title: A couple of questions in regards to this passage

text: I'm sorry for such an unclear title, but I really can't figure out a better one to include all my questions. The following passage is quoted from "An Illustrated Brief History of Western Philosophy": > One is sometimes invited to believe that the final stage in the > understanding of Aristotle's metaphysics is an appreciation of the profound > and mysterious nature of Being qua Being. **Rather** , the first step > towards **such an understanding** is **the realization** that Being qua > Being is a **chimerical spectre** engendered by inattention to Aristotle's > logic.   1. What does **_rather_** at the beginning of second sentence mean here?   2. What does **_such an understanding_** in second sentence mean, does it mean "that the final stage in the understanding of Aristotle's metaphysics is an appreciation of the profound and mysterious nature of Being qua Being"?   3. What was engendered by inattention to Aristotle's logic, the realization or a **_chimerical spectre_**? If the answer is latter.Then, what if I want to say the realization was engendered by inattention to Aristotle's logic?


title: What does "passion-tearing" mean?

text: What does "passion-tearing" mean in the following context? > My parents were at the summer theater singing a first matinee performance of > "You Can't Take It With You". In summer stock productions they were two very > irritable, **passion-tearing** , perspiring players, and my younger brothers > and I rarely went to see them. My mother was especially poor in summer > stock. Watching her, even on a cool evening, Kenneth used to cringe in his > seat till he was almost on the floor. It doesn't sound like a good thing, but I cannot figure out what it actually means. The story is written somewhere around 1947 and full context is available here.


title: "Something like that"

text: My English teacher ripped our heads off if we tried to explain something that we couldn't really describe by adding "something like that". Sample: "This is a board game or something like that". What are the better alternatives? "Something similar"?


title: I am confused about the meaning of this sentence with the placement of the commas

text: > All teachers under age sixty-five, and those over age sixty-five who are not > eligible for Medicare, shall be allowed to purchase medical coverage. Does this mean: > All teachers under age sixty-five shall be allowed to purchase medical > coverage. Those over age sixty-five who are not eligible for Medicare shall > be allowed to purchase medical coverage. Or does it mean: > All teachers under age sixty-five and those over age sixty-five who are not > eligible for Medicare shall be allowed to purchase medical coverage. I am being told that I cannot buy medical insurance because I am 60 and have medicare and still want to buy the insurance as a secondary policy.


title: What does the usage of "under" in this context mean?

text: What does _under_ mean here, how do you define it? From a biography: > Shum graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2000. He started dancing > with his high school dance company team and continued his career in San > Francisco under several different studios.


title: cocktail knowledge

text: Some years ago in a computer science department I heard the term “cocktail knowledge” to refer to the knowledge that someone has on a subject when they can name techniques, results, and people but they don't have a very deep understanding into what they talk about, even less a clue about how to implement it themselves. Today I tried to find that meaning for “cocktail knowledge” online and I couldn't find a reference to this term. Has anybody heard this term before? or did I just invent a new term?


title: Is it okay to say "What was the number of..." meaning "How many..."?

text: Is it okay to say "What was the number of" meaning "How many"? For example, "What was the number of students that came here yesterday?"


title: Is this correct: ".. get us one of them thousand foot perimeters."

text: In a recent _Daily Show_ episode, Jon Stewart said this (position: 00:40 in video): > Can the rest of us get us one of them thousand-foot gun-free perimeters? I am not a native speaker, so I am interested whether or not the above sentence is grammatically correct. Please be specific.


title: "Place" or "Site"?

text: I'm looking for the most appropriate term to refer to places/sites where you can do something specific. In my case it's going out for taking photos. Which of these two words would best suit that use? From a dictionary I've found that a site is more of a real estate or premises whereas a place is more neutrally a locality of anything. Or is there another word to use? I'd like to avoid the term "location", too, because it's already part of the title. A subtitle would probably use another word for that to avoid repetition.


title: "comparison across the two classrooms" vs. "comparison between classroom A and classroom B"

text: My question is about differences between the following: >   1. comparison across the two classrooms >   2. comparison between classroom A and classroom B > Would you answer my question?


title: Might "see you shortly" be used to mean in a week's time?

text: I wonder if it's appropriate to say "see you shortly" when we both know that it's going to happen in a week's time. What I'm trying to say is that I'm _looking forward_ to see the person, but I already used "I'm looking forward" and I don't want to sound repetitive. I only heard "see you shortly" to refer to periods of time shorter than a day, so my concern is that it might sound confusing when we are talking of an entire week.


title: Use of can't/cannot to indicate the opposite

text: I cannot find any references online that would help me know what this topic in English grammar is called, but I'm trying to guide a non-American friend to understand why some would use the word "can't" or "cannot" to imply the opposite, as in "I will see if I can't get to the bottom of this for you." Of course it is clearer to say "I will see if I can get to the bottom of this for you," however, I suspect the former is not technically incorrect grammar, though it certainly may be a localized expression. At any rate, it is definitely a common occurrence. However, being as that I don't know what this usage of "can't" to imply the opposite is called and that it's ridiculously hard to Google, I can't seem to find out either way if it's right or wrong. EDIT Thinking over this some more, I feel that the sentence using "can't" is actually clearer than the one with "can." I'm thinking that using "can't" in this case implies the difficulty/perplexity of the situation, and makes it clear that I'll be trying hard?


title: "The contents of the cereal box" — singular or plural?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  "The contents are" or "the contents is" Which is correct? >   * The contents of the cereal box **is** distributed among the children. >   * The contents of the cereal box **are** distributed among the children. > "The contents ... are" definitely sounds better, but isn't the word _contents_ in this sense singular? Maybe "the contents ... is" is correct, despite the fact that it totally doesn't sound like it is.


title: Is "Cutting Across the Afternoon of Life" grammatical?

text: I'm using this for a title of short story. The title has to reflect the last line of the story, which is as follows: > A long, dark shadow **cuts across** the countless cubicles. I've thought of "Cutting Across the Afternoon of Life"   1. 'Afternoon' here represents the later years of life (wrt the riddle of the Sphinx)    2. 'Cutting Across' used here in this context: (cut across) pass or traverse, especially so as to _shorten one’s route_. Ex: the following aircraft cut across to join him But, I'm not sure if 'cutting across life' is grammatical. Any ideas?


title: "Metering" vs "measuring"

text: I am now working on a technical concept of measuring of some data and I often see terms _measuring_ and _metering_. My understanding is that with a meter I measure. But what is _metering_? And how does it differ to _measuring_? When I am trying to google the difference, I am finding many articles using simply _measuring_ and _metering_ together.


title: "Cheat legal" - grammatically correct?

text: The slogan > Cheat legal! used by the Australian company SKINS has bugged me every since I saw their advertisement on TV. Only recently, I realized that there is a chance that it may actually be grammatically correct. Namely, it might be comparable to expressions such as "forget healthy" or "ignore stupid". Is legal indeed an object rather than an adjective in the above phrase?


title: Which answer is correct?

text: (Which/What/That/Things) we saw surprised us. Which is the correct answer?


title: “The fact” vs. “The fact that”

text: Can you use the phrase ”the fact” without “that”? Consider the two sentences:   1. The fact that it’s Sunday means that I can sleep all day.   2. The fact it’s Sunday means that I can sleep all day. Clearly the first sentence is correct and in common use. The second doesn’t sound right to me, but I can’t find clear evidence to prove (to someone) that it is indeed wrong. Apart from answering, I would really like a reference, or an English rule, showing that the second is correct/incorrect.


title: May you please explain this?

text: At a family dinner, my 18 year-old niece asked my sister, "May you please pass the salt?" My sister said that she was impressed with her daughter's politeness, but that that particular wording was not correct. My niece said that she had been taught to say that (by whom she could not say, but probably by her father--the parents divorced years ago.) Despite our best attempts, we were unable to convince her of the illogical nature of the "May you please" construction. How would you explain it to her?


title: A word to describe a player's possible action during their turn

text: Given an ongoing game with well defined rules, a player and granted that it is their turn, how would you call the possible actions the player can perform? These actions may include moving a piece, rolling dice, trading with another player, resigning, etc. Anything that advances the game in any way, no matter how reasonable. In particular, I would like to refer to **all actions the player is able to perform** , i.e. usually a huge amount. My first thought was along the lines of _actions_ or _game actions_ , though I would like to avoid that term if possible. _Decisions_ would be quite detached from a _performed_ action. Update: Trying to add examples > There are 5 possible actions that can be carried out by player 1. > >   * Moving piece X from field A to field B, claiming field B >   * Moving piece Y from field C to field D, capturing the enemy piece Z >   * Buying card foo from the bank, reducing 1's tokens to 4, gaining > privilege bar >   * Moving piece Y from field C to 1's inventory, losing field C to player 2 >   * Resigning the game, moving pieces X and Y to 1's inventory, losing field > A to player 3 and field C to player 2. > The distinction am I looking as seen in the final example: Resigning the game does _cause_ them to lose all their stuff, but the important part is not the reasoning but what actually _happens_ when they chose this action. For this reason the carried out action and all direct subsequent consequences are bundled together. In chess, an example might be: >   * Move white queen to A7, remove black bishop from A7 and add black bishop > to black graveyard >   * Move white pawn from E2 to A4, define black the winner of the game, game > ends (this one is a bit far fetched) >


title: How to acknowledge a contribution of a deceased person?

text: In the acknowledgement section of my thesis, I want to mention a person who is no longer alive. What is the correct way of saying that? > I want to thank my aunt who assisted me with financially – too pity she > cannot see me graduate.   >  I want to thank my aunt who assisted me with financially – your memory will > be eternal.   >  I want to thank my aunt who assisted me with financially – too unfortunate > she cannot see me graduate. Or any other version would be appreciated.


title: Is there a synonym for 'idionymon'?

text: Other than phrasal descriptions, such as "special illegal act"[1]? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idionymon


title: Exasperated/frustrated at someone’s naïveté

text: What word describes the feeling one has, similar to frustration, in the face of naïveté or obliviousness. The feeling might be associated with a sigh or in particularly bad cases a “face-desk” or face-palm. Interested in descriptive, interesting, or unusual words rather than common words.


