confusing and I think inaccurate way of putting it. Am I wrong?


title: Do “asymmetric” and “dissymmetric” have different meaning?

text: I get that usually _a-_ (or _un-_ ) and _di-_ prefixes mean different things, e.g. _uninterested_ and _disinterested_. However, both _asymmetric_ and _dissymmetric_ refer to the lack of symmetry (which the _NOAD_ indicates: “lacking symmetry”). Does that make them freely interchangeable? * * * Bonus points: why the hell does _dissymetry_ have two _s_?


title: Word for someone who has never experienced hardship

text: I am looking for a word that best describe a person who has never experienced any hardship or setback in life. In Chinese, such a person can be described as "温室里的小花" (literally meaning a flower in a greenhouse that has never encountered the harsh conditions outside). I can think of the characteristics to describe such a person, example, fragile or vulnerable, but cannot think of a word that fits those characteristics.


title: What is the best verb form to this question?

text: Write the best verb-form for the blank. A: Who have you worked with? B: I **________** with people from all over the world. The intended answer is 'have worked'. One of my students answered, 'have been working'. Of course it makes sense. But do you think 'have been working' can be called the best form for that blank above?


title: "Do You Dreams Come True": A clever pun or just bad English?

text: There's a Japanese band called "Dreams Come True", and on March 21st (2009) they released an album entitled: "Do You Dreams Come True". The title of the album has troubled me since this time. ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/cvMDD.jpg) src: http://cdinfo.s201.xrea.com/media/1/DreamsComeTrue_DoYouDreamsComeTrue.jpg "Do You..." here is being used in the sense of "Do You Rock" or "Do You [some transitive verb]" (which is improper but somehow acceptable), and this is being combined with the phrase "Do [Your] Dreams Come True?". Now, I simply can't imagine an American band actually using a pun like this as an album title. In fact, I can't imagine this pun being used by a native English speaker at all. That said, I also can't precisely tell you why this is the case, except to guess that "acceptable puns" in colloquial or formal English should rely on less obvious grammatical errors. Is there a technical reason why this pun "feels wrong"? (By the way, let me know if this question is unacceptable or off-topic and it will be deleted ASAP) [Update] There is a short Google.groups discussion from 2009 regarding this album title and the verbification of DCT: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/honyaku/Fbshb4i0sEI/czUx51VR3v4J


title: How should "aargh" really be pronounced?

text: The common interjections "argh!", "aargh!", "aaargh!", etc., is pronounced, as far as I know, the same as "aaa!" For most of my life, however, I (and I imagine many other second language speakers) pronounced it due to its spelling with an audible 'r' and hard 'g', and still do occasionally. In fact, I think this mispronunciation is so common that it has become an accepted alternative, especially when the word is used in humour (as opposed to genuine fright.) I often hear this version from native English speakers. **Questions:**   1. Is "aaa!" really the correct pronunciation?    2. Why exactly is it spelled with the "rgh"? What purpose do those letters serve?    3. If you agree that the mispronunciation has become an accepted alternative, can you think of any other cases where a mispronunciation gradually supplants or supplements the original? (Especially where this is caused by the eccentricities of English spelling and pronunciation.)


title: better word for an industrial part

text: I am looking for a generic word that can be used to refer to a fairly large industrial part or component such as a generator, motor, control box or possibly a circuit board. We are using the word "part" to refer the much smaller items (like screws and wires) the go into the larger things. What is a good word o use for the larger items that are comprised of parts, which can be used in context with the word "part?" example: We only use the best parts to fix your parts.


title: Is 'I would like to make laugh from you' correct?

text: With the meaning to make jokes about somebody. Or, 'They love to make laugh from me', is it correct? or should it be 'at' instead of 'from'?


title: What does ‘Sport’ mean when you say ‘the new Apple iPad sports cameras for video conferencing’?

text: I found a phrase, ‘the new tablet of iPad can sport at least one camera for video conferencing’ in today’s Washington Post article reporting iPad 2. I guess ‘Sport’ here implies ‘chase (move) after plural objects' or ‘Catch' them, because it says 'at least one camera.' But I’m not accustomed to the word, ‘sport’ used in a such way. COD at hand gives only two meanings of ‘Sport’ as a verb, - 1. to have or wear sth in a proud way so that everyone can see. 2. to play in a happy and lively way. In addition to the above definition, an English Japanese dictionary (Readers Plus Dictionary) provides ‘play with other sex’ and ‘give’ as slang usages, and I can’t find the definition anything near to the context used in the following sentence. What does ‘Sport’ here exactly mean? Is this common way of using ‘Sport’ as a verb? > A report from the Wall Street Journal says that Apple has begun production > of the next generation of the iPad. The Wall Street Journal, citing people > familiar with the matter, claims that the new tablet will be thinner and > lighter, will sport at least one camera for video conferencing and will have > better graphics and a more memory.


