title: What is the meaning of the word “larriking”?

text: From “Holiday Memory” in _Quite Early One Morning_ by Dylan Thomas > Lolling or larriking that unsoiled, boiling beauty of a common day, great > gods with their braces over their vests sang, spat pips, puffed smoke at > wasps, gulped and ogled, forgot the rent, embraced, posed for the dicky > bird, were coarse, had rainbow-coloured arm-pits, winked, belched, blamed > the radishes, looked at Ilfracombe, played hymns on paper and comb, peeled > bananas, scratched, found seaweed in their panamas, blew up paper-bags and > banged them, wished for nothing. I searched the word in Google and in the Thesaurus but that didn’t help much. Could anyone provide the meaning and possibly the etymology of the word?


title: What does "piracy pirates" mean?

text: What does the following phrase mean? > In Soviet Russia, piracy pirates YOU. What is implied by "piracy pirates YOU" and what by "IN Soviet Russia"? **Update 1:** My difficulty was because the term "pirate" and "piracy" are senseless to apply to Soviet Russia because there was no, strictly speaking, author rights. Nothing to pirate. Everything is already belonged by everybody. @Ed Guiness, thanks for the link, I have never heard of them. At my youth other themes were popular like:   * American to Russian: 'In the USA, I can come to The White House and cry out: "Reagan is a moron"'    * Russian to American: 'I also can come to Red Square and cry out: "Reagan is moron"'  And those in your link are somewhat unknownat my time and even less now since currently everybody is is quite indifferent to politics. **Update 2:** Subjectively, I gave credibility to George Orwell's 1948's _1984_ , rather more universally known and earlier than Yakoff Smirnoff.


title: Honorary gifts?

text: Is it correct to use the phrase _honorary gifts_ to describe gifts that are given to honor someone? The normal usage of _honorary_ is “given as an honor without the normal duties” (as in an _honorary_ degree), which conveys quite a different implication.


title: "Egoistic" vs. "egotistic"

text: Does "egoistic" and "egotistic" mean the same thing?


title: Usage of 'in vogue'

text: Is _in vogue_ a commonly used phrase in the UK? Background: The famous Med School book _Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine_ contains the phrase at least once. A med school book is an unusual place for such a phrase to be used in. The reason why I wonder about the usage of the phrase in the UK is that all the three people who authored the book are from Edinburgh.


title: What is the synonym of "spy"?

text: I know the word "watch" is used as a synonym of spy. Are there other synonyms that are used by native speakers?


title: "Feel like at home"

text: > Feel like at home. Is it correct or must it be " ** _feel at home_** "? It is in a Euro 2012 commercial, however some experts say it's not correct.


title: Is there a word for my ex-spouse's new spouse?

text: With modern high divorce rates, a lot of people get married more than once in their lives. Saying "my ex-wife's new husband" is a bit awkward. Is there anything more graceful? I came across it in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqXGxLWPWMQ. They proposed "ex-in-law" and "outlaw", mostly in jest.


title: What's the origin of the phrase "God's clean earth", and how long has it been around?

text: > "It isn't every day a man wakes up to discover he's a screaming bender with > no more right to live on God's clean Earth than a weasel." > > \- Dr. Leech, "Blackadder II" What's the origin of that phrase, _God's clean earth_ , and how long has it been in use? Google NGrams gives me nothing. EDIT: Given it really does seem to come from this, I agree it's too localized and am chucking the final vote in to close it. Thanks again all!


title: Is this usage of "inside" correct?

text: This text is taken from a children's reader. It's about some children who find a doll house that is an exact reproduction of their home. > Biff opened the little house. Everyone looked inside. "It looks like our > house **inside** ," said Biff. A student of English as a Foreign Language asked me what part of speech the _inside_ in _"It looks like our house inside,"_ is. I answered that it was an adverb of place, but it strikes me that there's something wrong with this sentence. My intuition is that the problem is that _look_ is a stative verb. Can anyone confirm this? Is there a rule in English grammar that adverbs of place cannot be added to stative verbs?


title: How should I understand "the idea" in this sentence?

text: The following is an excerpt from a GRE Verbal exercise: > The hypothesis of an expanding Earth has never attracted notable support, > and if it were not for the historical example of continental drift, such > indifference might be a legitimate response to an apparently improbable > concept. _It should be remembered, however, that drift too was once regarded > as illusory, but **the idea** was kept alive until evidence from physicists > compelled geologists to reinterpret their data._ I don't understand what "the idea" in the sentence refers to. Does it mean the "drift theory" or the opinion that "drift is illusory"?


title: What does it mean if someone is a "minefield of information"

text: What does it mean if someone says that "you're a minefield of information" - after you gave them some useful information. Perhaps they meant "mine of information"? What do both those phrases mean?


title: Does the letter i serve as a consonant in words like "onion" and "view"?

text: Some more words: _union, behavior, Daniel_. And the second _i_ in _opinion, familiar, brilliant, California_. I am especially concerned with American English.


title: Is "Englishnization" an acceptable term?

text: There's a company named Rakuten in Japan, which introduced "Englishnization" a couple of years ago. They adopted an internal policy where all the employees are expected to speak English as an official language. They coined this somewhat bold move as "Englishnization". My question is whether this new term is acceptable or not. Some people say that the 'n' in the middle is quite awkward, and it should have been "Englishization"(without n). I understand that neither:   * Englishization   * Englishnization is accepted as broadly. I am just wondering which makese more sense to coin a new term. IMHO, the fact that Englishization has an entry on Wiktionary: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Englishization does not make this one more acceptable.


title: In what senses are 'at' and 'all' used in the phrase "at all"?

text: I understand that the phrase _at all_ means _in any way_ or _in the slightest_ , e.g. What is the opposite of “to stink” (v)? Is there one **at all**?, or Not bad **at all** I don't understand how the individual words come together to make that meaning. I understand the use of _at_ as a preposition, e.g. > Are there any apples here? Can be written as > Are there any apples at this place? But then what meaning does _all_ take on? > Are there any apples at all? _All_ is not a place, as far as I can see. I tried to think of _at_ in the sense of rate > Cornering is not hard at 100 km/h and that sort of makes sense if you take _all_ to be a shortening of _all rates_ > Cornering is not hard at all but that doesn't seem to fit the generally understood meaning of _at all_. Is there a way to break down the phrase _at all_ into its constituent words that adds up to the same meaning?


