title: Past tense of “to cast” in the programming sense

text: In programming, _to cast_ (also: _to typecast_ ) means to convert an object from one type to another (see Wikipedia). I'd like to know the correct past tense of _to cast_ in this sense. Is it _cast_ or _casted_? I'm aware that there is already a similar question: Can “casted” be the past tense of “cast”? However, that question has only one answer mentioning this particular usage of the word, and it doesn't quote any sources.


title: Idiomatic AmE term for "B&B"/"bed & breakfast"/"chambre d'hôte" and "table d'hôte"

text: Is there an idiomatic term or expression in modern day AmE for what in the UK is designated by the shared "B&B"/"bed & breakfast", and seemingly by the originally FrF expression "chambre d'hote" [an accommodation offered by an inn, hotel, or especially a private home, consisting of a room for the night, and breakfast for the next morning at an inclusive price, but also the hostelry itself]? Also, what do you Americans call what in FrF is referred to as "table d'hôte"?


title: Is "north to south" a more common set phrase than "south to north"?

text: Would you describe Japan as a long country "from south to north", or "from north to south"? I suspect that "from north to south" is more common, and Google ngram agrees, but is this is the case?


title: What do you call someone who's involved in a project (non-leading role)

text: We currently have two roles for our project, namely:   * project manager   * `someone who is involved', ie. regular worker/employee but I'm not really satisfied with worker. What do you usually call someone who works on a project within a team?


title: The meaning of "blue canoe" in the lyrics of "Where to Now, St. Peter" sung by Elton John

text: In his song _Where to Now, St. Peter_ , Sir Elton John sings: > I took myself a blue canoe,   >  And I floated like a leaf   >  Dazzling, dancing half enchanted   >  In my Merlin sleep. > > Crazy was the feeling   >  Restless were my eyes   >  Insane they took the paddles   >  My arms they paralysed. (Lyric written by Bernie Taupin. Available on the album _Tubleweed Connection_. See the whole lyric.) I found myself translating Elton's songs into Czech and I am curious about the meaning of "blue canoe". Here is what I have: According to my friend, "blue canoe" had been used by the soldiers of Confederation during the civil war in the USA meaning a "bullet". Now this would make some sense: > I took myself a blue canoe [I shot myself to death],   >  And I floated like a leaf [towards the afterlife]   >  Dazzling, dancing half enchanted [I shot myself badly / the wrong way, > dying hours in horrible pain]   >  In my Merlin sleep [in a sleep there is no waking from]. > > Crazy was the feeling   >  Restles were my eyes [this follows the scheme above]   >  Insane they took the paddles [my hands took the "paddles of the canoe" = > gun],   >  My arms they paralysed ["my paralysed hands", my hands fell down after the > gunshot]. I am a little skeptic about this interpretation. First of all, I find it improbable that Taupin would describe "dying hours in horrible pain" this way; it is neither touching nor fun. There are hands falling down after the gunshot, as well as "dancing in pain". The music Elton John composed to this lyric is far beyond psychedelic, further deepening my doubts. And, one more thing that does not match at all: > It took a sweet young foreign gun   >  This lazy life is short   >  Something for nothing always ending   >  With a bad report. Why would a gun be "sweet" or "young"? Now this could be allegorical expression of a "young soldier", but at the very beginning of the song, he claims himself to be the executor of whatever causes him to die. I have come with a different idea: "blue canoe" could be some elusive drug / poisonous substance, contained (for example) in the seeds or blossoms of a (tropical) flower that is blue in color. This would make sense to me: > I took myself a blue canoe [I have eaten a poisonous flower blue in color],   >  And I floated like a leaf [I have been disoriented]   >  Dazzling, dancing half enchanted [I could not control my body]   >  In my Merlin sleep [in a sleep there is no waking from] > > Crazy was the feeling   >  Restless were my eyes [kaleidoscopic vision or other vision distortion]   >  Insane they took the paddles [my insane hands took the drug]   >  My arms they paralysed [my hands, now paralysed]. This goes with the verse "It took a sweet young foreign gun" meaning fruits, seeds or blossoms of a flower that are blue in color and sweet in taste, that come from a foreign land he finds himself (fighting) and that are "young" meaning unripe, thus poisonous as it is typical for some flowers. Also, it goes well together with the Merlin; the association between Merlin and shooting myself to death is in my opinion much weaker than the association between Merlin and a poisonous substance, a "spell" that causes "my Merlin sleep". I have been looking "blue canoe" up in the Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary without success, I failed to find it in my books, too. If anyone knows the meaning of "blue canoe", please do let me know. If you see any imperfection in the way I come to understand this, please do the same. I will be grateful for everyone's opinion on these two interpretations of the song.


title: "How to succeed at"

text: I just watched a news story that used the phrase "How to succeed _at_ university". I was under the impression that _at_ in this specific phrase has to be follow a verb. Is "How to succeed _at_ university" grammatically correct? If it is, then what is the difference between _at_ /*in* in this case? If there is none, which one is more desirable?


what's the meaning of "However touching may be an interest so tender" in this passage Authorities . . . will tell us: ‘What is at the bottom the goal of your efforts, the motive of your work, the object of your hopes? Is it not happiness? Well, this happiness, let us act, and we will give it to you.’ No, Gentlemen, we will not let you do it. **However touching may be an interest so tender** , we ask authority to remain within its bounds. That authority limits itself to being just; we will occupy ourselves about being happy


title: Word to express a building's potential to be guarded against a forced exit

text: I am looking for a word that expresses the idea of a prison being difficult to escape because of its physical construction, in a similar way that 'fortified' means a structure is difficult to attack from outside because of its physical construction. The context of this is something like, "The school building is more heavily guarded/fortified/etc. than the prison," but without the sense that there are actually people there guarding it or that existing architectural measures (like barricades, fence gates, security balcony with bulletproof shields at intervals, etc) are in active use. Rather, it is just constructed in a way that would make it easy to guard, or has such features.


title: Parallel structures when dealing with two items

text: Is there a need to make the sentence below parallel? > Whether you are looking for a place to leave items or want to manage your > inventory . . . I find that if it's converted to the more parallel structure below, the contrast between the two choices is lost. > Whether you're looking for a place to leave items or manage your inventory . > . . [Managing the inventory will happen at the place, so the sense of the sentence above is correct. This isn't the actual sentence I'm working with so it might not sound completely logical.]


title: "His words reached her nicely"

text: Someone told me I can't say, _someone's words reached someone else nicely_. For example: > "His/your words reached me nicely" Is that true?


title: What are the syllabification rules for English?

text: I am trying to break a word down into syllables and am not quite sure how to do it for English. Some problems I face:   1. The letter-to-sound rules are not one-to-one. As an example, notice that z"ea"l and "ee"l are different in orthography but map to the same sounds.    2. English has a large number of foreign words incorporated into it, which makes "sticking" to a certain set of rules all the more difficult.  So my question is:   1\. Are there any definite rules for breaking a word in English down into its constituent syllables (CV, CVV, CCV etc.?).   2\. What is the "gold-standard" (something used by a majority of the community) on this?


title: What tests are used in order to determine the number of syllables in a word?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  What are the syllabification rules for English? I would like to know what tests are used for determining how many syllables are in a word. Well, there are no tests, then how would people work out the number of syllables in a word?


title: Pluralizing a thing expressed by a quoted or hyphenated phrase, e.g. better-than-nothing or "better than nothing"

text: I found myself writing > And so, they went on amassing better-than-nothing's. because I wanted _better-than-nothing_ to be a kind of catchphrase, referred to in this form consistently throughout my writing. I imagined alternatives such as > And so, they went on amassing better-than-nothings. > > And so, they went on amassing _better-than-nothing_ s. > > And so, they went on amassing "better-than-nothings." > > And so, they went on amassing "better-than-nothing"s. I know the last example is clearly wrong, but, is the one that makes the most _sense_ to me: grouping the phrase and pluralizing that group. Is there a clearly _right_ way to do this? (I imagine not.) I'm interested in what's most natural to read ("idiomatic," I think is the word), and also interested in knowing what others have seen in similar instances. I'm afraid what's natural to _me_ may not be what's natural to most others. * * * I'm also curious how one would treat a similar but more awkward phrase, _better-than-expected_. > The vacation was full of better-than-expected's. (A bad example, off the top of my head.)


title: Is a snake's venom poisonous?

text: This is a question more concerning the word 'poisonous' and 'venomous' than poison vs. venom. I'm wondering about the following, specifically the last sentence:   * Don't eat the plant, it is poisonous.   * The plant has dripped poison onto you. Be careful, the liquid is poisonous.   * The snake is venomous.   * The snake has been milked to help us create an antidote. Be careful, the contents of the jar are poisonous (or should it be venomous?). Can you use poisonous and venomous to describe both the creature/plant AND the substance it produces?


title: Why does "to wire" mean to trick?

text: _A Collection of College Words & Customs_ written by Benjamin Homer Hall in 1856 defines a "wire" as a trick and I'm curious to know if it is of any relation to a magician using invisible wire to trick his audience? Any thoughts?


title: Why are there multiple prefixes for the same root word?

text: The root word I'm thinking of is comfort; two types of prefixes are applied to it, in the words _discomfort_ and _uncomfortable_. Why is this?


title: What is the subjunctive mood?

text: I had always understood the subjunctive mood to mean a hypothetical present tense. However, I think it might also imply that the hypothetical event is outside the realm of possibility. Is that necessarily the case?


title: Is "elder brother" implicit in "brother"?

text: I just watched a film called _Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules_. I wonder how one knows whether he is an elder brother or a younger brother when he only says that he has a brother and does not specify? Does brother usually mean elder? I saw in the film; when the boy says he has a brother, the girl immediately knows the brother is older than him.