title: What do you call a day that never comes?

text: Searching on Google Books I discovered that 'a day that never comes' has 2.060 results. As an example usage, among a lot of others, in 'Healing Words' by Susan Brozek it is written: > If we wait until we feel like obeying, we will be waiting for _a day that > never comes_! I would like to know whether there is a short phrase or expression to refer to _a day that never comes_. I focused my attention on 'a never day', but, checking for this phrase, I didn't found anything confirming it is a common usage. Thus, what do you call _a day that never comes_?


title: "Center" or "centre" in sports vocabulary?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Similar words that change from "-ter" to "tre" I am researching some stuff about football (soccer), and I came across the words _center_ and _centre_ , both of them seem to mean the same thing (i.e., middle area) but I don't know why they are different. I found a couple of sites referring to the _centre-back_ (one of the defenders), and in the same sites they write _center forward_ (one of the attackers). If _center/centre_ in the two positions mean the same thing (and they do), does anyone have any idea why they are spelled differently?


title: Meaning of "renaissance loser"

text: _Renaissance loser_ in this context > Dilbert: Wally, are you free for lunch? I need to remind myself how lucky I > am that I don't have your laziness or personality or looks. > > Wally: Would you say I'm kind of a renaissance loser? Does it describe people who have multiple attributes of a loser? So can renaissance be used to address things with multiple attributes like people who know art and science?


title: The one who's being celebrated (e.g., @ a BD party) (sometimes referred to as the birthday boy/girl)

text: Is there another term to specify who is being celebrated - e.g., @ a BD party? ('Celebrant/celebrator' could be anybody celebrating, I believe. But isn't there a term which will specify the one/ones being celebrated?) Is there, e.g., such a word as 'celebrantee,' or 'celebratoree' (&, if not, oughtn't there be (the situation comes up repeatedly))? Thank you.


title: "occur to" vs. "happen to" what is the difference

text: What would be the right choice in this context? Until it occurred to me or happened to me?


title: Is "sweeping collapse" a natural expression?

text: I know that it is natural to say "sweeping reform", which means a large scale reform. I wonder whether "sweeping collapse" is comprehensible and natural too?


title: Meaning of "yet" in "the best is yet to come"

text: > And the best is yet to come. In the above sentence, _to be to_ means "will", _yet_ means "already". So, does the sentence mean the best has already come or that it will come?


title: What to call an item that's neither an accessory nor a piece of jewelry

text: First let us paint a picture together. Think of an individual whom wears clothes (like the lot of us); this individual also has an item around the wrist, which is not an item that affixes to another item (i.e. an accessory)   * Accessory: Noun | A thing that can be added to something else in order to make it more useful, versatile, or attractive. Also this item around this individual's wrist is not designed to enhance the aesthetic value of said person (i.e. jewelry)   * Jewelry: Noun | Personal **ornaments** , such as necklaces, rings, or bracelets, that are typically made from or contain jewels and precious metal.   * Ornament: Noun | A thing used to **adorn** something but usually having no practical purpose Adorn: Verb | Make more beautiful or attractive. What then may I call it? Is there no word that defines an object worn, that is not clothing, not an accessory to another object, and is not an aesthetic enhancing piece of jewelry? Think of a tool, but a tool that is designed to be worn on the body, not a tool that can be used off body of the wearer. An example might be like how in a game an character has an extra item on their character that is designed to enhance the player in some measure; be that via magical endowment, status augmentation, etc... We often think of jewelry in this example (earrings, necklaces, rings). But what if the piece of jewelry was hidden from sight, (under clothing) and not design for aesthetic purposes. At this point it is no longer jewelry. Or, maybe, as I am writing this, the word accessory is the correct word! As what the accessory is being affixed to is the human body itself... (well I'm going to go ahead and post this question to see if anyone else may know of a better word.)


title: Easy trick to remember difference between beside <-> besides

text: I really struggle with these two. I never seem to be able to remember when to use the right one. All my english teachers so far told me the difference but still I'm not able to remember the difference. Does anyone have a trick how to remember when to use the right one?


title: "Yours" as valediction

text: In British English, it is common to use "Yours Sincerely", but in American English, "Sincerely". In valediction, the meaning is not the key, but what is common in a writing style. What about using "Yours", is it odd?


title: Which phrase is more grammatically correct?

text: I've been going back and forth between a coworker over which of the following is correct and I thought that maybe this SE could help. I have an application with the following message: > The X algorithm uses color variance to attempt to find a border in the > image, surrounds that border using an ellipse, and fits it to a standard > size. However, my coworker says this is grammatically incorrect and it should be: > The X algorithm uses color variance to attempt to find a border in the > image, surround that border using an ellipse, and fit it to a standard size. My coworker says that the second is correct since the subject the verb is referring to is "color variance", but I disagree, the intended subject should be "X algorithm." Which of the two examples is more correct? Or perhaps the sentence should should be changed to reduce confusion?


title: "be getting to do"

text: Is "I'm getting to forget about him" correct? Or does it mean that someone tries not to forget but he/she does it like when the time pass? I'm really curious, so please help.


title: Is saying "Let me show you it" totally wrong?

text: My kids (8-10yrs) love to saying things like this. It just rolls naturally out and I correct them often. Is there is a specific reason the grammar is wrong? Maybe for the brain it is more direct than saying "Let me show it to you." Shall I keep correcting them, or is it OK for them to say it?


title: Is it correct to ask "Where are we holding in regards to that" when asking about the status of an application or the like

text: I was asking a banking rep about a recently submitted application for financing - Where are we holding? Is that grammatically correct? For example - I would ask the question - At what stage is the processing holding at? To shorten that I would say to the rep. Hello. This is **__ . Yes I am calling about my application - Where are we holding? or if I called as the rep. to see where the costumer is holding in the process - Hi __** This is **__ from __** I'm calling about your application. So, Where are we holding?


title: Can we say “naively honestly”?

text: Is this expression acceptable? > I told her the whole story **naively honestly**. Thank you.


title: Has the term ‘weapons of mass distraction’ gotten currency as a metonym for web sites and lowbrow mass media contents?

text: I found the term ‘weapons of mass distraction’ in the article titled “Social Networking in the 1600s” in the Sunday Review section of June 22 New York Times, which begins with; > “Social networks stand accused of being enemies of productivity. According > to one popular infographic circulating online, the use of Facebook, Twitter > and other such sites at work costs the American economy $650 billion each > year. Our attention spans are atrophying, our test scores declining, all > because of these “ **weapons of mass distraction.”** Though ‘weapons of mass distraction’ appears in quote in the above statement, this is obviously a play of word with ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ As I thought ‘weapons of mass distraction’ a smart and punchy word I’d like to use, I consulted both Cambridge and Oxford English dictionaries. They carry ‘weapons of mass destruction,’ but not ‘weapons of mass distraction.’ Whilst Google Ngram shows that ‘weapons of mass distraction’ emerged around 1970 and its usage has been shooting up since 1997, but its currency is still at 0.00000015% level. Does the term ‘weapons of mass distraction’ pass as an established set of word to be easily understood among English speaking community without adding “quote, unquote” in conversation when we are referring to mass-media, social networking media and entertainment contents on mobile phones?


title: Is there a better way of wording this?

text: Apologies if this question is off-topic. I've checked the FAQs for topics that are acceptable and 'word choice and usage' appears in the list. I'm working on a website redesign and would like to display a section for each of our branches. When the branches are open, a simple note displays saying "We are open" followed by "Call us on ...". I have also added a note when the branches are closed; "We are currently closed". ![Screenshot of website design](http://i.stack.imgur.com/I8ZYP.png) A few people on my team believe that this could be misinterpreted to mean that the branch is closed permanently. Although I don't agree, I do agree that there is likely a better phrase available. I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this. Is this one of those occasions when we over think things? Would you take "We are currently closed" to mean that the branch has closed down?


title: Are there any words that are spelled the same but have separate etymologies?

text: There are many words that are spelled the same but have different meanings due to development of polysemy over time from an original etymology. Are there any word pairs in English that have the same spelling but have separate origins?


title: what word means "to show off my clothes"

text: I'm looking for a word that means "to show off clothes", something like "parade". > Working from home gives me the ability to show off my fancy pyjamas


title: Is there a catch-all term for the sector of “non-business” employers: NGOs, non profits, professional societies, government, etc.?

text: _Note: I asked the same question in the Workplace forum but it was closed and I was asked to re-ask here._ I am looking for a concise and professional-sounding expression to use in my resumes and bios to explain that my career history covered "non-business" employment as well, in addition to businesses. This is to emphasize my diverse experience, but without going into too many details (as my ultimate focus will be business-related). When I say "non-business" I mean: NGOs, NPOs, government, professional societies, institutions. I already discarded "non-profit" as that hints at "volunteering" — which is not the only thing I did. I have done a lot of contract work with local government branches and authority as well as professional societies. "Public sector" would exclude private not-for-profits. Do you have any suggestions?


title: "There was Minta, wreathed, tinted, garish on the stairs..."

text: This is part of a sentence in Woolf's _To the lighthouse_. Minta is in a different state of mind from her husband, she's back at 3am after a party while he went to bed early and sternly: > There was Minta, wreathed, tinted, garish on the stairs about three o'clock > in the morning. Paul came out in his pyjamas carrying a poker in case of > burglars. Minta was eating a sandwich, standing half-way up by a window, in > the cadaverous early morning light, and the carpet had a hole in it. Obviously, the first two adjectives are used in a figurative sense which is not recorded in the dictionaries I could check—and I suspect this sense is very special to Woolf. As a non-native speaker, I'd like to have your "feeling" about them: is "wreathed" used as a way of being in high-spirits or could it rather refer to some physical appearance (clothes or motion?), could "tinted" allude to some tipsiness (although this is probably French only, some may "tint" water with some wine, hence my supposition) or again to spirits...?