title: "So that it be" vs "so that it is"

text: Recently on IRC I said this: > I do not believe in proving the correctness of already constructed programs. > I believe in formally deriving programs so that they be correct. And I got almost instantly corrected: > DijkstraGroupie: So that they _are_ correct, you mean. Checking on Wikipedia, I found the following: > _I want you to give this money to him so that he **have** enough for lunch._ > (the conjunction "so that" takes a subjunctive in formal English) What usage is correct, in this case?


title: Did the author of the Hunger Games make a mistake here?

text: I am reading the Hunger Games and it is written in the first person. However I came across this sentence: > “I dismissed myself,” I said. I remember how I promised Prim that I really > would try to win and I feel like a ton of coal has dropped on me. > > — Collins, Suzanne (2009-09-01). The Hunger Games (p. 106). Scholastic Inc.. > Kindle Edition. Was this a mistake or is this a writing rule that I did not realize about where using said is actually better than I say? Adding additional text for people who have not read the Hunger Games to get a better idea what I am talking about. Also corrected my mistake of writing "I says" instead of "I say" sorry about the lack of carriage returns:     “What about my family?” I say. “Will they punish them?”       “Don’t think so. Wouldn’t make much sense. See, they’d have to reveal what happened in the Training Center for it to have any worthwhile effect on the population. People would need to know what you did. But they can’t since it’s secret, so it’d be a waste of effort,” says Haymitch. “More likely they’ll make your life hell in the arena.”       “Well, they’ve already promised to do that to us anyway,” says Peeta.       “Very true,” says Haymitch. And I realize the impossible has happened. They have actually cheered me up. Haymitch picks up a pork chop with his fingers, which makes Effie frown, and dunks it in his wine. He rips off a hunk of meat and starts to chuckle. “What were their faces like?”       I can feel the edges of my mouth tilting up. “Shocked. Terrified. Uh, ridiculous, some of them.” An image pops into my mind. “One man tripped backward into a bowl of punch.”       Haymitch guffaws and we all start laughing except Effie, although even she is suppressing a smile. “Well, it serves them right. It’s their job to pay attention to you. And just because you come from District Twelve is no excuse to ignore you.” Then her eyes dart around as if she’s said something totally outrageous. “I’m sorry, but that’s what I think,” she says to no one in particular.       “I’ll get a very bad score,” I say.   Collins, Suzanne (2009-09-01). The Hunger Games (pp. 106-107). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.


title: Prose Equivalent to Poetic

text: Is there a single word equivalent to **poetic** for prose? So instead of having a poetic license you would have a "prosetic" license??


title: 'in sense' v.s. 'point of view'

text: I just don't know what's the difference.     * When we use _in what sense_ , we mean _in different sense, we can conclude different results_.   * When we use _point of view_ , we also mean _in different point of views, we can conclude different results_. So, when we want to say _some questions are open, and from different view/sense leads different results_ then which to choose?   Those two phases are translated to (into?) two similar phrases in my native language (Mandarin).


title: Singular form of the biblical magi

text: I was working on a crossword puzzle with the clue _bearer of gold, frankincense, or myrrh_. I immediately thought that the answer is obviously either "magi" or "wise man," but then realized that the puzzle called for a 5 letter word so neither fit. Eventually I figured out that magi is a plural Latin word, so its singular form would be "magus" which was the correct answer. Is it normal to use the word "magus" in informal, or even formal, English? I've _never_ seen it before. I have however often seen magi used as a singular noun.


title: Pronunciation of "harass"

text: I am confused about the pronunciation of "harass". Dictionaries list it as   * ˈherəs   * həˈræs   * ˈhærəs Is it about BrE and AmE difference? Which one is more prevalent?


title: Usage of “there” in English

text: E.g., in the sentence: > There is no alternative. Wikipedia says: > The word there is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a > dummy subject, normally of an intransitive verb. The "logical subject" of > the verb then appears as a complement after the verb. Can somebody please elaborate on the above sentence, possibly with examples?


title: Expression for "medium difficult"?

text: In my game, I have three levels of difficulty, each represented by an icon. Of course, each level is also indicated by a word; the icons are there just to spice things up, and as a visual pun.   * **Easy** is represented by a "piece of cake".   * **Medium** is represented by ...?   * **Hard** is represented by a "tough nut". So, what could be used for the medium difficulty level?


title: Usage of commas with 'if anything'.

text: I've written: > (1) Taking action on climate change, is, if anything, the opposite of > nimbyism. But there are other ways I could have written the exact same words, in regards to punctuation: > (2) Taking action on climate change is, if anything, the opposite of > nimbyism. > > (3) Taking action on climate change, is if anything, the opposite of > nimbyism. The way I read this, the commas just represent where I would put pauses in if I were saying it out loud. For example (2) seems to emphasise the 'taking action' part. Whereas (3) seems to emphasis 'it might not be anything'. Is there any guidelines or rules surrounding how the usage of commas affects the meaning?


title: Why do we "roll" the car windows down, instead of "slide"

text: Rolling implies rotation and translation. Cranking implies the motion people used to do before power windows and Sliding is what actually happens to the window. When and why did people start using the expression "roll the windows down," instead of something more descriptive?