title: 'During today' or 'During the day'?

text: > The instructions will be up during today. > > The instructions will be up during the day. Which one is correct?


title: What a common abbreviation for two's complement code

text: What a common abbreviation for _two's complement code_? I've searched on Google, and find _"TCC"_ as a required abbreviation on thefreedictionary. Is it commonly recognized? Or may be there are some other suggestions?


title: Term for pleasure or joy obtained on top of others' misery or unhappiness

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  An idiom for deriving pleasure from another's suffering We often experience the following: > We feel happy when our fellow classmates get a bad grade and not necessarily > when we ourselves get a good grade. > > We feel excited when our opposing team plays really awful and not > necessarily when we our team plays well. > > We feel pleased when one person we hate experiences some kind of misfortune > and not necessarily when we ourselves get good luck. What is a word or phrase to describe the phenomenon above?


title: Do you find somebody something?

text: You do 'find something for somebody', but is 'find somebody something' equally correct English?


title: Should I say "have a good night" at 5:00 PM?

text: We're off work at 5:00PM. I've never tried to say "have a good night" at this time of day. In fact, I wouldn't even say it at all unless I'd like to say it to someone who is heading to bed. When I'm done at 5:00PM, I usually say "see you tomorrow". Until recently I've never started saying "have a good night" to my colleagues. Even if I say it every day now, I don't feel it's right. However, most of my colleagues will keep saying "have a good night" to each other, so it's better for me to do the same thing. Also, sometimes when it feels really weird or awkward to say, I will say "have a good one" instead. Is it appropriate to say "have a good night" to colleagues when done at work? Any better way than saying "see you tomorrow"? **EDIT** : I've considered saying "have a nice evening", but I feel it's even worse than saying "have a good night" because people might get the impression that you only wish them well for the evening, and that you don't care if they are good or not after the evening.


title: Passive of "tried to eat"

text: OK, so I'm trying to complete the following analogy: > John ate the worms. is to > The worms were eaten. as > John tried to eat the worms. is to > The worms were tried to be eaten. or > The worms were eaten attemptively. ... ? I feel like such an inarticulate fool sometimes. **Edit** : I'm not asking which of the two possibilities is better, but how I might complete the analogy, preferably with "the worms" as the subject. This is so that I can write something like > The worms were stolen, taken to John's house, and [tried to be eaten]. Sorry if my question wasn't clear.


title: Why are pounds sterling called "knicker"?

text: I asked the price of an article the other day, and was told that it cost 120 _knicker_. This is a slang term for pounds sterling that always appears in the singular. I have failed find any reason why pounds should be referred to thus (it might also be _nicker_ and I am imagining the silent _k_ ). Is it some rhyming slang I am missing the back half of, or is there some other etymology?


title: Use of past perfect

text: We’re having a discussion here on whether or not to use the past perfect in following sentence: > The cargo was visible through the gap and was noted to have (had?) sustained > damage. Which is correct and why?


title: Why is 'shone' incorrect in this sentence?

text: Why is shone incorrect in this sentence? > The closer I got, the brighter the light shone.


title: What is the proper from for punctuation concerning parentheses?

text: I always learned that the parentheses end inside the punctuation like this: > A sentence about some particular thing (with a parenthetical note at the > end). However, sometimes I find that it is necessary to have a period at the end of the statement inside the parentheses. This makes the sentence terminate oddly if I follow the same rule. > This is example one (where the parentheses contain a short list, then end > with, etc.). > > This is example two (where the sentence might be short, but the > parenthetical note might be quite long. In fact, it may even require more > than one complete sentence, which makes the end of the whole thing look > weird to me because there is a period in the middle but not at the end). So what is the correct way to punctuate a sentence that ends with parentheses in these circumstances? Sometimes, I abandon the parentheses all together, either neglecting the statement, creating a new sentence or splitting with a semicolon, to avoid the uncomfortable feeling I get when it just does not look right.


title: "Even whiter than before," vs "even more white than before."

text: > Bathed in the moonlight, her skin looked even whiter than before. > > Bathed in the moonlight, her skin looked even more white than before. Are both forms allowed? Which one is more common and why?


title: "On or off campus" vs. "On- or off-campus" vs. "On-campus or off-campus"

text: > It does not matter if a student lives **__** as ... I'm writing a formal report. Which of the following should I use to fill in the blank? Which one is correct and more formal and looks/sounds better? a. " _on- or off-campus_ " b. " _on or off campus_ " c. " _on-campus or off-campus_ " Additional question: Is a. even grammatically correct?


title: Plural of “lemma”?

text: _Lemma_ is the singular form. What is the more correct plural form of _lemma_ : _lemmata_ or _lemmas_? What word should I choose for scientific article?


title: Does "native Japanese" indicate Japanese people or indigenous people in Japan?

text: I want to simply indicate that I was born and raised in Japan. I think I can say "I am a native Japanese", but when I google the expression, the results include information about indigenous people in Japan. If this expression can mean both mere Japanese people and Japanese indigenous people, how can one distinguish between those two? I thought I could say "I am a Japanese native" for mere Japanese, then I thought this sounds like "I am a native Japanese speaker".


title: Oxford Comma Conventions

text: According to the Wikipedia page for the Oxford Comma, "Use of the comma is consistent with conventional practice" and "Use of the comma is inconsistent with conventional practice." Did the Oxford Comma come before its omission, or was the Oxford Comma traditionally omitted? It makes logical sense that every item in a list would be separated in the same way: by a comma. If the Oxford Comma is conventionally correct, when and why did people begin to omit it?


title: What is the proper plural of the word "freshman"?

text: Would it be proper to say _freshman students_ , _freshmen_ , or _freshmen students?_ **Edit:** It is worth noting that I have since learned it is more acceptable in educational circles to use the term "first-year students" instead of "freshmen".