title: Searching for a rare word for "something taken as truth due to having been repeated so much"

text: I'm searching for a certain single, rare, literary word meaning "something taken as truth due to having been repeated so much". This "something" could be either true or false. It is not necessarily pernicious or benign. An example of such a "something" (at the risk of getting political) is that Osama Bin Laden was killed in May 2011. Does anyone know the word I'm searching for? P.S.: "Factoid" is ticked — however, there may exist an even better fit.


title: How can I describe lips which are wearing lipstick?

text: How can I briefly communicate that a character's lips have lipstick on them? I can't say something like "lipstick covered lips", because using "lips" twice sounds awkward. I considered "gloss covered lips", but lip gloss and lipstick aren't quite the same thing, and in my opinion have different connotations (lipstick I think of as slightly "classier" than lip gloss). Painted? I thought maybe just "red", or "ruby red", but that might be unclear (and not as emotionally neutral as just "had lipstick on them"). This is for prose fiction. Sorry if this question is too broad, I don't use this SE often. Feel free to close if so.


title: What is the Metric version of "Empirical"?

text: Most of the Anglosphere uses the metric system, but I cannot find the term for an "empirical" metric. Does such a word exist, if not, why has "empirical" continued to be used by countries that have supplanted the imperial system with the metric system.


title: What is the difference between the word around and round

text: When I am writing I come across these two words a lot and I was wondering what is different about them and how they would be used in different contexts


What do you call a country where the legal system is observed? I came up with a "nomocratic country", but that seems to be used extremely rarely. There is a Wikipedia page talking about the Rule of Law, but I cannot come up with a way how to twist it into an adjective (or adjective phrase, if there is such a thing) to describe a country. # The context I found a sentence somewhere which reads " _Since Czech republic is a modern legal country based on a democratical regime, there are fundamental human rights being guaranteed._ " and I am trying to figure out how to rewrite it. I got stuck with the " _legal country_ ". It is obviously wrong, but I cannot figure out what's better to say.


title: "What am I" vs. "who am I"

text: Yesterday I was going through my son's books and at one place it was written > I have a long neck, I have spots on my body — what am I? I thought it should have been > I have a long neck, I have spots on my body — **who** am I? Can somebody please clarify which one is correct?


title: If I quote only the middle part of a sentence, do I use ellipses?

text: For example, if Peter is my source, should I say: > Peter mentioned his '... unquenchable thirst, a fatigued body...' as being > part of the reason for his actions. Or would I have to leave out the ellipses?


title: What is the measurement for oxygen?

text: I'm writing a motivational piece of text and I'd like to write the following: > The human body will work until the last **___ ____** of oxygen is depleted. I'm not sure what would be the proper measure for oxygen. I don't want _drop of oxygen_ , because I'm using that later for _drop of blood_.


title: Origin of "they don't know they're born"?

text: Practising today for my forthcoming role as radgie gadgie, I was having a little rant about modern youth: "they don't know they're born!" This seems to me rather a strange phrase to describe someone who is, or appears to be, more fortunate than others feel is just or seemly; after all, everyone realises they were born at some point (one hopes). So does anyone know how this phrase came about? Searching the internets provides lots of examples of usage, but no hint of the origin, of this phrase.


title: What would you call a collection of experiences?

text: Imagine you had a box that held individual experiences.   * These experiences do not necessarily have to be your own.   * Others can put their own experiences in the box.   * The experiences are all related by physical location.   * You can only view the experiences when you are physically near the box.   * The experiences are viewed as list from newest to oldest   * The experiences are stored as images or videos I've thought about TimeLine but it's been beaten to death. Maybe LifeCycle? Something catchy and not cliche. EDIT: Image a collection of 10sec videos or images that can only be taken at a specific location. You can only view those images/videos when you are at that specific location.


title: "so" or "therefore"

text: I usually double check my English using Google Translate. I paste my phrase in English (translated by myself) and I see how it translates it back to Italian. If the meaning is the one I had in mind then I'm quite sure I translated Italian to English correctly (almost, at least). But I'm quite surprised today because I wrote this sentence in Google Translate > I'll be on vacation from August, 1st to August, 25th **so** the support will > be discontinued for a while and it translated to Italian in a way that the meaning is this: > As the support will be discontinued for a while, I'll be on vacation from > etc... I changed the English sentence to: > I'll be on vacation from August, 1st to August, 25th **therefore** the > support will be discontinued for a while and I got the correct meaning, which is that I can't ensure the availability of support because I'll be on vacation. Is Google Translate right? I always use _so_ and never use _therefore_ so I'm worried I said a lot of nonsense all these years!


title: clause elements: Matrix clause

text: The sentence > Although they looked totally inconspicuous at first glance, we knew they are > unique and special. is given. Now, what I though is that "Although they looked totally inconspicuous at first glance," is a subordinate clause and the rest is the main clause. Then I realized that with in the main clause a that is omitted, so that it could read "we knew that they are unique and special." Does this make we knew a matrix clause? Then the two predicator would make sense to me.


title: What's the meaning of "dry" in this context?

text: Consider this comment: > Quality of service at restaurants is dropping, and I don't think it's the > servers' fault, I think it's the fault of management for cutting back on > staff. > > Several times now out with friends after work my **beer's gone dry** , and > rather than cutting the server's tip, I go to the manager afterwards and > pressure to get compensation for the terrible service. Since they can't give > away alcohol, they give gift cards good for food only; fair enough. What does it mean when the poster describes his beer has gone _dry_?


title: Word meaning the act of the state taking away one's right to live

text: I remember once coming upon an essay/article which, among other things, mentioned a (not uncommon) word whose technical definition was the state's act of officially removing a guilty person's right to life, prior to execution. The first word that now comes to mind is condemn, but none of the definitions seems to fit what I remember. The word was not at all obscure. Is there another word more suitable? Or does one of _condemn_ 's meanings include this concept?


title: What is the meaning of the word "this," all by itself?

text: I suppose this one might qualify as an internet meme, but I'm not sure. I recently have begun seeing people use the word "this" as a single word sentence, such as in response to someone else's post. It seems like it might be a way of expressing agreement, but I am struck by how awkward it seems to me. Unfortunately it's hard to search for anything about it, since it is such a common word. What exactly does it mean, and where does it come from?


title: Is there a noun that describes members of the genus Allium?

text: I have a mild allergy to Onions, Garlic, Shallots, etc. - all members of the genus _Allium_. Is there a noun I can use to readily describe all these? Eg: "I have a(n) **_** allergy." Been thinking about it for a while, and it seems kind of tricky. I can't say "I have an Allium allergy" because that implies Allium is an entity, a thing to be allergic to. Onions don't contain Allium any more than John contains Smiths. Based on a related question, I could say "I have an allergy to Alliaceous plants", but that seems like a bit of a mouthful. I'd love to find something a little more elegant/fluid if possible!


title: Why does the following phrase sound old fashioned?

text: "We went swimming later in the afternoon, Jack and I." I am trying to describe what is happening here by breaking the sentence down into it's basic components, but I am having difficulty doing this. The "jack and I" part is the Noun Phrase. right? Is there a certain language formality to placing this at the end of the sentence behind the comma? Am I crazy in thinking that the above format sounds more formal than: Jack and I went swimming later in the afternoon. I'm adding some more information that has come up through the conversation below: I pulled the line from a Young Adult book written in 1942. I'm studying the text and trying to identify elements that make it 'feel old.' One of these elements is a general presentation of phrases in a more formal way (as compared to other modern YA publications.)


title: Construction 'How many X'

text: How do you use the construction "how many X" correctly? For example, are these right? > How many political parties in Ukraine? > > How many deputies in Ukraine? > > How many condoms in your pocket? > > How many months of the year? > > How many holidays in a year?


title: Alternative to "minuend" and "subtrahend"

text: In math, I just learned that when performing subtraction, the terms for each number are as follows: > minuend − subtrahend = difference I have never heard of minuend and subtrahend before, and I'm fairly certain the majority of people I encounter have never heard these terms before either. Is there a better alternative to these two words? Context: I'm writing some software that subtracts a set of items from another set of items, such as in this math.SE question. I need to name these two sets of items so they are easy to understand for an average user, or a future developer working on the same software. Edit: For those who want to see code, I'm writing a PowerShell cmdlet that would be used like so:               Get-Difference -Minuend "a.csv" -Subtrahend "b.csv"      and in the code I may write something like:               var minuendData = readFile(minuendFilePath)      Currently I have the following comment at the top of my code:               // If you don't know what a minuend or a subtrahend is, then shame on you!     // http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/minuend     // http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/subtrahend      I could just use something like "A" or "B" but that is not as descriptive as I'd like it to be.


title: 'too dangerous to let live' or 'too dangerous to be let live'?

text: I was writing something down that came to me in a passing while I was watching TV, and I found myself discombobulated with the way one should phrase the notion of letting someone do something in the manner illustrated by the example in the question I posed. I know of a book with the title 'too dangerous to let live', but the sentence I was writing down feel so much intuitive with the second form, that is, having 'be' before the phrase 'let + verb'. The sentence is, 'Besmirching what I thought to be too pure to be let exist, deflowering what I reckoned to be too beautiful to be let waste'. Is this sentence grammatically right? Or is this one a better alternative? 'Besmirching what I thought to be too pure to be let to exist, deflowering what I reckoned to be too beautiful to be let to waste'. The problem here is, I was reminded by that book I mentioned with the title 'Too Dangerous To Let Live' which would then suggest that my sentence is better if phrased this way, 'Besmirching what I thought to be too pure to let exist, deflowering what I reckoned to be too beautiful to let waste' I also have thought of another alternative which further baffles me, 'Besmirching what I thought to be too pure to be let existed, deflowering what I reckoned to be too beautiful to be let wasted' So do you have any ideas or insights on which one should be correct? Any answer is very much appreciated!


title: What does "But Half Fancy?" mean?

text: I'm having trouble understanding this paragraph, mostly the part in **bold**. Is it regular grammar? This is a piece from Moby Dick: > If I had been downright honest with myself, **I would have seen very plainly > in my heart that I did but half fancy being committed this way to so long a > voyage** , without once laying my eyes on the man who was to be the absolute > dictator of it, so soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea."