title: Plural of feedback

text: I'm looking for a way to identify a specific amount of feedback _items_ I'm visualizing in a list. The construction of the sentence needs to be generic, so I can't use something like _**Feedback received 14 times.**_ What I'm actually looking for is something in a similar form to **Showing 14 received feedbacks.** The problem here is that _feedback_ appears to be an uncountable noun, so it would be incorrect to pluralise it into _feedbacks_. A similar idea would be **Showing 14 feedback points,** but this compound might not be simple or flexible enough. **Is there a succint way to express _feedback_ in plural?**


title: Cohesion and Flow: Passive Sentence Creating Better Flow?

text: I was reading a presentation and found the passage below. I still don't understand how the passive voice (first sentence) causes the sentence to flow better. To me, the second sentence sounds better, and flows more smoothly. Any ideas why? Which passage is cohesive?   1. Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. The collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no longer than a marble creates a black hole. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways.   2. Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways. Cohesion   1. The sentence with the passive voice caused the paragraph to flow better.   2. It connected easily to the sentence that preceded it and the sentence that followed.


title: Is "august public official" considered an idiom, and has august always been used to refer to public officials?

text: Reading this article they referred to Justice Scalia as an "august public official." The phrase is also used in the book "Parade's End" by Ford Madox Ford on page 423. I can't seem to find the definition anywhere online, so what does the term "august public official" mean? **EDIT** As has been pointed out to me "august" can simply mean respected. In this case though, is "august public official" considered an idiom, and is the term always used for public figures? It looks like from the history of the word "august" coming potentially from the "augurs" that the answer might be yes, august has always been used to refer to public officials.


title: Word to describe "a person who is only wishful to help others and cares little about themself"?

text: Specifically, I am looking to describe a person whose only purpose is to help others, not caring about what happens to himself or herself (physically or otherwise), though without actively seeking pain.


title: What do you call/describe these windows/pages and things within these windows/pages?

text: When using the computer and surfing the net, you often come across these windows/pop-up windows, and pages where you need to or are asked to fill in blanks, check boxes, select items from drop-down menus, etc. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about: ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/6ZDMf.jpg) ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/KKFPt.jpg) ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/I3MGQ.jpg) You see these when signing up for an email address, installing a software onto your computer, online surveys, and on your social networking profile settings just to name a few, but what do you generally usually call _these things_ , or how do you usually describe them? Is there a general way of calling/describing them? I'm also having trouble describing the things _within_ them. If I were to take the Avira image for example, how do I describe the different sections within it, more specifically the sections without the drop-down menus. For instance, the _First name_ section, do I describe that as the first name blank, the first name row, the first name section? like "I am filling in the first name blank right now", or "I don't know what to put for the zip code row". Like, how do you usually describe it?


title: A word to describe the feeling of the lump in the throat due to nostalgia

text: Is there a word to describe the feeling of the lump in the throat due to nostalgia? If so, what is it?


title: Is there an English equivalent of this common Maldivian Proverb meaning "to do something carelessly or perfunctorily"?

text: The proverb is _"Amaa buneethee fara-h dhiy-un"_ which basically translates to " _To walk along the shore_ (the point of which is to collect cowrie shells which were used as currency among seafarers and residents around the Indian Ocean), _just because his/her mother had instructed him to do so_ ie. carelessly, aimlessly, in a poor attempt... etc? Some decades ago, it had been common practise to do this daily, and it was often the case that kids sent to do this chore often wandered around aimlessly or played about and returned with barely any shells or none at all, certainly less than someone who had actually attempted to do so. Cheers!


title: Whence does "sprog" come?

text: The British informal word for a child. > I couldn't get any work done because the sprogs were running riot. ODO has the following: > 1940s (originally services' slang): perhaps from obsolete _sprag_ 'lively > young man', of unknown origin Anyone got any more on this?


title: Is there a more generic word for US-centrism?

text: When an article (or any kind of document) is written specifically from the point of view of a citizen of the United States of America, I could complain about a US-centric bias. Are there other words for that? More specifically, is there a word that expresses this without reference to the country in question (in this case, the USA)? I was thinking of "geographically centric", or geocentric; but I think that's more (accurately) used for thinking that the Earth is the centre of the universe.


title: What do you call the individual enclosed defecating areas in toilets?

text: ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/WFlLp.jpg) For example, in the picture above, there are three of them. How should I refer to them? As in a sentence like: > I excused myself and went to the toilet, but all of the [...] were occupied.


title: "At someone's place" vs. "at someone's house" vs. "at someone's"

text: Do the three phrases convey the same meaning when we're referring to the place where one lives?


title: Is “between __ ***or*** __” valid?

text: Today I heard somebody say, “This (technology) can be the difference between life or death,” and I winced. While “life or death” can be used as an adjective (e.g., modifying “situation” or “decision”), I believe that “between _X_ or _Y_ ” is wrong, because “between” should always be used with “and”. (Or an implied “and” , as in “between jobs”.) Is “between _X_ or _Y_ ” ever acceptable?