title: "Dear Sir or Madam" versus "To whom it may concern"

text: When is it appropriate to use the terms _Dear Sir or Madam_ and _To whom it may concern_? The rules I was taught state that _Dear Sir or Madam_ should be used when you're writing a letter to a person about something that person has direct involvement in (e.g. returning a defective product to a customer service department). By the same rules, _To whom it may concern_ would be used for situations in which the recipient is a third party to the topic of the letter (e.g. regarding a letter of reference or recommendation). Was I taught correctly? Is the rule actually something else? Or is this one of those situations where many people have an opinion but there is no real rule?


title: How should I begin and end an email to an institution (like a Consulate) to request some information?

text: I'm wondering how I should start and end a letter requesting information from a Consulate. Dear Department / Dear Service / Dear Sir/Madam and Yours faithfully?


title: Which form of address in motivation letter?

text: I am writing a motivation letter for a university in London, and I wanted to know which form of address is common? >   * Dear Sir or Madam >   * To whom it may concern > Thanks in advance.


title: Alternative to "is going to be"

text: I want to find a synonym to **"is going to be"** in a sentence like: "X is going to be outdated after Y joins X". I could have chosen "will be", but I want something more incisive, and less "in the future"...


title: Which is the older sense of the word "linguist"?

text: I have been listening to some rants on YouTube against people learning a bunch of languages calling themselves "linguists". I'm personally interested in both linguistics and languages as a hobby but I have no official training and certainly no qualifications in either. My instinct was that the ranter was kind of right in his opinion that people who speak many languages are not linguists. But I was uncomfortable with his opinion that you had to have certain pieces of paper to be called a linguist, I think "post doctorate" from memory. So I looked up "linguist" in some imperfect online dictionaries and was surprised to find both senses. Here's the defs from `oxforddictionaries.com` (chosen at random): >   1. A person skilled in foreign languages. >   2. A person who studies linguistics. > Now I don't have access to a better dictionary on historical principles from my current location. **I would like to know which of these senses is the original one?** My original opinion was the latter sense but on thinking about it I now expect it to be the former. I doubt the word would be a back-formation from "linguistics". As a side question, would the first sense now be considered to be colloquial or at least nontechnical or outdated?


title: What is idiom of attacking behind the back?

text: I have to ask that what will be the idiom of attacking behind the back?


title: The structure: all be it rare

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Why is "albeit" pronounced the way it is?   >  Why have the subjunctive and indicative converged in Modern English?   >  When should I use the subjunctive mood? Reading the text I came across the following sentence: > The danger, **all be it rare** , is that one may compile the 100th > expression only to find that one recompiles it and has to do the same work > all over again when it may have been done 3 expressions ago. My question is regarding the part of the phrase highlighted in bold. What does it mean? My guess is that it's inversion (inverted phrase "[though] it is all rare") But I don't understand why there is _be_ , not _is_ (all is it rare). And it looks quite strange to me. **Update:** Aedia commented that it's probably a misspelling of _albeit_. I opened an etymology dictionary and found that _albeit_ is a contraction of _al be it_ , "al(though) it be (that)". So, I still can't understand, why there is _be_ (in the original phrase, from which _albeit_ is derived from), not _is_? **Update 2:** After reading the linked questions, I still can't grasp what connotation subjunctive mood carries in comparison with indicative mood in this particular example. In the linked questions one of the answer was that _all **be** it_ = _although it **is** that_ But in the comments to this question there was a remark that **be** and **is** express different moods. To express my question clear, I'll lay it out in the following way: What is the difference with these structures?   * The danger, although it be rare,...    * The danger, although it is rare,...


title: "Influence of media in our lives," or "influence of media on our lives?"

text: Which one is correct, "influence of media in our lives," or "influence of media on our lives?"


title: How to write company name

text: This is the name of a company: > Taobao Network Co., Ltd. Is it correct that every first letter is capitalised? Also, why is there a comma?


title: What is the state of a license when one of the terms is no longer met?

text: We have a piece of software that tracks vehicles. Their license to this software determines how many vehicles they can track. Is there a term to call the license when there are more vehicles registered than allowed by the license? _Expired_ doesn’t really work because that seems to indicate a time constraint. Can a license be _exceeded_ perhaps?


title: A word for reading something thoroughly until one understands it well?

text: I was wondering if there was one word in English for "to read something thoroughly until one understands it well"? I am trying to translate a word which has this meaning in Chinese. Thanks.


title: Is 'Jap' still considered an ethnic slur?

text: ~Seventy years after 'The War', is _Jap_ still considered to be an ethnic slur in the US? Is/was it also considered offensive in the UK?


title: Connotations of "off the reservation"

text: I just used the phrase _"to go off the reservation"_ \-- in the context of the workplace, to go in a direction that management might not approve of -- and realized how strange it is. What are the (historical and present-day) connotations of that term?


title: The nuances of Future Continuous vs Present Continuous

text: Consider the following: > I ran into a problem and _will be_ staying here[in this house, this room, > etc.] for a couple more days. > > I ran into a problem and _am_ staying here[in this house, this room, etc.] > for a couple more days. Now, when would one use one over the other?


title: Plural or singular in "between the negotiated and fixed rate(s)"

text: From http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swapspread.asp > Swap spread is the difference between the negotiated and fixed **rate** of a > swap. Should "rate" be plural "rates"?


title: How would one know when to choose 'preferred' or 'preferable'?

text: Are there guidelines for favoring 'preferred' over 'preferable' in certain contexts? Dictionaries seem to give nearly the same definitions. Thanks.


title: Expression to describe error’s way

text: In the context of a computer system, events that fail to go to their destination are redirected to another one through several steps. I’m looking for an expression to describe the way they take. I was thinking of “error’s way”, “error’s path”, or “path when errors”, but I don’t know which of those if any sounds English.


title: What do you call someone who makes sausages?

text: I'm looking for the name of the person who makes sausages. As in, you have a butcher and [the guy makes the sausages].