title: Meaning of the word "nonlesson"

text: I came across the word "nonlesson" used in a research paper which talks about lessons learned from some incidents. I searched on Google but I wasn't able to find a meaning or usage of this word. I'd like to know if such a word exists, and if it does, also its meaning with a short usage hint. Please help.


title: Use of comma after "and" in "obsolete and, frankly pathetic"

text: Is the comma after the word _and_ in this sentence correct? > Social networks made having friends obsolete and, frankly pathetic.


title: What is the origin of "earthling"?

text: * What is the origin of the word _earthling_?   * Are there other words with a similar meaning ( _marsling_ , _venusling_ )?


title: Word describing "Nothing Changed"

text: We have a medical application that a doctor would uses to track a current ailment and its healing progress. For example, when a patient visits a doctor about swelling in their ankle, the doctor would use one of our drawing tools to draw "swelling" on an image (on a tablet device) of a patient's ankle indicating there is swelling in the ankle. When the patient comes back the following week or month, the doctor can mark up the drawing with other tools, such as "healed" or "inflamed", depending upon the type of ailment it is. One of the tools we are developing is a generic "nothing changed" tool. For reporting purposes, the doctor needs to use this tool to click on the ailment to confirm that the ailment is still there and that nothing has changed. I don't know what to call this tool. At present, it's called the "Nothing Changed" tool, but that's just not a great sounding tool. What word in this context could be used to describe "nothing changed"?


title: Why is a gerund used after the verb "confess to"

text: A simple form of the verb is often used after _to_ , but sometimes the simple form is replaced by a gerund. For example: > He _confessed to_ **having** a secret admiration for his opponent.   >  Edwards _confessed to_ **being** a spy for the KGB. What is the reason? Could you tell me more examples like _confess to_?


title: What does "before" mean here?

text: > Kim frequently exhibited her vast knowledge of baseball before complete > strangers. _Before_ is usually used to depict a time line, so this use is confusing for me.


title: Does the word 'confrère' in English also apply to women sharing the same profession?

text: The word confrère(s) in French is used to refer to males sharing the same profession; the word for females is consoeur(s). How about English? Is this term used for both genders?


title: Dishes 3 part job or not?

text: Is doing the dishes a 3 part job?, if I only dryed the dishes and put away can I say I did the dishes when I didn't wash


title: index, an index or the index?

text: Context: Imagine a sequence of indices greater than 1. The sequence must follow these rules: 1.) Index 2 cannot be surrounded by two indices 3. ... (I know this may be written in much more simple way, but the structure should remain the same.) The question: in the beginning of the first rule, should there be any article before the word "Index" (like: The index 2... / An index 2...) or is it also correct without any article? Is "Index 2" in this context definite or not? (there may be more indices 2 in the sequence and the rule should apply to all of them)


title: Are contractions worth all the trouble?

text: One of the most difficult things even for native speakers of English to learn is the correct use of contractions. To this day when I type `it` and want to follow it with `s` I have to spend a fraction of a second reading the sentence out loud to see if `it is` will fit. Then there's the question of where the apostrophe belongs. Why isn't it `is'nt`?1 What makes all this worse is that the first time you use `its` instead of `it's` people start sending you links explaining how to write properly. I can think of two reasons to still use contractions:   1. It's slightly faster to write. (But only if you don't have to think about proper usage.)   2. We use contractions in verbal communication and contractions reflect the sound of our speech.  I know the usual advice is to avoid them in formal writing, but I'm wondering if it mightn't be better to avoid them altogether. Maybe it's an advanced technique like writing in dialect. Wh'tcha yall rec'n? * * * **Footnote:** 1\. Stop! Please don't tell me!


title: Comma placement in "I, too"

text: Which of the following is correct? > I, too, have seen that movie. or: > I too, have seen that movie. The former seems correct to me from examining the inflection with which I would say it, but it looks a little awkward.


title: Would it help my English skills to copy Oxford Dictionary by hand?

text: Question inspired by Malcolm X who allegedly copied every single word from a dictionary by hand and greatly improved his language skills. Is there any merit in doing it, or is it just a romanticized anecdote?


title: Etymology of the word "broker"

text: I’ve had this personal hypothesis in the back of my mind for many years now about the etymology of the word “broker”. I have gathered a few pieces of the puzzle (many of them in French and a few of them in English) but I have no firm evidence to back it. Now that I've come across EL&U, with its high concentration of English Language enthusiasts of all horizons, I’d like to request some assistance, especially regarding the English side of the story. Many English etymological dictionaries qualify the origin of “broker” as uncertain, and others are just content with mentioning immediate ancestors of the modern word. But there is possibly a more captivating story to this particular word. In my opinion broker comes from brooch/broach. Here is why.   * In French the word for “broche” covers 2 English words: “brooch” (the jewel) and “broach” (roasting spit). In a larger sense, a “broche” is any spiky tool used for piercing.   * One of these broaches, shaped like a “T”, with a drill-bit like end, was used during wine auctions to pierce sample barrels so that potential buyers could taste the wine and make their best buying offer according to the quality of the beverage.   * Incidentally the French term for the pitcher that would be placed below the subsequently inserted tap is “broc” (nb, origin :uncertain in the wiktionary entry).   * Also well documented is the fact that the person in charge of piercing the hole is the “brocheur” (or “broceur”). My conjecture is that this man was also in charge of the auction, hence the “broker”. He would serve as a “broker” between the seller and the buyers. Although it seems logical, I've found this explanation nowhere. **So my questions are:**   1. Could you please provide some English words, idioms, citations or reference that could possibly back this conjecture?    2. Or do we have an altogether completely different etymology, I might have missed ? That's the main question. However I have also a couple of secondary requests, that could actually help reaching a conclusion.   1. I’ve also tried to find some genre paintings (in the taste of Netherlands Golden Age genre paintings) but with no success so far.   2. Also of interest would be to know whether there were English wine brokers (medieval England had a lot of vineyards) or whether the “broker” meaning was imported from the French “brocheur”, in which case one would have to admit that this meaning was lost, since French eventually borrowed the English word.


title: Usage of 'never had before'

text: I am going to present a funny gift to my friend. What is the best sentence which will describe the item? Is the following sentence correct? > Be prepared to get a gift which you never had before.


title: what is the meaning of " Pressure Containing and Structural Castings"

text: Does it mean " Pressure Containing castings and Structural Castings" or "Pressure Containing-Structural Castings"?


title: A word to refer to people who are self-taught and/or start working without even going to university?

text: These are some of the words I thought of:   * Entrepreneur    * Dropout    * Startup   * Auto-didact Any suggestions?


title: how can I introduce myself in emails?

text: My question is, if I'm writing an email to some one for the first time, do I introduce myself with sentance like:'I'm ...'? or like in the phone:'This is...'? Thanks!


title: What (grammatical) tense to use when doing reference in a paper?

text: For example, A published a paper with title B in 2000. Then, in my paper: > A says / said that [C works / worked out perfectly]. and > B illustrates / illustrated that [C works / worked out perfectly]. As the content between [] is derived from the original paper, the tense may vary. The pair of the simple present tense (in the source) and the simple past tense (in my current paper) is used as an example.


title: Should I use present or past tense when referring to a (scientific) paper?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  What (grammatical) tense to use when doing reference in a paper? In the two examples below, which tense is preferred? "Smith (2001) noted that ..." or   "Smith (2001) notes that ..." "The paper established ..." or   "The paper establishes ..." If both forms are equally valid, is it customary to use both forms within a text, or should I stick to one form?


title: "has been raised" or "was raised" in an academic journal

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Past simple and present perfect The first line in my research is the following: > Since the May 6, 2010 ``Flash Crash’’ event, the following question has been > raised several times: Does High-Frequency Trading increase the likelihood of > long tail and chaotic events in financial markets? Should I say > Since the May 6, 2010 ``Flash Crash’’ event, the following question was > raised several times: Does High-Frequency Trading increase the likelihood of > long tail and chaotic events in financial markets? I have been told that I have to avoid "has been" and even "was" in academic journals. Is there a better way for me to improve my sentence?


title: Past simple and present perfect

text: In news reports, we often read or hear events introduced with the present perfect, and then the past simple like this: > The film star Jim Cooper has died of cancer. He was 68 and lived in Texas. What's wrong if we use both first and second sentence in past simple? > The film star Jim Cooper died of cancer. He was 68 and lived in Texas.


title: When an item belongs to Bob, is it Bob's item or Bobs item

text: Should I use: That is Bob's phone   He is Bob's student   Bob's car is red or: That is Bobs phone   He is Bobs student   Bob's car is red


title: The use of “troop” for “trooper” by the media

text: What led to this new usage? Are there any clues as to its origin (i.e., is there a particular journalist or political figure who introduced it)? Is it on the upswing as I suspect (are there any reputable dictionaries which attest it)? ## Background For most of my life, I understood _troop_ to mean a body of soldiers, as attested by _Etymonline.com_ : > **troop (n.)**   >  1540s, “body of soldiers,” from Middle French _troupe_ , from Old French > _trope_ “band of people, company, troop” (13c.), probably from Frankish * > _throp_ “assembly, gathering of people” (cf. Old English _ðorp_ , Old Norse > _thorp_ “village,” see _thorp_ ). OED derives the French word from Latin > _troppus_ “flock,” which is of unknown origin but may be from the Germanic > source.¹ But in the past twenty or years or so I have noticed _troop_ used, particularly in journalism, to mean an individual (a “trooper”). This usage seems to be on the upswing. Here are two typical examples from last year: > _**CBS News_**   >  Taliban insurgents killed _10 Afghan troops_ in an ambush in western Herat > province, police and government officials said Tuesday, as _one U.S. troop_ > was killed in an attack on the other side of the country.² > > _**The Huffington Post_**   >  Among the combat wounded from all the military services are 1,572 patients > with major limb amputations, including _486 wounded troops_ with multiple > amputations. These numbers do not include those who suffered the loss of > fingers or toes.³ [ _emphasis added_ ] I have not yet seen the true singular form meaning an individual attested by any dictionaries, but it is definitely in use as shown above.