title: Looking for a technical term that goes hand in hand with the strategy used in the joke

text: Here's the joke:               Tom's Dad:(in Bill Gates's office) My son Tom wants to marry your daughter. Are you interested?          Bill: No, my daughter is still too young.          Tom's Dad: What if my son is a VP at Google?          Bill: Wow, that should be out of any question!          Tom's Dad:(in Larry Page's office) My son Tom is a talented young man. He wants to work for you as a VP at Google.          Larry: Too much talent here already.          Tom's Dad: What if he is Bill Gates's son-in-law?          Larry: Wow, we welcome him on board!      I was just looking for one joke to share in classroom, and this one caught my eye. Obviously, some business strategy is involved in this great piece. I'd like to expand a bit on the strategy in the classroom, but I can't come up with a technical term or some universally recognized term to introduce the strategy. I'm no business student, nor did I see the joke in a business context or textbook. It's really hard for me to think of one. Help! EDIT: It's NOT joke construction help. I just use this joke to describe the strategy (due to lack of a better one). I really like the "play X off against each other" answer, which however is not EXACTLY what I want. I am looking for an English expression (if any) which conveys the idea that I have nothing myself (am a nobody) and I employ other people's reputation or strength to achieve my own goal.


title: What is the origin and meaning of "coyote ugly"?

text: I overheard two scoundrels discussing one of their dates as being "coyote ugly".


title: Is it appropriate to omit "to" after "ought"?

text: Is it appropriate to omit _to_ after _ought_? > I ought to be disciplined for my insolence. Vs. > I ought be disciplined for my insolence. Is it okay to omit the _to_?


title: Word or term for an argument that is inherently true

text: What do you call an argument/position that is impossible to counter because it depends on undefined adjectives/adverbs? Examples: > Good websites are the ones that are effectively designed. > > Well managed businesses rarely go out of business. It's similar to _tautology_ , but I'm not sure that's correct.


title: grammatical use of "that"

text: I'm making a slogan for a website and I really would like to use the word "that" in it. example slogans               stuff that you would say cool          stuff that you would say amazing      are these slogans grammatically correct?


title: A is more near to B than C (is or does)?

text: Which of the following sentences is correct? > The approximate data values are much closer to the real data values than the > original ones **are**.   >  The approximate data values are much closer to the real data values than > the original ones **do**. Thanks!


title: Word for someone that pays more for the same thing?

text: Consider the following scenario: In a given store, there are two shirts available for sale, shirt (A) and shirt (B). Both are exactly the same, except shirt (B) is twice as the price. Is there a word for someone who is willing to pay the premium for (B) even though it's exactly the same as (A). I initially thought of the word over-priced, but that has more to do with the object itself. Can anyone suggest a word that describes a person who willingly pays more for the same quality, or the ACT of paying more for the same quality?


title: "in/as accompaniment to/of"

text: I would like to write the correct form of the following sentence: > He played the guitar in/as accompaniment to/of the choir's chant. Which is the most correct, and why?


title: "Postpone", "delay" and "defer"

text: I'm Russian and in the Russian language we use one word if we want to say that something will happen later than it has been planned. So usually I have difficulty in choosing a proper word among _postpone_ , _delay_ and _defer_. I understand they bear slightly different tinges of meaning but hitherto I have failed to catch this difference.


title: Is "project in hand" correct?

text: I am writing my MSc project report in English and I want to use the phrase > "the project in hand" as a title to a chapter where I will be introducing the project that was undertaken. Is such an expression correct in English, will it make sense to the examiner reading this or will it sound bad or even not make any sense at all?


title: How to avoid ambiguity when referring to a 24-hour period?

text: Suppose I want to refer to a 24-hour period (from midnight till midnight). The word "day" can in fact mean "24 hours" (as in here), however it's somewhat ambiguous. I believe that if I say something like "just wait a day", most people will understand it in a common meaning. I could also say "just wait 24 hours", but that sounds a little weird to me, about as much as saying "I want 127.5 grams of cheese, please" in a store. So how would a native speaker refer to the 24-hour period to avoid ambiguity (and being concise in the same time)? Maybe there is a fancy scientific word for it?


title: Regionalism or just bad English?

text: I've encountered a particular type of writing occasionally and it being, derp, in writing, it's hard to tell whether there's an accent behind it. The English used seems to me to be simply incorrect, but I can't help but feel that the following features are part of a dialect or a regional style of English. One of the most glaring (and grating) features is the substitution of "saw" with "seen". > He **seen** him at the shop the other day. > > I **seen** that you were looking for... > > etc. The use of "away (to)" is also peculiar, if not incorrect. > He was **away to** open the door when... > > He was **away to** get what he had asked for. > > etc. I haven't come across these forms very often, and even then it was accompanied by otherwise mostly correct English, which is what makes me wonder what the hell. This is more intellectual curiosity than anything else.


title: Savings and Costs Verb Treatment

text: So this has been bothering me for a while in the technical reports that I have been working on. I frequently come across these two sentences: The energy savings, ES, are estimated to be $100. and The total cost savings, TCS, are estimated to be $100. In both situations, "is" seems like it should be the verb and not "are". Furthermore, in the context of the the two example sentences above, the savings is a static number. Also, "is" sounds right when just using the abbreviations. When savings is used by itself I agree that the correct verb is "are" but when savings is part of a name that suggests to me that it will be have as a singular noun. Thanks.


title: Why are many TV personalities beginning to pronounce "daughter" as "dotter"?

text: I have noticed the changing of proununciations of words with _-au_ and _-aw_ by TV presenters which is spilling over into everyday speech. For example “dotter” for _daughter_ , “otto” for _auto_ , “jah” for _jaw_ , “cahfe” for _coffee_ , “don” for _dawn_ , “lahn” for _lawn_ , “wotter” for _water_. Are these pronunciations correct or are merely affectations in speech to sound more sophisticated or educated or possibly to distinguish themselves from having _New Yawk area_ accent? I was listening to a broadcast and the presenter said > Next we will hear from Don. The next segment was presented by a woman whose name was Dawn. Any insight will be appreciated.


title: Etymology of "here goes nothing"?

text: I was reading my child a manga story today and one character said, "here goes nothing." I hadn't heard that expression since I myself was a kid, and I always took it to mean "here goes my best try." Looking online, I found very little in terms of explaining the origin and meaning of this phrase. Perhaps one of you can enlighten me?


title: Struggling to understand headlines that use ellipsis

text: I have trouble understanding headlines because they abuse ellipsis. Two examples:   1. "Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan To Awkwardly Hug, High Five For Next Three Months"    2. "Scores Dead as Fire Sweeps Through Nightclub in Brazil" In both cases, I don't understand what is happening. What are Romney and Ryan doing for the next three months? What does high five have to do with it? Are they going to hug each other? Did they hug already? I thought The Onion, being a satirical newspaper, was trying to make the most unreadable headline possible to mock the way other papers usually write. But then I came across the example from NY Times and noticed journalists really write that way. Who or what is scoring dead? What does is it mean to "score dead"? I get the feeling the phrase is wrong and that it should be something like "Fire scores dead as it sweeps through nightclub". I try to read newspapers everyday and I've even checked the answers for a similar question before asking, but I still can't get used to the style of headlines. So, what do those two headlines mean? And what can I do to improve my reading ability in this specific area?


title: Are there words meaning “helping somebody to think different/freely/more widely”?

text: This is what my uncle does to me. I want write him a letter in English.


title: Which is correct: "of course" or "ofcourse"?

text: I have been using the term _ofcourse_ ever since kindergarten. However, I recently stumbled upon a site that claims _of course_ is how the term is correctly used and not _ofcourse_. I would like to seek the community's opinion about which is the correct usage of that term.


title: what does 'you may be subject to termination' mean

text: I am interpreting the meaning of a statement. > You may be subject to termination. _May be_ are the words that change it from a yes-or-no answer to one with variables. Am I correct?


title: What do you call words that are typed the same way on a phone keypad?

text: Words that are pronounced the same are _homophones_.   Words that are spelled the same are _homonyms_.   What do you call words that are typed the same way on a telephone keypad? (you have to watch out for them when typing text messages!) Example: _good_ and _home_ are both typed as 4663 using Predictive Text.


title: Meaning of 'That old rocking chair's going to get me'

text: In the Joni Mitchell song Stormy Weather, there's this line: > That old rocking chair's going to get me What does that mean? I suppose _that old rocking chair_ is a symbol of something, but what? Death? Something else?


title: When is "place" used as "home"?

text: Today, while chatting, I just made a sentence: > I want you at his place at 9. But I am not sure when to use _place_ with the meaning, _home_ , or _work place_? Is it correct usage? What will be the correct sentence instead?


title: "Favored" vs. "favorited"

text: We're making a website in which users can mark some objects as objects they like. Since we're not native English speakers here, a dispute evolved around what's the correct way to call this user-object relationship in the past tense: _favored_ or _favorited_. For example, should it be _Jack favored Jill's video_ or _Jack favorited Jill's video_? From googling, I suspect both forms are correct or at least commonly acceptable, but I'm wondering if one of them is more correct, if there's a slight semantic difference I'm missing or if you'd think one is more proper where the other is more colloquial.


title: Word for when people hallucinate because of emotions

text: Is there a word for when people(usually insane) hallucinate things based on their emotions. Kind of like Synaesthesia but emotion to sense rather than sense to sense. for example in "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe the main character hands him self over to the police after he is driven mad by the sound of a man he killed's heart beating. And in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" the narrator sees the size/strength of people based on how confident they are, so a timid person would be tiny and weak while a person who stands up to others would be huge. I've tried googling for the answer and can't find one so any answer would be great even if there is no such word thanks :)


title: Is it normal to use “do” as an intransitive verb for ‘change”?