title: Storing the data vs Storing of the data

text: I would like to know if both are correct (if so, in what context and why): > Storing the data is important.   >  Storing of the data was implemented using ABC. I do not know where the "of" preposition is required. The same would be with "displaying": > Displaying the picture.   >  Displaying of the picture.


title: Difference between "supposedly" and "supposably"

text: What is the difference between _supposedly_ and _supposably_? Both are real words but seem to have confusingly similar definitions. > **Supposably** : Capable of being supposed : conceivable > > **Supposedly** : According to what is generally assumed or believed


title: Its respective owners/Their respective owners

text: I'm wondering which one would be grammatically correct. I think both make sense, however, I do think that one is grammatical and the other isn't. > All credit goes to its respective owners. > > All credit goes to their respective owners.


title: In "that pig is as solid as they come" what does "they come" mean?

text: I read this sentence in Charlotte's Web: > That pig is as solid as they come. Can somebody explain what "they come" means, who does _they_ refer to?


title: "Er" added to name of sport, to refer to a player

text: When creating the designation for a person who plays a particular sport, I usually add _er_ to the name of the sport. Some examples are _footballer_ , _basketballer_ , and _skateboarder_. Is this acceptable?


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

text: The vast majority of the time when I see the word "myriad" it is in a sentence like "He had a myriad of things." However I don't like the extraneous words so I normally use it like "He had myriad things." My boss corrected the latter usage while editing something I wrote. I averted an argument by simply changing the sentence to "He had various things." but was I incorrect?


title: Why don't Americans write "devor" instead of "devour"?

text: Why don't Americans write _devor_ instead of _devour_ to be consistent with the pervasiveness of using variations such as _color_ and _armor_?


title: Is there a word for "people who are computer illiterate"?

text: Just as there is "computerate" to describe those who show familiarity with, and ability to use computers, is there a word to describe the opposite, those who are computer illiterate? The word I'm looking for includes both those who have access to computers but, for some reason, choose to keep away from them, and those who can read and write but have never seen a computer in their entire lives. I'm not looking for insulting or pejorative terms.


title: What is this phrase, "I hope we catch up," called when "catch" may be confused with what's done with a  baseball?

text: I asked someone “I hope we catch up soon” and he imagined himself being lightly or violently tossed in the air hoping someone will catch him. Obviously a non-native English speaker. Is there a term for this phrase or type of misunderstanding? Are there other examples of this?


title: What is the meaning and origin of "set-piece battle"?

text: The definition I've found that makes the most sense is Wikipedia's: > In warfare, a set piece battle may involve large formations moving according > to a plan and responding to the opposing force also by plan. So I assume the point is that the course of the battle is decided in advance, as opposed something ad-hoc or improvised. But what's the origin of the term? And what are its opposites?


title: Why isn't the letter 'W' used to describe co-ordinates?

text: From my understanding, UV is used to describe the co-ordinates for 2 dimension and XYZ is used to describe the co-ordinates for 3 dimension. why was the letter 'W' skipped which is between these 2? Is there any reasons pertaining to the English language or there is no real reason for the choice?


title: Meaning of "I have got..."

text: I don't clearly understand the meaning of "I have got ___ _" in sentences like the following one: > I have got to get. Is it a sentence using the past tense, or the present? What does it mean?


title: Positive alternative to "ominous"

text: The word `ominous` has a negative connotation attached to it, but is there a word with the same kind of meaning that is positive?


title: em-dash and comma, which comes first

text: I am confused about the preferred way to combine an em-dash insertion with a comma occurring in the outer sentence. Until now, I had preferred to write: > The erosion responsible for residuals is less related to the material > process of creation—e.g., rewriting in the sense of Mondrian or blurring the > edges in the sense of Rothko—, but to the double nature of time. Consulting another question on the web, I had convinced myself that em-dash and comma are complementary and there is nothing wrong in combining them. However the example on that linked page indicates that perhaps the comma should precede the insertion, like so: > The erosion responsible for residuals is less related to the material > process of creation,—e.g., rewriting in the sense of Mondrian or blurring > the edges in the sense of Rothko—but to the double nature of time. Is there any advise on which variant would be preferred in academic British English?


title: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" vs. "Out of sight, out of mind"

text: So which is it? Do we feel more sentimental when we are apart from our loved ones, or do we tend to forget friends and lovers easily once they are out of our sight? Which idiom came first, and was the second in reply to the first? In other words, I would like to know the history of these proverbs and if they are linked. _**History notes_** Well the history of the first proverb is proving quite interesting. In 1650, the polyglot and Anglo-Welsh writer, James Howell’s, in his literary work, _Epistolae Ho-Elianae_ or _Familiar Letters_ observed that > “Distance sometimes endears friendship, and absence sweeteneth it.” When I read this letter of friendship and love I was enamoured and slightly perplexed, it appears to be a declaration of deep affection and love. And from what I could gather it was addressed to a man, a certain _Dan. Caldwell, Esq.; from Amsterdam_ in 1610 ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/GGSEH.jpg) ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/TGJ5g.jpg) * * * However, some claim that the sentiment, _absence makes the heart grow fonder_ , first appeared in Shakespeare _Merchant of Venice_ 1596-1598 > ... but I dote on his very absence,... I'm not terribly convinced though, isn't this the same as saying, "I miss him terribly"? One theory I read says that an anonymous poem which appeared in Francis Davison’s “Poetical Rhapsody” in 1602 is the originator of this proverb. I checked online and this was the closest example I could find. ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/xWxnd.jpg) ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/MyBsU.jpg) Is it possible to discover when "Out of sight, out of mind" was first written, did it precede the 16th century? I wonder.


title: metaphor(ic) Vs idiom(atic)

text: I would like to understand what differences and relations are between metaphor and idiom, and between metaphoric and idiomatic. Following are quotes from me asking two people on this site: zpletan said after this answer: > I would say that something smelling fishy is a metaphor that has become > idiomatic. But maybe I'm wrong. :) Metaphor is "a figure of speech in which > a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not > literally applicable," while idiom is "a group of words established by usage > as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words." (New > Oxford English Dictionary) Nico said in one comment following his reply: > idiomatic means: Peculiar to or characteristic of a particular language > (OED). So you could have an idiomatic English metaphor/simile/allegory etc. > as opposed to a French or Spanish one. However idiomatic is not restricted > to figures of speech, you can say that putting the verb at the end of the > sentence is idiomatic of German. It looks like different people have different opinions. So are there consensus opinion on this question?