title: Word or phrase for all changes to an employee’s role/position/level?

text: What is a suitable word or phrase describing _all_ changes to an employee’s role/position/designation/level in a company? These changes would include promotions/demotions (e.g. “Staff” to “Executive”), re-designations (e.g. “Programmer” to “Network Administrator”), and even transfers (to different departments or branches/stores). I was thinking along the lines of “ **employees' role changes** ”, but believe it to be unsuitable as not all changes will cause the employee’s role to change. For example, one may hold the designation of “Accountant” and belong to “Staff” level. He is then promoted/upgraded to the level of “Senior Staff”, but is still an accountant and his job scope remains the same. Thus, his role is effectively unchanged even though he has been "promoted". Single words or short phrases describing these changes would be appreciated.


title: Dating the use of an expression

text: Would the expression " Keep your hair on " have been used in the 15th century


title: Why does the letter "a" correspond to /ɪ/ in words like "image", "private" and "surface" (American English)?

text: In American English, in words ending with _-age, -ate_ and _-ace_ , the ‹a› correspond to /ɪ/ (short i). Examples:      _image, village, damage_    _private, senate, separate_    _surface, preface, palace_      (It should be noted that dictionaries do not always agree about the pronunciation, and some use /ə/ instead of /ɪ/ for some of the words).      In all of these words the last syllable is unstressed. In unstressed syllables vowels may be reduced to schwa or to a short vowel of a similar quality, like /i:/ to /ɪ/ and /u:/ to /ʊ/. But at the words above, the underlying vowel in the unstressed syllable is either /eɪ/ or /æ/, so it is unclear to me why the reduction is to /ɪ/.


title: “What say we [suggestion (verb phrase)]”

text: I would like to understand the history of the modern expression “what say we” followed immediately by a verb phrase, used to make a suggestion and common in informal speech, as attested at Oxford Dictionaries _What say we **take a break**?_ used in publication Gillette Raises Bar With Five Blade Razor. _What Say We **Make It An Even Dozen**._   ( _Businessweek_ headline) and found in song lyrics _Baby, what say we **stay together**?_ ( _George Strait_ song “What Say”)   _What say we **go and crash your car**?_ ( _Brand New_ song “Failure By Design”) I stopped to notice that this expression is not, strictly speaking, grammatical and seems to be a contraction. I became curious what it might be a contraction _of_. There is the slightly longer “whaddya say we [suggestion (verb phrase)]” which is an informal version of “what do you say we”. This is still not, strictly speaking, grammatical. But it seems akin to “what say you **_to_** [suggestion ( _noun_ phrase)]”, such as the Shakespeare quotation offered in comment by AndrewLeach _What say you **to a Neats foote**?_ which can equally be expressed as _What do (or would) you say **to a Neats foote**?_ But I have no idea if it is reasonable to connect the dots.


title: removing some repeating phrases within a sentence

text: i think this sentence doesn't accept by the academic readers as some phrases are repeating so that looking for some modifications. > Alternatively, users can decide _for which application_ this approach is > sufficient and _for which application_ is not sufficient. any suggestion for a case like this... thanks


title: Meanings of "in the sense that"

text: What is the meanings of "in the sense that"? Does it mean "that it means"? I tried Oxford, Cambridge and Longman online dictionaries, but there aren't anything. Here are some examples   1. Screwy in the sense that two of college basketball's most historic programs are playing for a national title game and it's blowing people's minds.   2. Is the English Language becoming more generic, in the sense that English is distinguishing less between masculine and feminine?   3. In other words, the information is lost in the sense that it is almost impossible to interpret, but it isn't actually destroyed. Resources: (1) google translator, (2) english.stackexchange.com, (3) newscientist.com.


title: Looking forward

text: Recently I've seen a sentence with "looking forward". Could you explain why it contains a progressive aspect. Doesn't this phrase mean a thought process which cannot be seen and thus must be regarded as stative and be used without progressive? Consider a sentence like > I am looking forward to repaying your kindness.


title: Usage of double dots (..) Is it formal?

text: I am sure that this wouldn't have much meaning, but still want to get acknowledged whether usage of double dots is formal. I have observed people using double dots in business Emails. Usually while adding additional recipients to the thread. example: `Adding XYZ..` I would like to know the specific meaning of it. In the world of music, placing double dots .. infront of note is a shortcut, it signifies addition of its next level note. EDIT: Does it specify an infinite Pause? Infinite .. I mean by unsure (not never ending). In general case, if I use this .. in my statement what would it mean?


title: How do I make correct referencing?

text: I often have problems with article words referencing to its correct referent. In the following statement for example: > The touching scenes in the film leaves the audience a heavy feeling, > encouraging **_them_** to consider charitable acts and the role **_it_** > plays in our society. My intention is to have the word " **them** " linked to the _audience_ , and the word " **it** " linked to the _charitable acts_. I am quite confident that the word " **them** " does link to the _audience_. But I am worry that the word " **it** " may not link to the _charitable acts_. I find that there is possibility the reader may confuse " **it** " referring to the _touching scenes in the film_ instead of the _charitable acts_. Are the article words in the sentence that I have constructed above correctly linked to its referents? In general, is there a rule to watch out when identifying references in long and complex sentences?


title: Are there any current examples of English "Back-Slang"?

text: Other languages feature words pronounced as their inverse (such as verlan and fika). What are some examples of this in English? The closest example I can think of it Pig Latin.


title: "Oyster perpetual"

text: A famous watch brand has a slogan (I suppose) inscribed on their products: "Oyster Perpetual". What does it mean?


title: Did I go to the "fair" or the "faire"?

text: Which one's correct? I've seen both claiming to be correct...


title: Is "vindicate" a form of "indicate"

text: The online dictionary has the following to say: > Indicate >> to point out, show... > > Vindicate >> to clear from censure or doubt by means of demonstration... "Showing" is a means of "demonstrating" so is it reasonable to believe that "vindicate" is a form of "indicate?" The word "re-enter" is derived from the preposition "re" and the root word "enter." What preposition (if any) would be represented by the "v" in "vindicate"? If there is none, how would the "v" cause "vindicate" to be a form of "indicate."


title: Why is WFM used for "working from home"?

text: I've seen this used in several places, but WFH seems to make more sense to me. Is there some other significance that I'm missing besides the 'M' coming from the end of 'home'?


title: How to best correct ambiguity of “in the room next to me”?

text: A common construction in English is: > There is a person **in the room next to me**. However, this is ambiguous because it’s unclear whether the person is in a separate room that happens to be adjacent to my own, or whether they are in the same room as me (and standing beside me). Given this is grammatically correct, how would I best go about specifying which is the case? For example: > There is a person in the adjacent room to mine. or: > There is another person in the same room as me. Both seem unnecessarily confusing.


title: multiple adjectives next to each other

text: > In low volume, a melody sad love song is playing in a mobile phone placed on > the side table. Do you see the three adjectives (melody sad love) together? Is that correct?


title: Is it customary to call the former President George W. Bush “W.”, and Mrs. Bush “Bar”, in public?

text: Maureen Dowd deals with the comments of the former first lady, Barbara Bush in NBC’s the Today Show in her article titled ‘Silver Fox’s pink slip’ in New York Times (April 27): > “Asked on the “Today” show whether she thought her son Jeb should run for > president in 2016, as **W.** has urged, the famously candid and caustic > **Silver Fox** offered the most honest assessment of her oldest son’s > legacy. > >> “He’s by far the best qualified man, but no, I really don’t,” she said when asked if her second son should aim to be the third Bush in chief. “I think it’s a great country. There are a lot of great families, and it’s not just four families or whatever. >> >> But **Bar** , who was also giving the back of the hand to the Clintons, spit out the truth. It is wearying that America, a country that broke away from aristocratic England has spawned so many of its own royal political families, dynasties that feel entitled to inhabit the White House, generation after generation, letting their family competitions and tensions shape policy and history to an alarming degree.” I noticed Dowd likes, and used to call the former President by “W.” in many other places (like **W.** ’s presidency will go down in infamy because he ignored Katrina and the Constitution. / **W.** and other Bush officials continue to say they could not possibly have known that Saddam had no W.M.D. / Sadly, no one in **W.** ’s inner circle studied the issue), and the former first lady by Bar. Is it a customary way of Americans to call dignitary’s names by an initial or an abbreviation like “W” and “Bar,” or is it just Ms Dowd’s idiosyncrasy? Does Mr. George W. Bush’s father pass simply by the by-name, H. everywhere as his son does with W.? Are there many Presidents who were called just by an initial besides W. and JFK (Oh, I forgot to add FDR)? I’m asking this because we have no habit of calling, and nobody would dare to call our Prime Minister (ex-Prime Ministers) and dignitaries by an initial, first name, or without titles. By the way, what does ‘Silver Fox’ mean, and why Mrs. Barbara Bush is called so? If I called your mom 'Hey, Silver fox,' instead of Mrs. so-and-so, doesn't it sound rude or offensive to your mom, and you?


title: How do you describe this trait/behaviour?

text: I'm trying to describe this personality trait/behaviour that someone demonstrates. Consider this situation; while a group of colleagues hangs out at a bar, someone suddenly suggests a lottery group play where everyone puts in a small amount of money. While everyone willingly participates, one person refused and opted out of the play. What are some ways of describing this particular person's behaviour and/or the personality trait that this person possesses? Obviously he's cheap, but leaving money aside, I'm trying to describe his behaviour/trait with emphasis to the negativity and fact of him not willing to act with the group. Another example maybe, if the group of colleagues suddenly decides to go bowling and the same individual opted out again because he dislikes it greatly. Not all the rest of the people in the group likes bowling but they go anyways. What quality is this individual lacking? And what are some ways of describing this kind of behaviour and personality trait?