text: I was interested in the expression, “Change does slow” in the following sentence of NPR’s article (January 3) titled “You can see it, but you’ll be a different person in 10 years: > “But that doesn’t mean they fully understand what’s still to come. “Their > estimates of how much they’ll change in the future are underestimates,” says > Danie Gilber (psychology researcher at Harvard Univ.). “They are going to > change more than they realize. **Change does slow** ; **it just doesn’t > slow** as much as we think it will.” Though I understand the meaning, I don’t think I’ve heard “Change does slow (fast)” very often. I thought Change occurs, happens, takes place, progresses, accelerates, goes on, but didn’t think of Change does (slow / fast). Is the use of ‘does’ in “Change does slow (fast)” a normal way of wording to mean the slowness / rapidness of the process of change?


title: Is ‘smart alec (aleck)’ a gender-neutral noun?

text: I happened to find the origin of the word, ‘smart alec (aleck / alick)’ as I was checking the spelling of the word in a dictionary. Merriam Webster English Dictionary defines ‘smart alec (aleck / alick)’ as: An obnoxiously conceited and self-assertive person with pretensions to smartness or cleverness. And its origin as; Aleck, nickname for Alexander First Known Use: 1865. Now that knowing ‘smart alec’ being a shortened form of ‘smart Alexander,’ I became a bit ill at ease, because I’ve used the word for both sex thus far without any reflection on its origin and gender. Is there a female counterpart to smart alec? Is it alright to use ‘smart alec (aleck / alick)’ as usual for both a man and a woman?


title: "Weeks of rain/raining"? "Weeks of fight/fighting"? Is there a rule to use the gerund in those examples?

text: It’s common and correct to use both _after two weeks of rain_ and _after two weeks of fighting_. But since _fight_ is also a noun, couldn’t it be used instead of _fighting_? Also, why _rain_ and not _raining_? Is there a rule of thumb to apply those or is it something you just have to “go with common sense” with?


title: "Went without saying"

text: it "went" without saying?   Does the phrase "went without saying" even exist? When is it more applicable than "goes without saying"?Even in past tense: "the show was hosted by a famous star, it went without saying that show was a hit" is less convincing than "it goes without saying". The former seems to indicate that no one at that time said anything about the show being hit but it was known to people (that it was hit). That doesn't make sense to me. Give relevant examples of "went without saying" in a sentence.


title: "In my career as" — is "as" correct here?

text: I have this fragment: > ... the experience and knowledge gained will be helpful in my career as a > neuropathologist. Is the "as" here okay? It somehow does not sound right to me. Obviously I want to say that it will be helpful to me, during my career in neuropathology.


title: Pronounce abreviation/acronym as word or based

text: If you have an abbreviation that reads like a word, should you pronounce it like the word it reads like, or the words it came from? For example, in the software development world there is a JAR (abbreviation of Java ARchive), and there is also a WAR (abbreviation of Web ARchive). In the first case people usually say jar as in a jam jar, but in the latter case some people say war (as in first world war), whereas I say war to rhyme with jar. I claim that I'm using the 'ar' from the start of 'archive'. Who is right? P.S. sorry if my terminology is all wrong.


title: Should capitals be used when verbing trademarks?

text: When using a trademark as a verb ("hoovering", "xeroxing", "photoshopping" and "googling"), should it be capitalized or uncapitalized? Strictly speaking, Google and Adobe are opposed to their trademarks being used as verbs or as generic trademarks, but that's a separate topic.


title: Is "learning yourself" the same as "learning by yourself"?

text: (Other than the first also meaning to learn about oneself...) Is _learning yourself_ the same as _learning by yourself_? How much do these two phrases differ? In India's spoken English, the former is used a lot. Is it grammatically correct at all?


title: Have I graduated from a master's course?

text: What is the correct phrasing to tell the people that I have successfully obtained a master's degree? I want to convey the idea that I have had all classes and defended my dissertation. BTW, is "defending the dissertation" a meaningful and correct phrase?


title: Whatever/everything/anything..how to find out?

text: I am desperate because I just cannot find the way how to know which one is correct. E.g.:   Do whatever/everything/anything you like.   Do your best whatever/everything/anything you do.   Stop doing whatever/everything/anything I do! I am particularly interested of explanation - I somehow feel what fits (usually)


title: Can I use "any" in this example?

text: I know "any" is used only in plural (questions or negation) or for uncountable nouns OR if it expresses "whichever"/"every. But what about this? _Is there any document describing that?_ //can I use it? I am not asking for one particular..I want to express that I need any document describing something


title: Expression "to arrive at a place with your hands hanging"

text: In Spanish language there is an expression " _llegar con las manos colgando_ ", that can be literally translated to something like: > If you are invited to a friend's party or social gathering, you need to > bring some food or drinks, you can't just show up "with your hands hanging" > (from your arms). This is to express that if you are not holding anything in your hands when your host greets you, then you are empty handed, so your hands are just hanging from your arms, which can be considered bad manners. Is there an equivalent expression in English, other than the generic being "empty-handed"?


title: What is the difference between the words concede, admit and accept?

text: In which situations is the word **concede** used, in which situations is the word **admit** used, and in which situations is the word **accept** used?


title: How is "apostrophe s" used here?

text: I heard someone on a TV show say: > What's it all mean? As far as I know, _'s_ could be the short form of _has_ and _is_. But in this case, it seems more like to be the short form of _does_. Am I correct?


title: How to describe the future in the past

text: I've always used _would_ as the past tense of _will_ : > **Present:** Tomorrow, I will go to the beach. > > **Past:** The following day, I would go to the beach. However, in response to my question on Writers.SE, Robusto pointed out that my use of _would_ creates an "an imperfect parallelism of tenses." What does this mean, and how do I correctly treat a statement about the future that is made in the past? (I think it means that _would_ could also be interpreted as a conditional, as in "I would go to the beach if the weather was nice," but isn't the intent clear from the context in which the sentence appears?) **EDIT** (in response to Robusto): Does the ambiguity introduced by _would_ disappear if I put my sentence in its context? > It took me nearly a decade to write this script, and now I would pitch it to > the top producer in Hollywood. But the following day, I got hit by a bus, > and my dreams came to an abrupt end.


title: What does the "work" part mean in the following English words: network, clockwork, etc?

text: I know several English words with "work" word as a second part: network, clockwork. Maybe someone can give more examples. They have some meanings in common - they are close to "machinery" or "system", but apart from that they seem very different. What were the historical reasons for producing such words?


title: What is the difference between "attribute" and "property"?

text: Could you please clear up the meaning of these two words for me? I don't understand this sentence: > **Attributes** introduced by RDFA have names. For example, **property** is > one such attribute.


title: Ascension and descent

text: Why is the opposite of 'ascension' still 'descent', and not 'descension'? (Reference. NB: fully aware the answer may be convention, as it is with many things in English.)


title: Is ‘Hit rewind’ an established idiom?

text: I found a phrase, ‘ _hit rewind’_ in the headline of the article of May 29 New York Times reporting that VHS cassettes that seem to be dead long ago are still surviving and widely used among immigrant communities in New York City. The article reads: “For movies, some immigrants still choosing to _hit rewind_. In this age of streaming movies online and Blu-ray Discs, immigrants' nostalgia and frugality, among other factors, combine to make sure that the bulky VHS cassette endures.” I assume ‘hit rewind’ means ‘to go back to an old thing and item (in nostalgia way),’ but am not sure of. I checked Oxford, Cambridge, and Merriam-Webster online dictionaries for confirmation. None of them registers ‘hit rewind’ as an idiom. Google Ngram shows that the phrase came up around 1980, and its usage is rapidly growing. So it seems to be a relatively new expression. What is the exact meaning of ‘hit rewind’? Is the words well-received as an idiom now in both U.S. and U.K.?


title: $ sign where did it originate?

text: This sign is a very interesting one. I do not know where it originated in. And why do we use it? How does $ sign relate to dollar? Does it mean money? Sometimes I've seen it with double lines striking through it.


title: How can I explain the difference between "thrifty" and "stingy"?

text: Both the words "thrifty" and "stingy" have obviously different meanings - for example, the fictional character Scrooge is stingy, while someone following a budget is thrifty. Both imply saving money; how could I explain to someone what the difference is between these words, say, in a single sentence?


title: When to use 'ourselves' vs. 'our self'

text: I wrote > when we place our self meaning _each one of us_ , his or her self -- and was told to use "ourselves" instead. Who is right?


title: "Build out" as business jargon

text: I have noticed an increase recently in use of the phrase "build out" when "build" would suffice. This seems to be mainly an American English phenomenon from what I can see. Here are some examples: Google... is also set to build out a network in Austin, Texas. and Technology services firm Data Stream has signed a 7,882 sq ft lease at the Chicago Board of Trade Building, where it plans to build out a data center. and This is a free series on how to build out a website using Wordpress What is the origin of this usage and why has it become so popular? Is it just meaningless jargon or is there some meaning behind it, i.e. is there a difference between building a website and building out a website?


title: Use of "up" in actions

text: I'm a brazilian native and I'm curious about the use of `up` in sentences. For instance:   * set up;   * grow up;   * get up; What's the real meaning/role of `up` in these phrases? I don't know if my perspective about the problem is different than yours - probably it is -, but it's difficult for me to understand this case of use. Can someone clarify this question/issue for me? Thanks in advance.


title: What's wrong with "within this week?"

text: If I want finish a task by the end of this week, is it correct to say "I want to finish it within this week?"


title: Meaning of "I kissed her for her mother"

text: I recently re-read E.J. Brady's Down in Honolulu, but this line has stuck out to me: > I kissed her for her mother,   >  I gev' her one, two, three;   >  I squoze her for her brother—   >  'T was all the same to me. I understand this is not standard English, but how I should read the phrases " _for her mother_ " and " _for her brother_ " in this context? It could be " _in honor of her cultural heritage_ ", but the other lines seem to contradict this; or am I missing something obvious? The author was Australian and this poem was written at the end of the 19th century, so perhaps this is a regionalism particular to his dialect.


title: you have confused me or you have got me confused?

text: You have confused me by staying quiet about it or you have got me confused by staying quiet about it? I know the latter is correct, but is the former sentence correct as well and convey the same thing?