title: "Thank you for your coming" and "Thank you for your understanding"

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  "Thank you for coming" and "Thank you for your coming" The first one seems ungrammatical, as pointed by some of native speakers. But the latter one seems relatively recognized as grammatical sentence. Considering both "coming" and "understanding" nouns, both sentence seems grammatical to me. Or "coming" never be a noun? Could you show me other example with different verbs?


title: "Asked my height" or "asked of my height"?

text: "Asked my height" sounds strange, while "asked of my height" sounds like an overkill. "Asked what my height was" sounds terrible.


title: Which is more appropriate: Watch out/Be careful you are going to fall OR you will fall?

text: The thing is that the answer key to Round Up 3 says: Watch out! You are going to fall! BUT Be careful or you will burn your hand. I wonder whether it is possible to interchange 'to be going to do smth' for future simple in the above sentences as the rule goes like this: We use "will" for prediction, warning, offer, promise, threat, polite request, on-the-spot decision, opinion, hope, fear (especially with the words: think, expect, suppose, hope, believe, know, probably, sure etc). e.g.: Be quiet or the teacher will get angry. (warning) I'll write to you every day. (promise) While we should bear in mind that one of the uses of 'to be going to do smth' is when there's evidence that smth is about to happen: There's going to be rain because the sky is overcast. So, i can't quite tell one from the other - whether it is a warning or evidence of what is going to happen and could they be applied simultaneously to one case? Meaning, one can use both depending on what they imply.


title: Etymology of 'just' as an adverb and its French connection

text: Just (adj.): > late 14c., "righteous in the eyes of God; upright, equitable, impartial; > justifiable, reasonable," **from O.Fr. juste "just, righteous; sincere" > (12c.)** , from L. iustus "upright, equitable," Just (adv.): > "merely, barely," 1660s, from M.E. sense of "exactly, precisely, punctually" > (c.1400), from just (adj.), and **paralleling the adverbial use of Fr. > juste**. What does _paralleling the adverbial use of Fr. juste_ mean? Were the different senses of just concocted in French and then carried over to English every now and then (after its use as an adjective had already been integrated into the latter)? I am also interested in how the adverb evolved from meaning _exactly_ to _merely_ , two words which seem slightly at odds with each other.


title: When to use 'divisible' vs 'dividable'

text: I realised today that I use the terms _divisible_ and _dividable_ interchangeably, even though there may be a difference between them. If they are in fact different, I'm interested in any general rule that might apply to a large case of similarly related terms as well.


title: How/when does one use "a most"?

text: I've recently come across a novel called A most wanted man, after which being curious I found a TV episode called A most unusual camera. Could someone shed some light on how to use "a most" and whether it has anything to do with "the most"?


title: "UET is engineering a stronger Pakistan", is it correct to say so?

text: For a local festival, my university - UET - has written a sentence on the entering gate, that reads as "UET is engineering a stronger Pakistan" According to my knowledge, engine is a verb, and engineer is a noun as `an engineer is a person who engines.` So, can `engineer` be regarded as a verb and `engineering` is the present participle of it? And if so is the case, is it formal or informal?


title: What is the source of the expression "nothing at all"?

text: I'm looking for the source of the distinction between "nothing" and the nearly equivalent phrase "nothing at all." In common usage the two are synonymous, but the preposition "at all" seems to suggest a more nuanced logic: "Nothing," but a nothing coinciding in the place of "all." The latter speaks less to the negation of the presence something and more to the condition of a gap in a totality. I've seen definitions of the Latin nil being equally "nothing" or "nothing at all;" if this is the case, I wonder when and where the equivocation comes from.


title: Origin of "Under the weather"?

text: I understand that "Under the weather" means feeling sick. I heard a rumor that this idiom may have nautical origins, but I don't know for sure. Does anyone know more about the origin of this phrase, and when it entered common usage?


title: Is there a term for expressions usually rendered as names but are meant to be humorous?

text: The expressions about which I am asking are used often on "Prairie Home Companion" when the narrator delivers a list of "fake" credits at the end of the show or at the end of a comic bit. For example, I.P. Freely, Iona Ford, Ilene Down, Max A Million, etc. Is there a technical term for this type of expression. I guess these could be a type of pun.


title: are astronomy and astrology apt names for their concepts?

text: Or be switching them be correct, since the original assignment was a historical convention? Or do neither suffix convey enough meaning; we can create 'bionomy' if 'biology' was already taken?


title: Starts with N ends in O.... means Yes

text: Just wondering if there is a word (or pair of words) that starts with N and ends with O and actually means Yes (or roughly yes... some sort of synonym). I thought this might have some humorous applications on occasion. Thanks.


title: Why is "eye" pronounced so strangely?

text: This is either a spelling or a pronunciation anomaly; I'm not sure which. Why is "eye" pronounced as the letter "I"?


title: Is there a word for "dissecting a sentence and naming its parts"? (example below)

text: Such as: > The great people of that great nation had been producing the greatest per > capita carbon footprint for decades when they realized that the science was > right and their practices were unsustainable. I've gone thus far and have some questions. > 1-SUBJECT A..The B..great C..people D..of E..that F..great G..nation > > 2-VERB A..had B..been C..producing > > 3-PREDICATE A..the B..greatest C..per D..capita E..carbon F..footprint > > 4-PREDICATE (Q1-still predicate?) A..since B..their C..industrialization > > 5-CONJUNCTION A..when > > 6-SUBJECT A..they > > 7-VERB A..realized > > 8-CONJUNCTION A..that > > 9-SUBJECT A..the B..science > > 10-VERB A..was > > 11-PREDICATE A..right > > 12-CONJUNCTION A..and > > 13-SUBJECT A..their B..practices > > 14-VERB A..were > > 15-PREDICATE A..unsustainable. Q2-Is this a run on sentence? Q3-If this is a valid sentence, could someone help me go further by labeling each word of each part of the sentence? Q4-Could it be made better? Much obliged.