title: Origin of "cracked the shits"

text: I heard someone use the expression "he cracked the shits" today which is universally recognised (at least in Australia) to mean "lost his temper". It struck me that it is a strange expression and the origin is not obvious. It is often used in a context where a threshold of frustration has been reached and the person "cracks it" or loses control and responds angrily, so this may be part of it. Perhaps "the shits" is just tacked on as an intensifier. I'm pretty sure I've only heard it in the context of Australian English. Is this expression known and used outside Australia, and does anyone have a better explanation of how it might have arisen?


title: Reported Speech Tense Choice

text: Which of the followings sentences would be the best choice? > The victim explained how he became addicted five years ago... > >   1. His addiction **_is_** so bad that he **_is_** unable to keep a steady > relationship. >   2. His addiction **_has been_** so bad that he **_has been_** unable to > keep a steady relationship. >   3. His addiction **_has been_** so bad that he **_is_** unable to keep a > steady relationship. >   4. His addiction **_had been_** so bad that he **_was_** unable to keep a > steady relationship. >   5. His addiction **_had been_** so bad that he **_had been_** unable to > keep a steady relationship. > He hasn't treated his addiction yet.


title: Good term for petit bourgeois / Boeotian / Biedermeier lifestyle

text: Suppose you want to enjoy a lifestyle "of the medium": You live with your partner in your house, you have got two kids, a dog, a cat, in a suburban area, have a got a middle-class job with good (but not exorbitant) income, you tend your own garden, you vote center, your life is neither stressful or exciting (like yuppies or hippies), nor is it rural and devoid of culture (like hillbillys). Your life is peaceful with small joys. What is a good term for that in English? My inspiration for that question is the German term "Spießer", or the similar idea of "Biedermeier". In German, this concept has connotations both positive (balanced, comfortable, agreeable) and negative (narrow-minded, phony, stuffy), and provokes highly ambiguous feelings. I do not even know whether or where comparable concepts like that exist in the Anglo-sphere. The stereotypical British lifestyle might be closest to it, and for North America, I don't know. **Q:** How can this concept be made intellegible in English, including the highly mixed feelings about it?


title: Associated Press Style with Monetary Ranges (Your Interpretation)

text: The AP Stylebook's FAQ accepts "a 30 to 35 percent a year increase" and "a 10-20 percent a year increase in revenues", one with the word "to" in the numerical range, and one with a hyphen. They also permit a hyphen or the word "to" in these: $20,000 to $25,000 and $20,000-$25,000. Based on this information (and without recasting, please), would you consider the following examples to be correct per AP Style, and in general? _•It was a $10 million to $15 million a year industry._ _•The percentages represented a $40,000 to $45,000 a year increase in sales._ Alternatively, based on AP's supported examples, do you think that hyphens can be used, too? _•It was a $10 million-$15 million a year industry._ _•The percentages represented a $40,000-$45,000 a year increase in sales._


title: Is there a name for configurations such as "I will have had..."?

text: Consider these two examples,   1. _I will have had eaten by that time._   2. _I will have had been working there for five years._ To me, the first sentence seems to express the proposition that, it is the present ( _t1_ ); I will begin eating in a future moment ( _t2_ ); finish eating by sometime after that ( _t3_ ); and that eating will be relevant to the time referenced in the sentence, "that time" ( _t4_ ). Whereas, to me the second sentence seems to express the proposition that, it is _t1_ ; I will begin working somewhere at _t2_ ; I will continue working there until _t3_ , at which time I will stop working there; and my time working there will be relevant to a later time that the speaker is discussing, _t4_. Are these configurations grammatical? Do they have names?


title: My English is inefficient. How can I fix this?

text: Lately I've noticed that my English is inefficient and it makes me sound inarticulate at best. (Uneducated at worst.) Here is an example. Today I told my younger cousin this: > You shouldn't make any commitments if you're not going to see them through > to the end And then I started thinking about it. A much more efficient and nicer sounding sentence would've been: > You shouldn't commit to things you won't see through It's shorter, more articulate and conveys the exact same message. This happens almost everyday. I find myself getting stuck mid-sentence or re-thinking sentences after I've said them. Some background: I was born in a Spanish-speaking country and speak Spanish fluently. However, I came to the US at age 4 and haven't left since. I consider English to be my first language. I grew up in a low-income neighborhood where people mostly spoke Spanish or broken English. My mom doesn't speak English fluently and my dad does but with a strong accent and occasional blips. I don't have a college education. I'm especially looking for something like a book. I haven't been able to find one for "efficient English." If someone could recommend something I'd be very grateful.


title: Is the following use of "nonetheless" correct?

text: > I was so down and unmotivated, **nonetheless** , that even thinking about > getting up the chair seemed like a tedious and burdensome task. I'm having my doubts because at first I used _however_ , and know, well, I'm not very sure anymore.


title: Difference between wing chair and armchair

text: What's the difference between wing chair and armchair? I searched both with Google images and they looked almost the same -- chairs with sides where we can put our arms on them. Thank you in advance!


title: The grammar of (noun)-blaming and shaming

text: Are phrases such as "victim blaming" grammatically correct? It's trendy at the moment to say (noun)-blaming/shaming.


title: What ten-letter word means "having lots of time"?

text: I came upon this Yahoo! Answers question, which asks: > What 10 letter word means have lots of time? The "best answer" (five stars!) was _plentiful_ , a nine-letter word that doesn't really have anything to do with time. So now I'm curious... anything?


title: How should I use "eponym", "eponymous" and "namesake"?

text: I was in London and visited the Tower Bridge. Afterwards, I went to a pub called The Tower Bridge. Just to be clear, the pub is named after the bridge. Which of the following are correct?   1. The bridge is the **eponym** of the pub.   2. The pub is the **eponym** of the bridge.   3. From the pub, I could see the **eponymous** bridge.   4. After I saw the bridge, I went to the **eponymous** pub.   5. The bridge is the **namesake** of the pub.   6. The pub is the **namesake** of the bridge.


title: Is this sentence a valid construction?

text: > I received this in my email. Please be reminded in accordance with the below > email. Is something wrong with this sentence?


What's the difference between the two sentences? >   1. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of > Philosophy at [Name] University >   2. Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at [Name] University >


title: What part of speech is "back" in "put the book back on the table"?

text: > Put the book back on the table. I'm having trouble. I think it is a preposition.


title: Show Disrespect/Poor Behavior

text: The first sentence is good English:   1. "The students **_showed disrespect_** toward the teacher."    2. "The students **_showed poor behavior_** toward the teacher." Is the second sentence also good?


title: state the reach of something against something as doing something

text: I encountered this sentence while translating a lawsuit and now I'm quite confused about what it intends to say: Court stated the reach of the per se rule against tie-ins under 1 of the Sherman Act as extending to all defendants with "sufficient economic power with respect to the tying product to appreciably restrain free competition in the market for the tied product . . . ." (Source: https://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/433/433.US.36.76-15.html) I know that this is a legal issue, maybe some of you don't understand the sentence totally, so I'm not going to ask about the meaning of the whole sentence, I'm asking about the meaning of this structure: "state the reach of ....against ....as extending to...." . I'm totally not sure what it means (especially, I'm not sure what "as extending ..." means in this context) I need you help badly. And please reword your answer into plain english because I'm neither a native speaker nor living in any english-speaking country. Thank you.


title: What does “be at it” mean? Is it an idiom?

text: In the talk show titled “How Dogs Evolved Into 'Our Best Friends'” on NPR’s “Fresh Air” aired on November 8, naturalist Mark Derr offered an intriguing story about how humans and wolves developed a friendly relationship, and wolves evolved into today’s dogs. > [Mark Derr] tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies that he believes humans and wolves > developed a close relationship after recognizing themselves in each other > while hunting on the trail of big game. "[That's when] they started > traveling together, and they've been at it ever since," he says. "The dog is > a creation of wolves and humans — of two equal beings that came together at > a certain point in history and have been together ever since." I thought “ _They’ve been at it_ ever since” means “they stayed in the same situation / status, or maintained the same (close) relationship,” from the context of the narration. As I wasn’t sure whether “be at it” is an idiom or not, I consulted both Cambridge and Merriam-Webster online dictionaries, neither of which registers “be at it,” as an idiom, though Cambridge carries “ _hard at it_ ” as a U.K idiom meaning “putting a lot of effort into what you’re doing." On the other hand, Google Ngram provides a graph of “ _be at it_ ” usage, which can be traced back to circa 1840. The incidence of usage started to decline once around 1940, and picked up again coming into 2000. What does “be at it” mean in the above sentence? Is “be at it” an idiom, or simple combination of words, i.e. “They’ve been at it (the same place, status, position, level, relationship)”? P.S. Wisdom English Japanese Dictionary at hand registers ‘be at it (again)’ as an idiom with definition ‘be involved aggressively in work,. quarrel, wicked deed, and “Yesterday, they were at it again” as an example of usage. However, I don’t think this definition applies to the above context at all.


title: "hunger resistant"

text: As the title says, a person who does not get hungry easily, or is better at ignoring the effects of malnourishment is (a) ____ ? Example: a monk who can fast for an extended period of time. Background: I'm trying to make a cooperative tabletop game inspired on D&D, munchkin quest etc. Food is an issue, it can be found as loot and every now and then the characters must eat or die. But they can take a feat that allows them to reduce their max hit points instead of outright dying, and I'm looking for a name for this feat. Ideally, I'm looking for a single word, but anything that is less mechanical than "hunger resistant" is appreciated.


title: Meaning of "garn" in My Fair Lady

text: At the beginning of the My Fair Lady movie, there is a monologue of prof. Higgins like this:               Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse     Hear a Cornishman converse     I'd rather hear a choir singing flat      Chickens cackling in a barn      Just like this one      Garn!      My question is: what is the meaning of this "Garn"?


title: Is the following sentence written in a conditional sentence structure?

text: is this sentence correct? It starts a small paragraph. My question is, does it violate any English rules? If it does, which ones? If it doesn´t, which rules validate it? It sounds perfectly fine to me, but someone told me it did not follow correct conditional sentence structure. I´m a little confused. The sentence is: > Payments coming from a pension trust account are taxable. Someone told me it would have to be, "Payments that are coming from a pension trust account are taxable." The first sentence seems perfectly fine to me. Just can´t find any English sentence structure rules to validate it. Is it fine to omit the verb to be? If it is, then when is it ok to do so? Any input would help.