title: Three times the second integer less 4

text: I am learning word problems for Quantitative reasoning GRE exams. English is not my first language and I wonder if the following expression is ambiguous in English: "Three times the second integer less 4" I interpreted that as 3(x-4), but the solution was 3x-4. Are there any conventions in English language? How do I know that "less 4" refers to the whole expression "three times the second integer" rather than to the expression "the second integer"? I have not had this problem in non-mathematical literature since the relations were possible to be derived from the context, but here it does not seem to be the case.


title: A single word meaning "success but not without hard work"?

text: Looking for a very niche definition for a friend, she wants to find a single word that encapsulates the general meaning, "success, but not without hard work" for an article she is writing.


title: Meaning of "On" in non-physical situations

text: What is the meaning of "on" in non-physical situations? Of course "On" indicates a position above and being supported by something under it.For example, "A glass in on the table" and "A portrait is on the wall". These are all used to express physical situations. My interest is related to non-physical situations. 1) "It's on me today", this means "I will pay all the bill today." 2) "It depends on you", this urges someone to make a decision. 3) "I rely on you", this means you are partially responsible for my decision. 4) "I am on alert", this means I am very wary of something. 5) "I am on duty", this means I am now working. 6) "My heart will go on and on " (From the movie Titanic) , this means I can not stop my emotions. I guess there are common points in the following combinations.   * 1),2) and 3) ; related to responsibility ?   * 4) and 5) ; be in a certain condition ? Then how about 6) ? And my guesses noted above correct ? Is there another meaning in "on" ?


title: What is the name of this type of word: "Mr.", "Ms.", "Dr."?

text: What is this type of word called: _Mr._ , _Ms._ , _Dr._? In the document I am using, it is referred to as the "prefix", but I don't think that is correct.


title: Tag Questions "is he not"

text: "He is happy, isn't he?" If you did not use the contraction _isn't he_ , in the question above, would the correct sentence be:   1. "He is happy, is he not?"   2. "He is happy, is not he?" Sentence #1 seems to have to have same meaning as the above question but does _not_ become the subject complement of he? Is #2 the grammatical equivalent albeit archaic or uncommon in modern English?


title: Doubt about "held at" usage

text: Every time I see the prepositional phrase _held at_ being used, it is somehow related to a physical location. Suppose I'm in a process comprising many stages, is it possible/idiomatic to use the _held at_ in the following way ? > The validation of the data provided will be held at stage X in the > validation process. Any advice regarding my question as well as any other suitable option will be appreciated.


title: When is it appropriate to use 'the' instead of a possessive determiner?

text: I was with someone today and we were talking about a woman, and she said: > "Wow, the husband must be so proud." I was confused as to which was correct or more appropriate as opposed to: > "Wow, her husband must be so proud."


title: The meaning of proffer

text: I have encountered the word **proffer** a few times and most of these times I find the word to be completely interchangeable with **offer**. When and why is this word used? Am I misunderstanding the word? Google translate supports my interchangeability position, so I'm not native speaking. Edit: The proposition that proffer is built as (pre-)offer (as in first), is not at all appealing to me as a non-first offer would be a counter-offer.


title: What is the word for "making something proper"

text: I am thinking along the lines of **"normalize"** \-- something like **_proper- ize_**. **\-- UPDATE --** In one of my comments, I presented an example... > _a disorganized mess (for example, a cluttered desk) that I want to "make > proper" by organizing things "properly"_ Take the above example figuratively NOT literally. An answer like "tidy up" is not what I'm looking for.


title: Comma in "servicing carriers that are committed to participate and willing and able to adjust market share"

text: Troubling sentence: > Name at least two servicing carriers that are committed to participate and > willing and able to adjust market share to cover up to 100% of the risk if > necessary. Is it okay to put a comma after _participate_? Coworkers have gone back and forth over this; we can't find any documentation to support either argument in _Gregg's Reference Manual_ or _Words Into Type._


title: Grammar of "It is rarely that + (clause)"

text: The following question is motivated by this answer at ELL. Here, I'm not interested in the correctness (that's already been answered at ELL) but in the possibility of interpreting this construction as an _it-cleft_. **Clefting** is a construction by which a single sentence is broken up into two clauses so that the clause moved to the front receives more emphasis. For example, given the sentence: > Police rarely arrest people without adequate suspicion. Imagine that we want to emphasize _people without adequate suspicion_ , then we would write: > It is **people without adequate suspicion** that police rarely arrest. The question I want to ask is whether I can use an _it-cleft_ to emphasize an adverb. In the sample sentence, imagine that we want to emphasize how _rarely_ this happens, then we would write: > It is **rarely** that police arrest people without adequate suspicion.


title: grammar - No + singular/plural noun + singular/plural verb

text: Which of the following phrases is grammatically correct? * no animal is * no animal are * no animals is * no animals are Thanks.


title: Are “Lord” and “God” interchangeable?

text: Is there any difference between “The Lord is my shepherd” and “The God is my shepherd”? Are _Lord_ and _God_ interchangeable?


title: What is the difference between a map tile and a map section?

text: We are translating the great OpenStreetMap editor JOSM to Hungarian and arguing on the translation of "map tile".   Some of us state that it should be literally translated, because map tile and map section are different things, map tile being an online, scalable form of a map section. Others argue that it should be translated to the equivalent of map section, because it's the established term.   So what is the difference between a map tile and a map section? Is map tile really an online, scalable form of map section?


title: What does "half the point" mean?

text: We're doing a Dutch translation of an English play and having a disagreement about how to translate "I don't like her, but that's not half the point". Some want to translate "half the point" literally while I think "half the point" has a special meaning in English that's lost in a literal translation. Unfortunately I can't find the expression "half the point" explained online. Can anybody explain this expression, preferably with a reference?


title: First in are the blackest of the black - first in are - meaning, usage

text: Source: http://theweek.com/article/index/259581/russia-masters-the-art-of- clandestine-warfare-against-ukraine > **First in are** the blackest of the black: case officers for the > intelligence community who operate without official cover, who recruit > sources and assess the battlefield. Then, small units of special operations > forces sneak in, sometimes blending in with the populace, ready to make > trouble. Then, special forces units that specialize in "information > operations" designed to induce anxiety and outrage among local populations > follow a strategy that comes from the top of the government. The idea is to > generate genuine indigenous protest movements. Vladimir Putin has an eye to > history; if today he seeds the strands that bind ethnic Russians in Ukraine > together, it doesn't matter whether it takes five months or five years for a > revolution to foment. How do you understand **first in are**?


title: "Haven't you got X ?" or "Don't you have X ?"

text: In British English negative questions with the verb _have_ (when it's a lexical verb and not an auxiliary) can be formed in two ways. Is there any difference between them? **Type 1**   * Haven't I got your number?   * Haven't you got her number?   * Hasn't he got your number?   * Haven't we got her number?   * Haven't they got our number? **Type 2**   * Don't I have your number?   * Don't you have her number?   * Doesn't he have your number?   * Don't we have her number?   * Don't they have our number?


title: Is "yesterday" a noun?

text: Are words like "yesterday" and "tomorrow" considered nouns, adjectives, or even adverbs? I'm getting mixed signals from several references. In a case like "I have an important meeting tomorrow," it seems as if they're nouns. But what about "Yesterday afternoon?"


title: "Between A and B" or "from A to B"

text: Suppose we are talking about the numbers 1, 2, ... , 10. When we use the phrase _between 1 and 10_ , do we include the end-points 1 and 10? Is there any difference if we say _from 1 to 10_ instead?


title: Spent or have spent?

text: Which is grammatically more correct? > Thanks everybody for the great 2010 moments we spent together! vs > Thanks everybody for the great 2010 moments we've spent together!


title: What does "in s****" mean in the following context?

text: I was reading a short story when I stumbled across the following sentence. > "[H]e overheard his dad say it wasn’t worth its price in shit." I was a bit surprised with the negation. I'm used to the following use of the phrase: > "It is worth its price in shit." I understand it like: "The price you pay for it is fairly low compared to its value." But in the sentence from the story, I get a bit confused. Should it be considered like double negation? The father is not happy with the price that he wants to stick in a "swear-word" somewhere in the sentence, no matter what... Or am I missing something subtle here? I couldn't find the meaning of "in shit" via Google. The only idiom I could find is "happier than a pig in shit", which obviously has nothing to do with the use I quoted.


title: Can you use the word "transient" as a verb?

text: I want to explain how data on a server is only there for a short period of time. So I'd like to use the following sentence: > The data transients the server. Is this usage correct? EDIT #1: The actual sentence I used: "System that client data transients." I guess a better way to state this would be "System that client data transverses." This sounds awkward to me. EDIT #2: I discussed with my workmates and everyone agrees that: "the data makes a transitory pass through the server" is the best way to explain the situation.


title: relationship zone

text: I'm looking for a phrase to describe a certain relationship similar to "friend zone". The relationship is where you can't treat a person one way because you are so connected it might cause problems in another area of life. An example would be. I can't date Jane since we work together. She is in my ----- zone.