title: Meaning of "that friendship will not continue to the end which is begun for an end"

text: Can someone explain the meaning of this quotation? > That friendship will not continue to the end which is begun for an end.


title: What is the opposite of procrastination in one word?

text: I thought of **precrastination** at first but that appears to be the act of planning to procrastinate.


title: What is the equivalent of a "Good Watch" for an audiobook or record?

text: We say that a movie is a "good watch" and a book is a "good read". Somehow, to say that an audiobook or an album is a "good listen" doesn't sound right to my ears, but perhaps that's only because I've never heard it.


title: What is the difference between "better yet" and " better still"?

text: Is there a difference? This Ngram shows an interesting trend.


title: What is a "canary-trainer"?

text: In Arthur Conan Doyle's _The adventure of Black Peter_ , Watson casually refers to a previous exploit of Holmes:- > In the memorable year '95 a curious and incongruous succession of cases had > engaged his attention, ranging from this famous investigation of the sudden > death of Cardinal Tosca...down to his arrest of Wilson, the notorious > _canary trainer_ , which removed a plague-spot from the East End of London. According to Green's _Dictionary of Slang_ a canary might be   * a mistress   * a prostitute   * a thief's female accomplice   * a female singer among other less-likely definitions. So it seems possible that a _canary trainer_ was a brothel-keeper. Online I turned up _The Canary Trainer_ , a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, revolving around Opera singers, which doesn't seem to fit in with the previous definitions. I realise that _actress_ and _harlot_ were pretty nearly synonymous in Victorian times, but don't think the same stigma attached to opera singers, in which case training of singers can hardly be said to be "a plague-spot". So, does anyone know what a _canary trainer_ did?


title: Word Meaning: Stopping Someone from Doing Something (such as in the case of punishment)

text: I've just lost a word I use frequently whenever talking about the reasons for punishments. The word should (I think) fill the blank: Punishments, such as jail time, **__** people from doing crime. The word is related to stopping, hindrance, incentive, restrict, etc. In this usage, it should also imply that it stops people from committing crime because they don't want to go to jail. Jail also stops people from committing crimes because they can't leave jail. It should fit both of these simultaneously. I hope this isn't too far of a stretch.


title: Between 5 and 10 means: “5 and 10” or “6 and 9”?

text: > Please enter between 5 and 10 characters.


title: Use of "facetious"

text: I received an e-mail including the following sentence: > I am not asking for a facetious grade change, just one that would allow me > to pass. What the writer means is that the request isn't frivolous or petty. This use sounds wrong to me, but the literal dictionary definition doesn't contradict it (the dictionary definition includes, for instance "flippant"). My question is whether this is a use typical in some situation or dialect I'm not familiar with, or if it's actually completely nonstandard.


title: Origin of Doobie (joint, marijuana cigarette)

text: OED says: > **doobie** : _a marijuana cigarette_   >  Origin unknown. A relationship with _dobby_ has been suggested.   >  **dobby/dobbie** : _A silly old man, a dotard, a booby. Dialectal._ > > First citations:   >  1967 J. B. Williams Narcotics & Hallucinogenics. _Dubbe_ , Negro slang for > a marijuana roach.   >  1982 A. Maupin Further Tales of City 95, _I smoke a **doobie** at lunch._ But I just chanced upon What does the "dooby" in "scooby dooby doo" mean? in Yahoo Answers (don't laugh! :) where someone posted: > _"It's obvious that Shaggy's astoner, I'm sure he's been feeding Scoob a bit > of his hash and whatnot."_   >  _Scoob =Scooby Doo_, cartoon "pet" dog of constantly-hungry hippie/village > idiot _Shaggy_ (from 1969) I'm not entirely convinced that 1967 _dubbe_ was necessarily a significant factor in the appearance of a doobie = a joint since around 1970 (the hippie era, some might say). So I'd like to know whether it's credible to claim the usage arose (primarily?) through association with the TV show (specifically, the two characters therein closely associated with marijuana).


title: What does someone “pushes back and crack some eggs” mean? Is it a popular turn of phrase?

text: In Maureen Dowd’s article titled “Who’s that candidate in the teal toenail Polish?” in New York Times (August 3), http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/opinion/sunday/dowd-whos-that-candidate-in- the-teal-toenail-polish.html?hp she quotes the following comment of New York City mayoral candidate, Christine Callaghan Quinn: > “Quinn is still smarting over a Times story that described her volatile > “hair-trigger eruptions. “Am I pushy?” she asked. “Yep. Do I like taking no > for an answer when no means New Yorkers aren’t going to get something they > need? No. **Do I push back and crack some eggs?** Absolutely.” > > She also defended herself for calling the police and fire commissioners in > July when an ambulance did not arrive in a timely way, after a City Council > intern fainted in the heat.” Though I understand this is a metaphoric expression, I’m not clear with the meaning of “Do I push back and crack some eggs? Absolutely.” It sounds like she is saying that she is adamant to say ‘No,’ whenever she doesn’t think the proposed policy and measures benefit New Yorkers, without worrying about conflict or confrontation, but I’m not sure. What does it exactly mean? Is “push back and crack some eggs” a popular turn of phrase, or Christine Quinn’s (not Dowd’s, as is usual) own turn of phrase?


title: The meanings of a couple of expressions

text: * **You sound like a broken record**   * **You're like a broken record skipping** They mean someone repeats something over and over and it's annoying? Are they both common?   * **She's is poor as a church mouse** Is it still in use?


title: Omitting "what it was" in a sentence

text: Example: > There's was something wrong in the room, but I couldn't quite tell what it > was. I felt as if I had entered a house with the gas stove left on; there > was something dense and strange in the atmosphere though invisible to my > eyes. > > **Seconds ~~after~~ later I realized:** Anna was no longer in the room. So instead of writing "seconds after I realized what it was" I just left it as "seconds after I realized (because I already wrote what it was in one of the sentences above). Is it acceptable to omit **what it was** in a situation like this?