title: Is "peculiar" completely interchangeable with "strange"?

text: Is _peculiar_ completely interchangeable with _strange_? can both be used in exactly the same contexts?


title: "Catalogue" versus "catalog"

text: What is the difference between _catalogue_ and _catalog_? I cannot really decide which one to use for a _product catalogue_ for a shop.


title: Can an issue be blamed for something?

text: Can I say: > Many issues can be blamed for this ...


title: Greeting after Christmas

text: I needed to write a business e-mail to my US partner just after Christmas day. Are there any established forms of such a greeting? Something like > I hope you had a nice Christmas


title: Is there a technical term for the two halves of an email address?

text: Is there a technical name for the two halves of an email address? I mean the parts before and after the @ sign. As a kind of example of what I mean, for UK postcodes, I believe the two halves are called the _inward_ and _outward_ , not by the general population, but by people who work with postcode data.


title: Verb for 'try to find something you have in common with somebody'

text: Is there a verb which means 'try to find something in common with someone'? In this context for example:   * Everyone has the urge to commit a murder sometimes, we both do too.   * Don't you try to ... (with me), you criminal! Keep in mind that this probably isn't a perfect example, but I hope you understand what I mean. I thought of 'sympathize' for a while, but it is not quite what I'm looking for..


title: I work in a team which ____ the 25 company branches

text: I'm looking for a word to fill in the following blank: > I work in a national management team which ___ _ the 25 company branches in > the country. This management team is the one which every branch reports to. The team decides the overall mission, year plan and such. As for the blank, I'm thinking about the words such as administer, oversee, govern, manage etc. But I'm not quite sure which one (or some other words) would fit in best.


title: Correct tense to express one's holding a professorship from 2007 to June 2012

text: When editing for a valedictory occasion, I came across this: "Prof. Li holds the XXX Professorship from 2007 to 2012." It is the tense of "holds" that baffles me. If the sentence was one of the following three, then I would not have been baffled: (1) "Prof. Li is holding the XXX Professorship." (2) ""Prof. Li holds the XXX Professorship." (3) "Prof. Li has been holding the XXX Professorship from 2007." -- this means his is still holding it and the sentence does not tell when this holding of Professorship will end. But the situation is that Prof. Li's XXX Professorship will end with his leaving the university in June -- the duration of his Professorship is(was?) from 2007 to June 2012. So what tense should I use. I am doubtful that "Prof. Li HOLDS the XXX Professorship from 2007 to 2012" is correct.


Is there a word for "rule by criminals"? Not _kleptocracy_ , which is rule by thieves, but more broadly by criminals.


title: Meaning of "additive form"

text: I'm writing a inferential visual analysis and I'm not sure if the phrase "Additive form" makes sense. The phrase is meant to represent a persons added form (for example clothing). I'm using it in the sentence "The arrangement of the two delegations, their additive form and environment are a clarion representation of their symbiosis. ". Regards, Techhead55


title: How to say: "After cartoons are over" or "After she's done watching cartoons" or how?

text: Imagine this situation: a wife asks her husband to read some stories to their daughter. The husband replies: "She is watching cartoons now. I’ll read stories to her after the cartoons are over" or "I'll read stories to her as soon as she's done watching cartoons" or "I'll read stories to her after cartoons" or how?


title: Is this sentence grammatically sound?

text: > None of those fancy words are correct in the context you used them. Should it be > None of those fancy words are correct in the context in which you used them. Or : > None of those fancy words are correct in the context that you used them.


title: Comma or no comma in reaffirmation of answer? "____ it is" or "____, it is"

text: Would sentence 3 get a comma or not?   1. Carrie: What time do you want to get lunch?   2. Corin: How about noon?   3. Carrie: Noon, it is! **OR** Noon it is! In case it's not obvious, the intention of sentence 3 is that Carrie is reaffirming Corin's answer, _not_ stating, Yoda-like, that the current time is now noon.


title: Correct usage it Or that

text: I am unsure, should I use pronoun it or that at the end of this sentence. The legislature seems to talk at great length about reform but to do almost nothing to achieve **it/that**.


title: Should I Say 'The' before a Place Name?

text: While talking about a city or a country, in some cases I have seen the article , but in most other cases, it is absent. For example, I have seen _The NYC_ _The US_ _The UK_ but never _The London_ or _The France_ What's the rule here? From the usage, I guess while talking about a very prominent or famous place (which everyone is aware of), I should use _the_. But is not it too subjective?


title: Does "shouldn't" always take "should" as a question tag?

text: Which usage is correct? >   * You shouldn't take sugar, should you? >   * You shouldn't take sugar, will you? >


title: Is the phrase "PM who have approved" correct?

text: > PM who have approved Is the phrase correct? I think it should be "PM who has approved" (PM: Project Manager). Am I wrong?


title: How would a king have phrased "I need to use the bathroom"?

text: With literary or historical references, what phrase would an English-speaking monarch have used to indicate to either their attendants or to their court that they were in need of using the toilet facilities?


title: A better way to phrase this?

text: I had an email forwarded to me and one of the sentences in it sounded kind of wrong...: _"It would be helpful if you can send me the **agenda** as 10am-3pm is quite a **huge block of time** for the students."_ The words that sound wrong to me are in bold. The email sounds formal, but I don't like how this part sounds. Is there a better way to phrase or better words to use in this case?


title: "Vegetation changes" vs. "changes in vegetation" vs. "vegetative changes" vs...?

text: When referring to changes in the amount and/or quality of vegetation on the ground, which is more appropriate between "vegetation changes", "changes in vegetation" or "vegetative changes"? Any other option?


title: Why does "puce" mean two different colors depending on where you live?

text: I always thought puce was green, then saw on Wikipedia that it is purplish- brown. Further research tells me that it's generally regarded as purplish- brown in the United States, whereas Europeans think of intense shades of green when they hear the word. (The etymology relates to fleas, and the color of their blood-stained droppings.) **So, why do people think of it it so radically differently, and wherever did the concept of green come into the word _puce_?** * * * Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puce On the difference in interpretation:   1. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070119191802AAT8sa1   2. http://peggyoberlininteriors.com/blog/2011/08/20/puce-puse-peuse-peuce-lets-boycott-this-color/


title: Where did the usage of "Uncle" to refer to unrelated individuals come from?

text: We often use "Uncle" to refer to a paternalistic figure or close family friend who isn't actually related by blood or marriage. For example, I'm a godfather to the young children of a family friend, and I'm usually introduced as "Uncle John" to the kids at birthdays or holiday gatherings. It struck me that this is rather arbitrary.   * Why isn't it, say, "Brother John" or "Grandpa John" or "Cousin John" or any other similar term?   * Does this have any origins in "Uncle Sam", the national personification commonly used in America? That's the only connection I could think of.   * Is this sort of thing common in other languages/cultures, too?


Do we have to mention the things we refer to after the word "one of these" For example.... "I have a lot of cars.One of these is BMW" "I have a lot of cars.One of these cars is BMW" Which one of the previous phrases is grammatically correct?


title: "If I would go there, I would be in trouble" - correct?

text: Occasionally I've seen the construct: > If I would [verb], I would [verb]. ... used, to indicate that the second clause is a condition of the first. For example, > If I would go there, I would be in trouble. The way I would usually express this is: > If I [subjunctive-verb], I would [verb]. So for example: > If I went there, I would be in trouble. Is the former correct, or in common usage among native English speakers anywhere?


title: Meaning of "slice"

text: What is the meaning of _slices_ here? > Switching barcodes is a pretty common crime and hard to catch if you're > smart about it. Bringing your own barcodes to the store is pretty creative > though. > > Now many barcodes/price tags have the **slices** in them, so they come apart > if a swap is attempted. Especially at places pofolks frequent.


title: Present perfect versus past perfect

text: > I have marked those books yesterday.   >  I had marked those books yesterday. Which sentence is correct? I know that:   * The present perfect is used when an action begins in the past and continues into the present, or holds relevance in the present.   * The past perfect is used when an action begins in the past and finishes in the past, to holds relevance only in the past.


title: Should small numbers with a unit after them be spelt out or written in digits?

text: I heard it is better to write out numbers less than ten then to represent them using digits. Is this still true if there's a unit of measurement after the number? For example, in a research paper where time was being measured would it be expressed as > five ms instead of > 5ms


title: Can a prepositional phrase starting with "during" work as an adjectival phrase?

text: A prepositional phrase comprising a preposition and a noun phrase can generally function either as an adjectival phrase or as an adverbial phrase. > _The book **on the table** is mine._ (The prepositional phrase **_on the > table_** is an adjectival phrase modifying the noun phrase _the book_.) > > _Put the book **on the table**._ (The prepositional phrase **_on the book_** > is an adverbial phrase modifying the verb _put_.) I used to think that this dual property of the prepositional phrase is applicable to all prepositions without exception. But then, here comes this example. > _Do you have any plans **during the vacation**?_ Which sounds awkward at best. I thought about the reason why this sounded awkward. The reason I came up with is that the prepositional phrase **_during the vacation_** cannot modify _any plans_. It can only modify the verb _have_ , thereby rendering the sentence awkward. Can "during" ever lead a prepositional phrase that acts as an adjectival phrase?


title: "Tote" vs. "carry" in AE

text: Aside from formality/informality registers, what is to "tote" that is not to "carry" to AE native speakers? Does "tote", unlike "carry", imply a certain way to hold or support something while moving?


title: Is an all or nothing affair

text: I've been reading an article and the author uses such a phrase : > If our model binder deserialized JSON into a ComicBook it would not be able > to make that determination because **serialization is an all or nothing > affair**. While everything was good but suddenly I saw this "serialization is an all or nothing affair" and it doesn't make much sense to me. Could you please explain what he might be meaning? Source article in case you want to see more context: http://haacked.com/archive/2011/06/30/whatrsquos-the-difference-between-a- value-provider-and-model-binder.aspx


title: What is the right preposition after "skeptical"?