Where did the phrase "drop the hammer" come from? It's what you do when you start to go balls to the wall. I've only heard it rowing.


title: Is “I feel like a piece of meat” popular phrase? Isn’t it embarrassing for women to use this phrase?

text: I found the phrase ‘I felt like a piece of meat’ (at a meeting),’ in the article of Washington Post (September 20) titled ‘In early Obama White House, female staffers felt frozen out.’ The article quotes the following episodes contained in the newly released book written by journalist, Ron Suskin: > "Christina Romer (former chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers) is > quoted by Suskind saying, after being excluded by Summers at a meeting, “I > felt like a piece of meat.” > > On Friday, Romer offered a softer denial than Dunn, saying, “I can’t imagine > that I ever said this.” “I was told before I went to Washington that there > has always been a lot of testosterone in the West Wing,” Romer said Friday I understand “a piece of meat” implies here “almost nonexistent, like petty object.” But as I searched for the exact definition of “a piece of meat” in Google, I came across the different meaning of usage in AspireNow Blog; > “This is not to be confused with being treated like a piece of property, not > to be confused with being treated with ... Consistent committed positive > action is a definition of love. ... Again, that makes her feel like a sex > object or piece of meat -What do women want?” I’m curious to know how popular the phrase, “I feel like a piece of meat” is. Isn’t it liable to be misunderstood, particularly when a woman uses, or even politically incorrect to use before a woman?


title: Alternative to the word reprimand?

text: I looked into the dictionary for words similar to reprimand in this expression, > I was reprimanded by the cops for reckless driving. I checked on the web for reprimand and found lots of results, but it seems like a formal word to me(I can be wrong about this). What other words can I use for this? **Edit** Ok, I am sorry for the confusion,I dont really care about fine, what I wanted to ask was informal word along the line of scolding/rebkuing.


title: what is the difference between seems like /seems that/seems?

text: In there any difference between these expression? > It seems like they have not completed the task yet. > > It seems that they have not completed the task yet. > > It seems they haven't completed the task yet.


title: From French “manœuvre” to English “manoeuvre”, does “œ” exist in English?

text: Sadly, I don’t have much to add from the title to this question: does _œ_ exist in English, such as in the word _manœuvre_? The same question may also apply to what the French call the “e dans l’a” (e in the a), the **_æ_** , in addition to what they call the “e dans l’o” (e in the o), the **_œ_** — at least as far as the French part is concerned.


Would it be incorrect to use “could” and “might” in the same sentence? For example: > It could be that Joseph might come this afternoon. Since _could_ and _might_ are both stating a possibility, it seems kind of redundant, but is this okay grammatically?


title: About the usage of "with" in "There are grey goos everywhere, with many consuming the haemocoels of tardigrades"

text: Is the sentence below grammatical? > **There are** a lot of people, **with** many wearing tuxedos. > > **There are** some cute teenage girls in the club, **with** many of them > being PhD graduates in topological field theory. I check through my dictionary and don't see a definition of **with** that makes the above sentence legit. > with wɪð preposition preposition: with > >   1. accompanied by (another person or thing). "a nice steak with a bottle > of red wine" synonyms: accompanied by, in the company of, escorted by "she's > gone out with her boyfriend" > >   2. having or possessing (something). "a flower-sprigged blouse with a > white collar" wearing or carrying. "a small man with thick glasses" > >   3. indicating the instrument used to perform an action. "cut the fish with > a knife" indicating the material used for a purpose. "fill the bowl with > water" > >   4. in opposition to. "a row broke out with another man" >   5. indicating the manner or attitude in which a person does something. > "the people shouted with pleasure" >   6. indicating responsibility. "leave it with me" >   7. in relation to. "my father will be angry with me" affected by (a > particular fact or condition). "he's in bed with the flu" indicating the > cause of (a condition). "he was trembling with fear" because of (something) > and as it happens. "wisdom comes with age" >   8. employed by. "she's with the Inland Revenue now" using the services of. > "I bank with the TSB" >   9. in the same direction as. "marine mammals generally swim with the > current" >   10. indicating separation or removal from something. "to part with one's > dearest possessions" > > > cf. ODO So my questions are: 1] can I use "with" this way? > There are partial differential equations on this paper, **with many of them > having no real solutions**. 2] or with an adjective? > There are deuterium atoms in this jar, **with many/some of them ionized**. 3] or without "of them"? > There are grey goos everywhere, **with many/some consuming the haemocoels of > tardigrades**.


title: Is the phrase "Infinitely more efficient" possible?

text: I've been having an argument with a colleague about the use of the phrase "infinitely more efficient". I use it sometimes when describing the proper way to implement some programming solutions, but he feels it is not possible, by definition, for something to be infinitely more efficient than something else. I feel that where an infinite number of variables are present, it would indeed be possible for one process to be infinitely more efficient than another process.


title: the word "slant" as a way of expressing personal views

text: In writing, I mainly use such words as _outlook_ , _perspective_ , _standpoint_ , or _viewpoint_ to express my personal opinion or an opinion of someone else. Examples presented below: >   1. The author's **outlook/standpoint** on economy does not comply with the > mainstream view. > >   2. From my **perspective/viewpoint** the passage seems irrelevant. > > Is it possible to apply the word **slant** in similar contexts? Are there any other words which I could use?


title: "Aforementioned" vs. "aforesaid"

text: I'm writing a paper. In it, I have the following sentence. > The _**___ __ ___ ____**_ principle has two discrepancies. I am considering using either "aforementioned" or "aforesaid". How are the meaning of the two different? The definition for "aforesaid" is > Stated or mentioned before; aforementioned. The definition of "aforementioned" is > Previously mentioned, esp. in a text. Are their meanings different? When should I use which?


title: "That that" vs. "that"

text: Is "that that" or "that, that" redundant in sentences such as this: > The reason we are late is that that we had an accident. or > The reason we are late is that, that we had an accident. Is it ok if I just say: > The reason we are late is that we had an accident.


title: Word or phrase describing "conforming to mean or average"?

text: I am exploring a statistical experiment in which participants are asked for their rating of an idea (say from 1 to 10). Then they are shown the average rating of all other participants, and given an opportunity to change their own rating. I am looking for a word or phrase to describe the participants who change their own rating to a rating closer to the average. `Confirmation bias` seems similar, but it does not capture the exact idea.


title: Using "on" vs. "in"?

text: Consider the following sentence: > I am developing an application to be installed on Android. And this: > This has been a major flaw in Android... To be clear I am unsure of the usage of "in" vs. "on". When should I use "in" and when to use "on"?


title: Food Rhyme with No

text: So I've been looking into lots of different food to respond for a dance, and I was going to do something like using the food as trying to rhyme with "no" but it'll be a yes, don't get me wrong I'm not a jerk, she just had to find the yes in a pile of hay, because it's a cowboy themed dance. I've looked and looked for a food, but to no avail. I'd prefer junk food. Also the food MUST be packaged and preferably sweet, she has a sweet tooth, and doesn't like spicy things. Thanks for the help!


title: Injective / injectional: mode of operation of a pump

text: What is the best matching word for the mode of operation of a pump doing injections into a pipe system? By "injections", individual short feedings with no (temporal or other) relation to each other are meant. That mode is distinct from a "pulsed mode" where constantly are pulses generated. Could one use "The pump operates injective." or "The pump is in injectional operation mode." to describe that mode of operation in contrast to a "continuous operation mode"? Or should one better stick to the less precise term "non-continuous operation mode" in that case? Thanks in advance! * * * To clarify what that modes of operation should stand for: Setting the pump to "continuous operation mode" means to instruct the pump to produce an continuous output until it is told otherwise. While operating in that mode, the output level of the pump can be directly adjusted from 0 to 100%. Setting the pump to "injectional operation mode" means to force the pump to produce no output until an external command instructs it to do so for a limited time from that moment on. In that mode, the configured output level of the pump comes into effect only while instructed to produce an output by the external command. This question is aimed to find the suitable words that can be used to distinguish between these two modes of operation.


title: Is this sentence well formed?

text: I want a well formed sentence in english GB and US (two sentences if necessary…) from this french sentence: > Cette page n'existe pas dans cette langue. Voici son contenu original : Here is what Google Translate give to me: > This page does not exist in that language. Here is his original content: Is this sentence well formed, compared to the requirements that I have outlined? Thank you in advance for your help!


title: Adjectives relating to town and city names

text: A person who lives or was born in London may be called a Londoner; a person in Dublin, a Dubliner. In this way, which formal (non colloquial) adjectives correspond to citizens of the following cities,   * York   * Carlisle   * Edinburgh   * Kent   * Brighton   * Oxford   * Cambridge   * Bath   * Whitby


title: What does r/t and e/w stand for, after the flight ticket price?

text: What does r/t and e/w stand for when shown after the price? Something like this: > Flight from $300 r/t   >  and flight $100 e/w


title: Plural possessive with separate posessions

text: When we refer to a house that belongs to a family, we say "family's house". Pluralizing family gives us "families". Referring to the houses of several families, we say "families' houses". Forming the plural possessive in such a case is rather simple. I encountered a more complex use of this recently - referring to a single house owned by a single family in a set of houses owned by a set of families. We can say "the families' houses" to refer to all of the houses owned by all of the families. We can say "one of the families' houses" to refer to one of the houses owned by one or more of the families. In this context, "one of" applies to "the families' houses". If we were instead to apply "one of" to "the families", and want to refer to the one house owned by "one of the families", how would this be written? My first though was "one of the families's house", taking "one of the families" as a single noun and appending `'s` to it. This looks (and sounds) a bit strange, though. "One of the families' house" and "one of the family's house"/"one of the family's houses" seem wrong to me, and I can't really determine the correct way to say/write this. Is there a definitively correct way that this should be written? **EDIT:** To clarify, although I think I made it clear, in this context, there are several families, and each ones one house. The goal of the sentence is to refer to one of those houses without stating which specific house. Example: "The players and their families want to celebrate their team's victory; this will likely entail a party at one of the families's house".


title: "One of my friend's father" vs. "one of my friends' father"

text: > **Duplicate:**   >  Possessive form of "one of [a list]"?   >  Plural possessive with separate posessions What is correct: >   * One of my friend's father is serving in the Navy. >   * One of my friends' father is serving in the Navy. > Or is it grammatically wrong to have such a possessive construct and the correct form is: > The father of one of my friends is serving in the Navy.


title: our whole lives vs. all (of) our lives

text: Which one is correct or is preferable in this context:   1. We want to be free... and we wait/we've been waiting for that moment our whole life/our whole lives.    2. We want to be free... and we wait/we've been waiting for that moment all our life/all our lives.   3. We want to be free... and we wait/we've been waiting for that moment all of our life/all of our lives. Is there any difference in meaning between them, or they can be used interchangeably? Is the word "of" optional in this instance?