title: sham + adjective / noun

text: I've come across **he shams sick** Can I say **he shams an idiot** or **he shams pain in his back** ? Do I have to use a person or a thing after sham? I know it's a rare word but nevertheless


title: What does it mean to "pay X on the dollar"?

text: When I hear money laundry lingo in TV crime-series, people sometimes fence stuff for so and so much "on the dollar". What does it actually mean? And where does the expression originate from?


title: In Vs On Vs At (when talking about streets)

text: I have found many sentences with street names and some of them have these three prepositions. I Don't know, but I believe that Americans use (on + name of the street) and British use (in + name of the street). So if I am correct about this, are these sentences correct? > He lives in Oxford St. > > He lives on Oxford St. I also came across that "in" is not used when we want to talk about exact location, you'd use "at" instead. So, are these sentences correct? > He lives at 4732 Marshall Drive. > > Alice's office is at 26515 Main Street. These last two sentences I've come across them using the prepositon "on", but if "at" is used to exact location, I think that "on" would be incorrect. I don't know if there is any difference between British and American English in this case.


title: Is the word 'consort' still considered an insult in the modern usage?

text: In Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt says to Mercutio: 'Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo.' Mercutio replies 'consort! What, dost thou make us minstrels?... Zounds consorts!' Bloodshed followed shortly. It's very clear that the word _consort_ here is very emotionally loaded so as to lead to murder. What I'm interested to know is whether the word _consort_ still carries this highly negative connotation today. If not, can it be used interchangeably with _partner, associate_ or even _friend_?


title: What part of speech is "atom" in "hydrogen atom"?

text: What is the type (adjective, noun, etc.) of the word _atom_ in _hydrogen atom_? I think that _atom_ here does not qualify _hydrogen_ in any way and we can use it or not, and the meaning of the word _hydrogen_ will not change. So, _hydrogen atom_ and _hydrogen_ are equivalent.


title: Is "paraphrased" the correct way to express an attributed quote with known origins?

text: This question and answer indicate that when the source of a quote comes from an unverified source, we may say it's "attributed", or that it's "apocryphal". Both of these terms imply that there is some error or uncertainty in who is credited with having said the quote being referenced. However, I have a situation where the source of a quote is known, but the original version is an idea expressed over a few paragraphs. Over time, with many retellings, the idea has been trimmed down to an efficient and snappy phrase. So, I want to give credit to the person who had the idea, but use the snappy version that people are familiar with. Note that no one person is known to have come up with the snappier version. Each retelling always attributed whatever version to the original source. Most people assume the original person said the snappy version the first time round. Using a generic example, I was thinking that I would add the word _(paraphrased)_ , something like this: > "A snappy quote is a short quote." > > ~ Joe McFamousguy (paraphrased) But I wondered if maybe there was a standard for this kind of thing. What's the best way to express that this is a variant or version of a quote, but that there is no uncertainty that the source is the correct one?


title: Optimisation fence

text: Could anyone explain what "optimisation fence" mean? I have found it in several papers but don't get the meaning at all.


title: How is vehicle fuel efficiency expressed outside the United States?

text: I've been wondering this for a long time and Google doesn't seem to want to give me the answer. In the United States, the term "miles per gallon" is most commonly used to express the fuel efficiency of an automobile. Given that "mile" and "gallon" are artifacts of the U.S. customary system of measurement, how would someone in a country that uses the Metric system go about expressing this rate? "Kilometers per liter"? "Meters per U.K. gallon"? "Furlongs per hogshead"?


title: When using 'of' when is it really necessary to pluralize something or singularize it?

text: What would be right. Would you say a thousand points of battle damage are inflicted to you or would you say a thousand points of damage is inflicted to you?


title: Sun 'goes down' or 'comes down'?

text: A couple months ago I read a book with the statement **When the sun goes down** and today in a movie I saw the man said **Let's wait for the sun to come down**. I believe both are refering to the sunset. But which of them is better to be used or are there any formal differences between the two sentences?


title: Good word for something physical that's inexplicable

text: I'm looking for a word to describe something physical, something that you can tangibly and empirically feel, but cannot see, nor sense in any other way than touch, nor explain its imperceptibility. Does anyone have any ideas? **EDIT** : If anyone can think of a single word for such a definition, that would be fantastic! :)


title: "It was turning out the dining-room done it."

text: > “It was turning out the dining-room done it, if you ask me,” said Mrs. > Sutton. “Now, don’t you overdo yourself, ma’am,” I says to her; but you know > how she is, sir. She gets that restless, she can’t bear to be doing > nothing." Is the first sentence "It was turning out the dining-room done it," correct? It's in the novel _Suspicion_ by Dorothy Sayers. Something seems to be missing in this sentence and I don't understand the meaning of this sentence at all.


title: Do I take a small nap or a light nap?

text: I heard a friends say that he's going to take a _small_ nap. Is this correct usage? I thought we only take _light_ naps.


title: May numero sign (No.) be used to indicate amount?

text: I found that numero sign (No.) may be used as abbreviation of word "number" in meaning "ordinal number". May it be used as abbreviation of word "number" in meaning "amount"?


title: A single word which can be used in the place of floccinaucinihilipilification whithout losing the nuances of its meaning

text: > Humans are quick to partake in the _floccinaucinihilipilification_ process, > it has happened before and it will happen repeatedly until evolution > explicates perfect men. Is there a single word that conveys the meaning of flocc...ion and that therefore can be used in the sentence above without losing in nuances?


title: Ordering of question mark, closing quotation mark, and citation

text: Let's say I am quoting the verse "Do you like cheese?" from the Book Of Cheese. Is it: As it is written, "Do you like cheese?" (Book Of Cheese, 43:21) or As it is written, "Do you like cheese" (Book Of Cheese, 43:21)? or As it is written, "Do you like cheese? (Book of Cheese, 43:21)" or something else entirely?


title: What is the etymology of 'oojiboo'?