text: Which preposition is suitable to follow _skeptical_?


title: Is the word language in this context a proper noun?

text: My phrase is "Spanish language TV spend" with respect to advertising on Spanish language TV ads. In this context, should the l in language be capitalized?


title: English pronunciation of "charade" as in Pink Floyd song Pigs

text: I was recently listening to the Pink Floyd song "Pigs (Three different ones)" and a line in the chorus goes, > Ha ha, charade you are! In the context of the song I am nearly sure that the word `charade` is intended to mean something or someone that is a fake. What interests me is the way that the word is pronounced. It is being pronounced `Sha-r-ahhh-d` (Not sure how to convey a long `ah` accent but that is the intent. As an American, I have only ever heard this word pronounced more like `Sha-r-AID`. My question is, is there a single correct pronunciation of the word, or is this simply pronounced differently in England as compared to America (US, Canada)? Or... is this simply just a poetic pronunciation of the word in the song for effect and uniqueness?


title: Is grammatical number dying out in English?

text: It seems to me that grammatical number in English is gradually disappearing. Some symptoms:   * no singular 2nd person pronounce, the "you" becomes limited to one person while "yall" develops for multiple persons (both grammatically plural)   * singular "they" etc.   * interchangeable use of singular and plural with "I", "me".   * "four billion" and alike   * "ten foot long" and alike in rising colloquial use   * "thanks" as singular   * indication of number by only apostrophe in some cases with no pronunciation difference   * use of article to indicate number in some cases without morphological change to the words with one of the forms completely becomes unused (two dice - a dice, two billion - a billion etc) All these things would not be possible in a language with strong grammatical number, thus I suppose the number dies out in English. Am I correct?


title: Meaning of "hail to the king"

text: I can't translate that sentence, “hail to the king”. I've found something like “greetings to the king” but is this correct?


title: What is the etymology of "squiffy"?

text: I am planning on get squiffy this evening, and then I wondered where that word had come from. Oxford Dictionaries has the following: > British informal   >    1slightly drunk:   >       _I feel quite squiffy_ Can anyone shed any light on this word's origin? Online references I've checked have nothing more than possibly mid-19th century.


title: What does 'fist bump' mean?

text: I have seen _fist bump_ mentioned in some books, and would like to know what it means.


title: Is subaccount one word?

text: I looked at the Cambridge and Oxford dictionaries online and they don't contain this word. But typing it into google takes me to the Merriam Webster definition. So does this just come down to taste? The reason is that my computer programming team needs to establish a standard (in programming you write "subaccount" if it's one word, or "subAccount" if it's two words or hyphenated).


title: Do the words 'gift' and 'present' have the same meaning?

text: As the question says, do these two words have the same meaning?


title: Does "away" serve as an adverb or an adjective in the following sentence?

text: > The shop is five minutes away. According to the dictionary, _away_ is an adverb. An adverb modifies a verb. In the above example, what word does _away_ modify? Why is _away_ not an adjective? > The shop is five meters tall. _tall_ is an adjective in the second example. It modifies _five meters_ (does it?). So why is _away_ an adverb?


title: White-orange or orange-white? Which color comes first?

text: When referring to something, (electrical wires, in my case) and it is half white and half other color, do you put White or the other color first? I want to describe the color of these wires as ONE word/phrase. They are all half white and half other color (orange, green, blue, brown, etc). So would I say "Please grab that white-orange cable" or would I say "grab that orange-white cable"? I would imagine you put whichever color is more first, but the white and orange are equally divided. Not sure if what I'm saying makes sense...


title: How popular is the word ‘Lede’? Why should it be ‘Political Ledes,’ not ‘Political Catches / Leads ’?

text: I noticed that there is a column called the day of the week’s ‘Political Ledes’ written by Mark Halperin in Time magazine. Today’s (August 17) ‘Political Ledes’ picks up headlines of New York Times: “Romney Says He Paid at Least 13% in Income Taxes” Washington Post: “Obama Steps Up Portrayal of Romney, Ryan as Out of Touch with Middle America” Wall Street Journal: “Campaigns Seek Positives in Negative Tone,” and three other news sources. As I was unfamiliar with the word, ‘Lede’ I checked Cambridge, Merriam- Webster, and Oxford online dictionary. Only Merriam-Webster registers ‘lede’ with the definition - ‘the introductory section of a news story that is intended to entice the reader to read the full story’. Google Ngram registers both ‘lede’ and ‘ledes.’ The usage of ‘lede’ continues to decline from the peak during 1840 – 1860, while the latter has been also consistently declining after the peak of usage during 1920 -1980. Isn’t ‘lede’ an outdated word, or still is popular? The choice of word of course belongs to the taste and up to the freedom of authors, but I wonder why the Time magazine is using ‘”Political ‘Ledes’” which isn’t registered in neither Cambridge or Oxford English Dictionary instead of simply saying “‘Political ‘Leads, (or Catches)’” which I think is easier to understand and is more current. MicroSoft spell-checker keeps urging me to correct the spelling of ‘lede’ at this very moment I’m typing this question.


title: Hyphenating/capitalizing values and coordinates

text: I'm translating some software from German (where there's a correct way for everything) into English (my native language, but also where I do so much more just by feeling) and I'm stumped by things like: > T value   >  X coordinate   >  Y coordinate My sense is that all three should **not** be hyphenated or capitalized (though I'm not sure about at the beginning of a sentence.) I should have made it more clear in writing the original question that I'm talking about capitalizing the words 'value' or 'coordinate.' Some examples (not real, but of the sort I'd have to translate) might be:   * Transform T value   * X value out of range   * Enter Y coordinate Just recently the topic came up with my boss and she asked if that was the rule in English and I truthfully told her I didn't know. Is it the rule? Is there a rule?


title: Why does a silent "-e" at the end of a word lengthen vowels?

text: There's a common pattern in English spelling where "short" vowels are pronounced as "long" vowels with the addition of a silent "e" at the end of the word. E.g.   * _bit → bite_   * _mat → mate_   * _pet → pete_ Is there a historical reason for this? Does it relate to The Great Vowel Shift? Reference: Wikipedia — Vowel Length#Traditional Long and Short Vowels in English Orthography


title: "X has founded his practice after working for very diverse offices such as Y and Z"

text: Is the following sentence grammatically correct and is there a better way of writing it? > "X has founded his practice after working for very diverse offices such as Y > and Z."


title: Doubtless or doubtlessly?

text: To my surprise I found that _doubtless_ is used as an adverb without appending the "-ly". > **Doubtless** , some of you will know more examples. It _feels_ wrong, but then again, I am not a native speaker. Would you use it like that, or would you substitute **doubtlessly** here?


title: not a moment too soon - is it fast or slow?

text: Is this _late_ or _early_? It's a bit unclear to me. Because this question body wasn't meeting good quality standards of this site, I had to write this additional sentence.


title: Is there a meaning for the word "cegon"?

text: I came across this word, as in Cegonsoft, cegon+software.. what is cegon?


title: Mixing up "quiet" and "quite": spelling or grammar error?

text: Look at this sentence: > It wasn't **quiet** what I wanted And this one: > The music was too **quite** for me Obviously _quiet_ and _quite_ are mixed up. Is this considered a spelling mistake? In both cases the words are valid, but used in the wrong place. Is there a special name for these mistakes? Or are they simply grammatical errors?


title: What is the origin of "dead end" on a road sign?

text: Unless one has grown up with it, I cannot see that the intent of "dead end" on a road sign is at all obvious. The oft-used alternative "no outlet" at least means what it says. And while a non-native English speaker might have difficulty with "no outlet" I suspect that it could be looked up in an English-to-x dictionary, but "dead end"? I think not. So why did "dead end" come to mean that the end of a road is imminent?


title: What is the plural of tablix?

text: Don't know why the word _table_ wasn't good enough for Microsoft, but SQL Server Reporting Services has a control called a _tablix_.... But how would I tell you that I have multiple tablix controls? (I appear not to be the only one with this question) Tablix does not appear in NGrams's English corpus. A quick search on Google reveals no dictionaries that contain the word, but the search _"tablixes" SQL_ returns 4,730 results, and the search _"tablices" SQL_ returns 1,160 results.


title: Online rhyme dictionary/rhyming resource that lists rhymes by vowel sound (assonance)

text: Anyone know of an online rhyming dictionary or rhyme resource that lists rhymes by vowel sound (assonance)? RhymeZone.com doesn't have such an option.


title: Come to (regain consciousness) and pull to (shut)

text: I don't know if it's part of my regional dialect, but around these parts we use the phrase "pull to" to mean 'close the door all the way.' It wasn't until last week that it struck me as odd. Pull the door to...what? To itself? I didn't find much explanation on _pull to_ as a phrasal verb, but a friend pointed out that it was probably like "come to", which he always figured was reflexive and essentially a shortening of "come to one's senses". So in terms of these two phrasal verbs, _pull to_ and _come to_ , are they reflexive? And if so, why does the object get dropped? Is that a usual occurrence or do these two examples represent some kind of unusual feature of English?


title: Hypernym for webstore features?

text: Behold the following list:   * Special Offers   * Free Products   * New Arrivals   * Restocked Items   * Limited Stock These are all... what? _Offers? Categories? Filters? Marketing Ploys?_


title: What is the antonym of terminal?

text: This question arises when I try to describe my itinerary to ticket service in the UK. Take for example, I plan to buy a ticket from A to B. B is the terminal. How to say its counter part A? I cannot find a proper term. I have to say "I will depart from A" or "I plan to go to B from A". Or I even use "departure place" to refer to B.


title: How can I describe the age difference between myself and my sibling?

text: I'm having trouble trying to find a way to convey that I am x years older or younger than one of my siblings. For example, if I had a sister that's four years older than me, the first thing that comes to mind is: > Among the visiting family members was my four-years-older sister Which just seems incorrect. The only other thing I can think of, however, is: > Among the visiting family members was my sister, older by four years. ... which also sounds strange.