title: "I'd-a lost"? What does this contraction stand for?

text: The first lines of George Thorogood's version of "One bourbon, one scotch, one beer": > Wanna tell you a story   >  about the houseman blues.   >  I come home one Friday,   >  had to tell the landlady I'd-a lost my job. What does this **I'd-a** stand for? These lyrics perhaps are just misheard. If so, what does Thorogood say in place of **I'd-a**?


title: Issues with articles

text: Do I need an article in these sentences (marked in **bold** )? > And in the message, I asked for her e-mail address and suggested **the** > time and place. > A list of items required at the interview (such as **a** resume, medical > records, personal and family assets...) What is the rule for articles that follow _such as_? > A few weeks ago, I asked that girl out for hot chocolate after we had been > bantering for a few days. And in the message, I asked for her e-mail address > and suggested **the** time and place. Only today she sent **a** reply, > consisted of her e-mail, without any indication if she was willing to make > plans or even acknowledge my request. "C'mon lady – you're only boarding 7, > ah, barely. And in that range, I already have a queue of girls on OKC > waiting for their turn!" Nothing is more exciting than dealing with, as > ever, revolting flakes **of** mass proportions. I am considering to > accumulate flakes, and send out a mass e-mail; obviously CC’ing all them. In > the e-mail, I will indicate available time slots, requirements, and a list > of items required at the interview (such **as a** resume, medical records, > personal and family assets, recommendations, copy of IQ test, etc).


title: Where should the apostrophe go in "three days work"?

text: Which is correct? > 1 Three day's work > > 2 Three days' work > > 3 Three days work I would probably guess (2) is right, since the work belongs to the three days ("three days _of_ work"). But I'm not sure. Would it be different if it was only one day?


title: When does a mistake become standard usage?

text: We all know that word meanings and usage change over time (though not all of us are happy about it). How long does a word have to be used in a particular way for that usage to be "okay"? At what point does it become "correct usage" and what determines that? (It's hard to come up with an example that doesn't sound like peeving, so I'm making up a word.) If, for example, I started using the word "disregardless," most people would regard that as "wrong" or at least "not a real word." How many other people would have to use "disregardless" regularly for it to become an accepted word in the language? Does it matter if it's spoken or written? Does the "quality" of the speaker matter? (If the President uses the word, does that increase its "correctness" more than, say, when Bart Simpson uses it?) Is there a tipping point where a word goes from "made up" to "real" in the world at large, or is acceptance a gradual process throughout?


title: Could the order of words in the common question be changed?

text: Examples (somebody is thinking about some thoughts, said by the devil):   1. Maybe he is right... Or isn't he?   2. Maybe he is right... Or he isn't?   3. Maybe he is right... Or even to doubt in his falsehood would be a mistake?   4. Maybe he is right... Or would it be a mistake even to doubt in his falsehood? Which variants are correct, please?


title: Is it possible to say "to or fro", or only "to and fro" is acceptable?

text: Could I use the following sentence, please: According to the timeStepDirection value (+1 or -1), change the current program number **to or fro** along the time axis. If not, is it at least possible to use such combination in a totally informal sentence? Or "to and fro" is an absolutely immutable idiom? Sorry, my example was very bad. Eventually I changed "to or fro" here to "appropriately". But could such form be used in another context?


title: Is there an informal way to describe a woman that can not have a baby?

text: "Infertile"; "fruitless"? How would you describe such a woman in an informal talk to your friend?


title: What are usages similar to "Need I say more?"?

text: I recall hearing usages like > Need I say more?   >  Need I remind you that ...? instead of > Do I need to say more?   >  Do I need to remind you that ...? Indeed, they sound better, at least to me. I wonder whether there are more usages like this or not. Is this special to the verb _need_ or are there similar usages like these?


title: The meaning of "you dark horse"

text: What does "you dark horse" mean, and how is it used?


title: Meaning of "yesterday's papers"

text: What does this phrase mean? It should be an idiom and I can't find it.


title: "Two people got hurt and five people died in the tragedy"

text: Can you say so? In other words, are deaths counted among people that got hurt? Does it make a difference if you say: > Two people were injured and five people died in the tragedy. Let's imagine someone stabbed a knife into someone else. Then the victim is injured and then let's assume he dies afterwards. Does the victim need to be counted both as injured and killed? Then let's assume someone died immediately because of a heart attack or something. Does that count as injured?


title: "Seem", "appear", "look" — how to differentiate?

text: Are there any significant structural or semantic differences between _seem_ , _appear_ and _look_ in the sense of "to give the impression of being or doing something"? >   * She looks unhappy. >   * He seems angry. >   * They appear (to be) contented. >   * It looks as if it's going to rain again. >   * It looks like we're going home without a suntan. >   * It seems as if they're no longer in love. >   * It seems like she'll never agree to a divorce. >   * They appear to have run away from home. They cannot be traced. >   * I seem to have lost my way. Can you help me? >   * It seems to be some kind of jellyfish. Do not go near it. >   * They appear not to be at home. Nobody's answering. >   * They do not appear to be at home. No one's answering. >   * It seems that I may have made a mistake in believing you did this. >   * It appears that you may be quite innocent of any crime. >   * It looks as if/like you won't go to prison after all. >   * It seems a shame that we can't take Kevin on holiday with us. >   * It doesn't seem like a good idea to leave him here by himself. >   * It seems ridiculous that he has to stay here to look after the cat. >


title: What does it mean "It is hard to get by just upon a smile"?

text: I am listening to a song by Joanna Wang: "Wild World" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnlQT1I5K9s It is originally by Cat Stevens, and some lyrics are near the end of this question. I wonder what the following phrase means:               It is hard to get by just upon a smile      Does it mean it is difficult to survive in this world just because she shows a nice smile? (or that she can get by using a smile, but probably only because there are many guys who will cater to her smile and use her, and dump her when they get tired of her, so she can't survive that way?) What does the phrase mean?               Now that I've lost everything to you     You say you wanna start something new     And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'     Baby, I'm grievin'     But if you wanna leave, take good care     I hope you have a lot of nice things to wear     But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there          Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world     It's hard to get by just upon a smile     Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world     I'll always remember you like a child, girl          You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do     And it's breakin' my heart in two     Because I never wanna see you a sad girl     Don't be a bad girl     But if you wanna leave, take good care     I hope you make a lot of nice friends out there     But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware      A side note is that this song was written in 1971... I listened to it for probably two hundred times over the years, but never knew or was aware what the lyrics meant, probably because I am not a native speaker of English. I told my mom several years ago that more and more I found the world to be a jungle and full of just animals -- tigers, lions, wolves, all waiting to eat the sheeps, deer, and rabbits, but my mom refuted right away "how can it be? human has civilization. it cannot be a jungle." But I found it surprising that back in 1971, the songs already said what it was "It is a wild world... I have seen a lot what the world can do... I hope you make a lot of nice friends out there. But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware."


title: "Elder brother" or "older brother"?

text: I've read both forms in newspapers and online news: _elder brother_ and _older brother_. What's the difference between them? When should I use which?


title: Which punctuation mark dominates?

text: If a question is asked in surprise, informally many people use "?!" as their ending punctuation, as in the following: > What did you do to my sausages?! According to the accepted answer in this question, this is considered incorrect by experts. In that case, which punctuation ought to be omitted and which used? > What did you do to my sausages! Seems incorrect, as the question is no longer punctuated by a question mark, but > What did you do to my sausages? loses the punch of the exclamation mark and thus requires extra words to get the point across.


title: What is the correct usage of "meanwhile"?

text: I see _meanwhile_ a lot; I use it a lot; yet I'm not sure about the formal rules when it's applicable. Can anyone help me?


title: What is the uncontracted form of "won't ever"?

text: I read in a book lately: > This is my home and it **won't ever** be the same again. I was wondering whether the proper uncontracted form would be: > This is my home and it **will not ever** be the same again. Or: > This is my home and it **will never** be the same again. Are all of the 3 above grammatical? Are there any differences between any of them? I'm asking because the second sentence seems to be quite unnatural, although I can't find any reason why it should be grammatically incorrect. The same would apply to _I would not ever ..._ , but again, I have no idea why.


title: Unremitting salutation

text: Even though I am all in favor of salutations and complimentary closes, when exchanging more than a couple of mails with the same person, I feel that starting yet another reply with `Dear Mr. Smith` gets somewhat worn and moreover stiff, even awkward if you like. Hence, I was wondering whether it would be considered ill-mannered to drop the salutation after the first (second, third?) mail and jump to addressing the actual subject matter _directly_. Correspondingly, if I drop the salutation, should/can I omit the valediction as well?


title: What is a "Chain of Chinese whispers"?

text: I had never (before today) heard this phrase. I attempted to Google it, but only found examples of its use, not much different from my first experience. (I also tried two idiom dictionaries, but _chain of Chinese whispers_ did not even present there.) What does it mean and where should I have looked to find it?


title: Origin of the word "shill" ("shillaber")

text: I was recently looking up word origins for various types of tricksters, in honor of April Fool's Day. Interestingly, I couldn't find much about the word "shill" other than that its origin was around 1916 and it came from "shillaber" or "shilliber." Wikipedia notes that "Shillaber as a surname was known in the US during the 19th Century." But then this blog says "not one of the etymological sources I’ve looked at considers the two connected" and offers that it might instead be a Yiddish word. I am intrigued. Does anyone have more information about the origin of this word?


title: Does the sentence of “Don’t you …”? have a connotation of accusation?

text: > “Don't you want to know how Ginny got hold of that diary, Mr. Malfoy?” said > Harry. > > Lucius Malfoy rounded on him. > > “How should I know how the stupid little girl got hold of it?” he said. > > “Because you gave it to her,” said Harry. “In Flourish and Blotts. You > picked up her old Transfiguration book and slipped the diary inside it, > didn't you?” > > (Harry Potter 2, p336, US edition) Some people say that negative question has a connotation of accusation, but I’m not sure. I’d be happy if you could explain the following points.   1. Is Harry accusing Lucius Malfoy?   2. What is the radical difference between “Do you want to know” and “Don’t you want to know”?


title: "Didn't check" vs. "Hadn't checked"

text: I text-messaged my friend on his cell phone last night and this morning I got a reply saying, "I had saved your number, ...but I didn't check my cell until now.." Is "didn't check until now" okay, or should it be "hadn't checked it until now" ?


title: The modal verb would

text: Longman Advanced Learners' grammar says: (p 27/7)   1. Dad **would always help** us out financially when we were at university, however difficult it was for him. Is it correct to use 'would' in this context? Or should it be: 1b. Dad **always helped** us out financially when we were at university, however difficult it was for him.


title: Why is a "fountain pen" so called?

text: I was accused of using a _fountain pen_ the other day (guilty as charged). Does anyone know why it is called so? The mess of ink I get on the page, the table, my person, etc when refilling it is certainly voluminous but can scarcely be described as a _fountain_.


title: "I do" in the end of a sentence

text: In the sentence "I love my veg I do" what is the purpose of the "I do" part? It seems to me that it gives a sprinkle of assertiveness, but a definite explanation would really help.


title: "Hirable" or "hireable"

text: What is the correct adjective form of the word _hire_? I have seen references to both _hireable_ and _hirable_. I checked using Google's Ngram viewer book search and it appears that both have been in use since the 1800s with hirable becoming a bit more popular in the past decade or so: ![Google ngram hirable vs hireable](http://i.stack.imgur.com/GkMeZ.png)


title: Is it OK to have an apostrophe at the end of a sentence?

text: Earlier I wrote a sentence that happened to end with a plural possessive. Is this OK to have? For example, "I got the guys' costumes, but not the girls'." looks odd to me. It would be easy to reword or simply add costumes at the end, but is it grammatically correct?


title: Prices: "As low as" vs. "starting from"

text: Today I received an email with the following advertisement: > The SSL certicate can be renewed for as little as one year and for a price > **as low as $7.9500.** RENEW TODAY! I understood it the way that this means the price is $ 7.95 for one year. But later it came out that the prices are **starting from $ 7.95** , which is the price for a 5-year subscription. The 1-year subscription price actually is $ 9.00. The support person told me > As you have probably noticed there is a phrase "As low as" which means that > the price depends on the amount of years for which the certificate is > ordered. If it is correct to interpret the "as low as" from the offer's text this way, is there a difference between the original offer quoted above and something like that: > The SSL certicate can be renewed for as little as one year and for prices > **starting from $7.9500.** RENEW TODAY! Does it mean the same?


title: What does 'infinitesimally small' mean?

text: If infinite is the opposite of infinitesimal, and small is the opposite of large, then:   * infinitely large ---------- Means "very large"   * infinitely small --------- Means "very small"   * infinitesimally large ---- Means "very small"   * infinitesimally small --- Means "very large" ??? However my interpretation of the last situation doesn't seem to match how people use the phrase, even though there is sort of a double negative present. Can the 'negativeness' of the adverb cancel out the 'negativeness' of the adjective, or does the adverb make the adjective stronger?


title: What is the appropriate opposite or antonym word for sweet?

text: A part of my brain says, this is a flavor, how can an opposite exist? On the other hand my other part of brain says, if opposites can exist for feelings why not for flavors?


What is the military term for fighting the enemy without permission? 'Insubordinate conduct' is the term given to disobeying orders but this is too general as it can mean failing to carry out an order to do something. What I'm looking for is a term that has similar connotations as 'vigilantism' but in a military context. Similar connotations meaning trying to take affairs into one's own hands - but in this case in a military context. I thought of militancy but that word is usually used to describe people who fight against their own authority / government - not against the common enemy ......


title: Is it "Sales collateral" or "Sales collaterals"?

text: My question is whether you use the plural or singular form -- or either. Is there perhaps also a different usage in the US and the UK?


title: What is the plural of "How To"?

text: On a list of "How To" articles, should the title be "How Tos" or "How To's"? I think "How Tos" is technically correct (no apostrophe for plurals) but it reads like "How Toss" or "How Toes". "How To's", while incorrect (I think), seems more intuitively readable.


title: In a project, what is the relationship between dependent tasks called?

text: If I have two tasks, called "Design" and "Development", what are the relationships between the two called? Clearly, this is a _type_ of dependency, but I need to be more specific. That is, I need to be able to say: > In this relationship, "Design" is the **A** and "Development" is the **B** * * * My wife and I have been discussing this for quite some time now, and here are the few we have come up with, and why they don't work for me:   * **Depender/Dependee**   Feels awkward, and doesn't really disambiguate the parties involved. Also implies that the dependee provides something to the depender, whereas this is not necessarily always the case in project tasks.        * **Dependent/Surrogate**   Awkward and implies providing some sort of utility.        * **Parent/Child**   Incorrect. The "Design" task _may_ have children tasks, like "Write-up" or "Gather Requirements", but "Development" is not a child of "Design".        * **Predecessor, Precursor, etc. / Successor**   Has hierarchy implications that make it quasi-incorrect. So, the best we have right now is:   * **Prerequisite/???**   Project tasks are related in exactly the same way that some educational courses are. This does _imply_ providing some sort of utility, but not necessarily and the relationship is well understood.


title: Is "facebook" as a verb different from "google" or "photoshop"?

text: I understand that any term, grammatical or not, becomes valid if there is common usage. I'm not concerned about that. Google and Photoshop are both commonly used as verbs. Given that the terms map fairly well to verbs (web searching and image editing), I can follow the logic of their use. Does this work for Facebook, though? What verb is it replacing?


title: Meaning of "Write Off" in a particular context

text: This question is about a specific _Seinfeld_ episode "The Package". For those that are familiar with the show, Kramer breaks-up Jerry stereo package and sends it back to him with a insurance. That way he could claim that the USPS screwed it up and get the money for it. Once the package arrived, here's the dialogue: > Jerry: "What happened to my stereo? It's all smashed up." > > Kramer: "That's right. Now it looks like it was broken during shipping and I > > insured it for $400." > > Jerry: "But you were supposed to get me a refund." > > Kramer: "You can't get a refund. Your warranty expired two years ago." > > Jerry: "So were going to make the Post Office pay for my new stereo?" > > Kramer: "It's just a **write off** for them." > > Jerry: "How is it a **write off**?" > > Kramer: "They just **write it off**." > > Jerry : **Write it off** what?" > > Kramer: "Jerry all these big companies they **write off** everything." > > Jerry: "You don't even know what a **write off** is." > > Kramer: "Do you?" > > Jerry: "No. I don't." > > Kramer: "But they do and they are the ones **writing it off**." > > Jerry: "I wish I just had the last twenty seconds of my life back." Anyway. I don't watch the show with subtitles. I'm from Brazil and I get it pretty well except for this particular term "Write Off". Once I saw it with subtitles just to see what they translated it to and - basically - they translated "Write Off" as an _obligation_ , something people have the right to claim from USPS. I'm not convinced. Can you help me out on this one? Thanks so far. PS: Dialogue taken from Seinfeld Scripts


title: Why does one "laugh to see a pudding crawl"?

text: _You'd laugh to see a pudding crawl_ is a catch-phrase aimed at someone who is easily amused or is suffering a fit of uncontrollable hilarity. Does anyone know how this phrase came into being? I'm not even sure what is meant by _a pudding crawl_ ; I presume it means the act of the last part of your meal propelling itself about the table, but perhaps there is another meaning that would make the saying clearer? Searching the internet revealed that the question has been asked before (here), and the meaning explained (here and here) but the etymology has never been explained.


title: Present perfect continuous and "for"

text: Why aren't you allowed to say "I have been knowing her **for** ten years" or "It has been broadcasting **for** many years"? But you are allowed to say "I have been waiting **for** an hour".


title: What does the phrase “Go Tiger!” mean?

text: I am learning the Java struts 2 by reading a book titled "struts 2 in action" and I encountered the phrase "Go Tiger!". I can't figure out what it means; can anybody give me the answer? > If you have the pleasure of using Java 5 or higher, we highly recommend > using generics to type your collections and maps. Besides being a > recommended best practice, the Struts 2 type conversion mechanism can use > generics-based typing to learn the correct target type for the conversions. > If you do this, you don't have to use the properties file configuration. > This is a big bonus for Java 5 users. Go Tiger!


title: "Political magazine" or "politics magazine"

text: Which is more grammatically correct? > London's first **political magazine** > > London's first **politics magazine**


title: Difference between "Excuse me" and "Sorry"

text: What is the difference between "Excuse me, ..." and "Sorry, ..."? When do we use one or the other? For example, when you haven't heard the speaker, or stepped on someone's foot or accidentally spilled some sauce.


title: "Spontaneous", "voluntary" and "involuntary"

text: I was looking for a synonym of _spontaneous_ , and _voluntary_ naturally came to my mind. In an attempt to understand the difference between them, I tried to google _spontaneous vs voluntary_. To my surprise, nothing really interesting popped up from search results. Then I decided to look them up respectively. As expected, _voluntary_ is listed as a synonym of _spontaneous_ according to many online resources, and vice versa. However, to my great shock, _involuntary_ is also listed as a synonym of _spontaneous_ by major online dictionaries. Although the fact does not necessarily imply _voluntary_ and _involuntary_ are synonyms, I continued to look further into _voluntary vs involuntary_ due to confusion. I found that a _voluntary_ action is something that is done voluntarily or with meaning to do so, while an _involuntary_ action on the other hand is done _automatically_. Now I've even more confused. The word _automatically_ just reminds me of _spontaneously_ , convincing me to believe _involuntary_ is indeed a synonym of _spontaneous_ while _voluntary_ seems less so. Could someone please justify or explain the contradictions mentioned above? I'm totally lost.


title: What's the verb form of "polymorph"?

text: In software design, we can say a class is a polymorphic class. If a class is not a polymorphic class and I want to make it one, do I say I've _polymorphized_ the class?


title: meaning of the expression "wet flannel"

text: I would like to know what is the meaning of the expression "wet flannel" referred to a person or personality trait. I have seen it mentioned here: http://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2012/06/labour-councillor- quits-saying-ed-miliband-is-wet-flannel.html


title: Is there a specific word to describe a business legend?

text: I would like to know if there's a word that describes a deceased business/entrepreneurial legend that revolutionized their industry. Examples of the types of people I'm talking about include Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Steve Jobs. `Industrialist` seems close, but means > A person involved in the ownership or management of an industrial enterprise and thus doesn't convey the right sense of importance.


title: Choice of words referring to being attacked/assaulted with a glass/cup

text: According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary the verb, glass, means to encase in glass. Recently, it has also come to mean being attacked or assaulted by a glass vessel/container as in this example: > Another glassing incident... A young woman faces assault charges after > allegedly glassing a man in a Brisbane bar early today. Similar incidents have been reported with a coffee cup, as in this example: > bizarre coffee cup attack between two elderly men over a woman. ...It is > understood the younger man was hit over the head with a coffee cup in a > popular town centre pub and was also scalded by a hot drink on Saturday > morning. Would this still be considered a _glassing incident_ , or would it be considered (and I am not trying to be funny here) a _mugging_ or _mugging incident_?


Why is it "your Majesty", but "my Lord"?


title: "Touring team" vs. "Exhibition team"

text: > When we are not playing competitive games, our three **touring teams** play > against three **exhibition teams**. What does the above bold terms mean?


title: "Daily conversations" vs. "daily conversation"

text: I am currently programming my own blog system to share knowledge about the Microsoft technology ASP.NET MVC, because I am rather passionate about web software development. I thought of calling it _Daily Conversations with ASP.NET MVC_. However, since English is not my mother tongue, I am not sure whether the title is grammatically correct — should it be _Conversation_ or _Conversations_?


title: list characteristics in correct manner

text: What is the best method of listing specific characteristics when writing scientifically. My example: > The study sites range in area from 1000 m² to 1200 m², cover depths of 0.08 > to 5.7 m, range in altitude from 0 to 100 m, and span latitudes of between > −40 to 50 °N. Note that XX here is a variable name. I am not convinced that I am writing this in the best possible way. For example, am I using _cover_ , _range_ , _span_ in the correct way here? Is there a specific rule to follow in scientific writing?


title: Which is correct sentence? Use of verb with would

text: I am having little difficulty with the use of would.   Here are two examples that are making me confused about use of verb with **would**.   * What would happen if he loses the match?   * What would happen if he lost the match? Which one of these two is correct?


title: Adjective meaning "argumentative for argument's sake"?

text: Quite often, the phrase "x for x's sake" is used in English, and so one could describe someone as being "argumentative for argument's sake" to describe someone who is arguing for the sake of arguing. However, is there an adjective that means the same thing? For example, it could be used in the context: > I don't want to be [X], but [argument...] ... indicating that your argument is necessary and not intended to irritate.


title: Where does the phrase "get crackin'" come from?

text: > "There's a lot of work to be done, so we'd better get crackin'" I've often used this expression, but I have no idea what we might have been cracking, originally? Any insight?


title: Can the word "dehydration" imply "thirsty"?

text: As far as I know, _dehydration_ means the condition of a body from which the water has been removed. Can the same word imply that the body is thirsty? Simply put, is "I am thirsty" the same as "I am dehydrated"?


title: Can I end this sentence with "also" or "too"? Which one is right?

text: Please see the sentences: > I scheduled to stay after school with you today, but yesterday I was > assigned a detention for today **too**. > I scheduled to stay after school with you today, but yesterday I was > assigned a detention for today **also**. The sentence ending in `also` sounds better to me, but I am not a native speaker, and I don't know it it's correct to use `also` at the end of a sentence. Which one is the correct form?


title: Synonym for overdoing something/taking too wide an approach

text: I'm looking for an idiom or a synonym for a situation when someone has taken a heavy handed measure that achieves the desired effect, but also goes above this, affecting things that aren't a problem. For example: > If one tree is diseased, but the surrounding ones are fine, chopping down > all of the trees. I'm sure there's a phrase for this. I thought of "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut" but I'm sure there's something specific.


title: Is a sentence always grammatically incorrect if it has no verb?

text: Is the following grammatically correct? My friend says the second sentence is grammatically incorrect, but couldn't explain why. > I have always been fascinated by statistics. _The different ways in which > you could look at data and infer knowledge from it._


title: Is the expression ‘a legitimate rape’ logically appropriate and viable?

text: Missouri’s Republican candidate for the US Senate, Todd Akin, made a naïve remark on anti-abortion issue that has now become the target of thundering criticism. _Time Magazine_ (August 20th, 2012) introduced the Congressman’s disastrous remark as follows: > Asked about his stance on abortion, the Republican Senate candidate > attempted to explain his unqualified opposition to it, even in cases of > rape: “From what I understand from a doctor, that’s really rare,” Akin said > of pregnancies from rape. “If it’s **a legitimate rape** , the female body > has ways to try to shut that whole thing ‘down’.” I cannot understand the ‘legitimacy’ of the term, _legitimate rape_. OALED defines _rape_ as — note carefully — **the _crime_** of forcing someone to have sex with you, especially using violence. Merriam-Webster defines rape as (2) _unlawful sexual activity_ carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will, usually of a female. From both definitions, rape is a full-fledged crime. It’s illegitimate and unlawful from beginning to end. Though Akin spoke of ‘a legitimate rape’, and newspapers keep using this word nonchalantly, isn’t the expression _legitimate rape_ logically preposterous and impossible? In other word, can we say "a legitimate crime"? I understand _legitimate_ has another meaning of _real_ , and I suspect the Congressman might have used ‘legitimate rape’ to this effect. But to me, _legitimate rape_ just sounds like saying _legitimate crime_ or _lawful robbery_. So my question is, is _legitimate rape_ a proper and reasonable English term, one without risk of causing the equivocal confusion that I felt?


title: Is “Waste ‘much time’ and ‘many trees’” a set phrase?

text: I saw the phrase, “ _Much air time and many trees have been wasted_ ” in the article of New York Times (March 24) titled, “The Outsourced Party.” It begins with the following sentence: > “Who speaks for the Republican party? The answer is that everyone does — and > therefore, no one does. > > _Much air time and many trees have been wasted_ trying to explain the > division, rancor and lethargy that have beset the Republican nominating > campaign, now into its second year and threatening to run all the way to the > party’s national convention in late August. But it’s no great mystery.” I am amused with the combination of “air time “and “trees.” I can understand “waste (air) time.” I can relate 'time' to 'money', but am puzzled why “trees". “ I checked GooglNgram and found no entry of “waste much time and many trees.” Is “ _waste much time and many trees_ ” a set phrase? What does “ _trees_ ” represent for here?


title: "Naïve" vs "Ignorant"

text: What is the difference between _naïve_ and _ignorant_? I want to make sure I understand the proper meaning and connotation of each word. For example, how would you describe a person who makes inappropriate (e.g., discriminatory or offensive) comments about something due to lack of experience or knowledge? Is this person _naïve_ , _ignorant_ , or both? What connotation does each carry when used to describe the person in this case?


title: One word for "to take advantage of company resources (that one works for) for one's personal intents"?

text: This happens a lot at work, and I don't think there's a single word for it - or is there? Examples:   1. Browsing the web for content unrelated to work   2. Taking company time for personal grooming (like painting nails, shaving, etc.)   3. Using the company refrigerator to temporarily store one's groceries purchased at lunch.    4. Printing stuff not related to work (worse yet, if it's material for employment somewhere else.) Stealing is not specific enough.


title: What does “being skinned alive “mean exactly? Is it a well-established phrase?

text: There was the following sentence in the article written by Maureen Dowd titled, “Where the boys aren’t,” sketching the life of Dolores Hart in New York Times February 19 issue: > “I had no idea that it was going to mean singing seven times a day, working > in the garden, 10 people in one bathroom, the sternness.” She compared it to > _being skinned alive.”_ I thought “ _being skinned alive_ ” means “live like a stuffed bird (or a living corpse)” from the context of the above sentence, and checked Cambridge, Oxford, Merriam-Webster online dictionaries for confirmation. None of them registers the word, “(be) skinned alive.” Although the Free Dictionary and Online slang Dictionary provide with similar definitions of “skinned alive” as “to be very angry with someone; to scold someone severely. - FD” and “to reprimand severely – OSD,” I don’t think both applies to the above Dowd’s quote. What does “being skinned alive” here mean? Is “skinned alive” a well- established phrase, though I can’t find the phrase in reputed dictionaries?


What is the origin of the expression "trying to catch a falling knife"? I have just read it and I wonder how it came up to be a common expression.


title: "Like us" or "like we do"

text: Do the following two sentences have the same meaning? > They go to school **like we do**. > > They go to school **like us**. I know the first one is correct, but I am not sure if the second one is correct too.


title: How to correctly name a uni assignment?

text: Finishing my first in class assignment in an English uni, I struggle with the name (especially with "the" and "of" words). I developed a website X and the document should describe the whole process. I was thinking about:               The X site solution development report          X site development report          The development report of the X site      Which would be the best or what would you write? THanks


title: rule of thumb for 'however' in the middle of the sentence?

text: What is the rule of thumb for using 'however' in the middle of the sentence? For example: > Some people disagree with this theory, however, as it's never been proven > right.


title: Pronunciation of 'preface'. Why so?

text: As one pronounces 'pre' and 'face' as is done for these as individual words, how come when they form the word 'preface' the pronunciation is so different?