text: Oojiboo: > a thing whose name one forgets, does not know, or prefers not to mention Since I don't have access to the OED, can someone tell me its etymology and whether it's commonly used nowadays?


title: Where do accents and dialects come from?

text: Why do people in different areas speak differently? Where do accents come from, how do they change and/or survive over time and why do we have them? Reading recommendations on this topic would be welcome.


title: Pronunciation of "comparable"

text: I was talking to my boyfriend about this but I wanted to get some more opinions. "Comparable" can be pronounced as:   1. COMP-er-uh-bul (which is how I usually pronounce it)   2. Com-PAIR-ah-bul (which usually makes me blink and tilt my head) Is there a specific case where one pronunciation is used over another? I tend to think that version 1 deals more with similarity than version 2. Version 2, to me, feels like it's more about the fact that two elements _can_ be compared. Also: can both words/pronunciations be used interchangeably (granted that my guesses toward the meanings are correct)?


title: "Someone else took them helm"

text: I recently read a sentence containing _took them helm_ , and I cannot understand the meaning of that sentence. > Looks like [username] did not remove you from the commit list, so I cannot > answer that. Otherwise, given you complained about this almost 4 years after > the fact, the only thing I could tell is you did not care inbetween, or at > least it was not important for you to raise a concern. Given that, it sounds > rational that someone else took them helm, doesn't it? _Commit list_ is the list of the users who can commit code using CVS. What does the last sentence mean? To what is it referring?


title: Which of these is the correct usage of the words "listen", "hear"?

text: Which of these sentences is correct? Why? > You must hear to this song.   >  You must listen to this song.   >  Have you heard to this song?   >  Have you listened to this song?


title: Is 'that' required? Does it make a difference?

text: * I want **that** he become a doctor.   * I want he become a doctor. Is there any difference between these?


title: Single word for someone who likes to party

text: What is one word that can be used to describe someone who likes to party and go to clubs?


title: What is the correct way to pronounce "Figure 8-1"?

text: I know that the symbol "-" can be read as hyphen or dash. While I am reading aloud "Figure 8-1" or "Section 8-1", what is the correct name for "-"? Sometimes, I heard people read it as >   * figure eight dash one >   * figure eight point one > but those both sound strange to me.


title: It really should be ROY GBP?

text: I've read the Color Survey Results. There is a sentence: Indigo was totally just added to the rainbow so it would have 7 colors and make that “ROY G. BIV” acronym work, just like you always suspected. It should really be ROY GBP, with maybe a C or T thrown in there between G and B depending on how the spectrum was converted to RGB. What does it mean? I understood this acronym but why C or T? I translate this article into Russian, but do not understand the meaning letters C and T here. And why between G and B? It really should be ROY GBP?


title: Idiom for someone who works fast without paying attention to the quality?

text: Is there any idiom or any suitable words for someone who works fast without paying attention to the quality?


title: "Made in..." vs. "Product of..."

text: What is the difference between "Made in..." and "Product of..."? Both are often seen on product labeling; my understanding is that "Made in" is not used for agricultural goods while "Product of" is?


What's the difference between "hundreds of thousands of" and "hundreds and thousands of"? Are they both correct?


title: "feed an animal some food?"

text: Which sentence is correct? (or both) _Feed the dog twice a day this meat._ _Feed the dog twice a day with this meat._


title: The single word for "Volume per second"

text: Will anybody be able to mention the English word for "Volume per second (or preferably Volume per Time unit) or "Amount of task per a second"? Thank you.


title: Can a sentence have two verbs of same type - for example "is"?

text: I found the following sentence in a book. > A good way of figuring out what a function **is** doing **is** to type it > without the parentheses. Is this correct way of writing? Thanks.


title: "Known not to ..." or "Known to not ..."

text: Which one of the following word orders is correct: > This program is known not to work correctly.   > or   > This program is known to not work correctly.


title: What does : ca. 1828 mean? ca. before a date?

text: Could you tell me What " ca. 1828" mean? ca. before a date ? Thanks for your answers


title: Which noun does an Adjective associate with of

text: I read the Adjective Association question but I'm wondering how it applies to the following sentence: > Here is a really old picture of me. It appears that _really old_ , and _picture_ are associated to _me_ , but it could also be assumed that _really old_ associated to _picture_. Seems ambiguous. Slightly changing the sentence: > Here is a blurry old picture of me. Seems to indicate the picture, whereas I cannot come up with an adjective that would associate to _me_ (might exist).


title: Fitting word for "subject to physics" or possibly "subject to laws"

text: Is there a fitting word that means "subject to physics" or possibly "subject to laws"? It seems to me that I must have read such a word somewhere but I simply can't dredge one up. Ex: Any passengers on a star ship could be killed instantly, mashed to a a pulp, by inertial forces because the ship itself is [an] [thing which is subject to physical laws]


title: Can the adjective "squalid" be used to describe a person?

text: As the title states: Can **squalid** be used to describe a person that has really fallen on hard times (ragged clothing, worn-out, haggard etc.)? And if it can be used as such, how does it compare to **shabby** , i.e. which has a stronger connotation of _run-down-ness_? All descriptions of **squalid** in dictionaries or example texts I found always use the word for buildings, areas, streets, but none I found uses it to describe a human directly.


title: Is the word "women's" a typo?

text: My browser's spellcheck says it is, but I can't figure out why. Is Firefox sexist?


title: Does 'some' necessarily imply 'not all'?

text: If some X's are Y's, does that imply that some X's are not Y's?


title: Tassel vs. Tassle? Which is correctly spelled, or both?

text: I think I found an error in someone's work, where they spelled "tassel" as "tassle". Before I mention it to them I want to be 100% sure that this is really a problem and there is no alternate spelling.


title: What do you call the linguistic ambiguity in an assertion "Blah is the Best X?

text: I don't know the correct name of the following characteristic or phenomena to search for it on Google for further study and exploration: > Someone says they live in the "Best Democracy" and they says that they can > back this up with historical and contemporary evidence. They could be > asserting either: > >   1. Their country is the best implementation of democratic principles and > this is what they have evidence for; **or** >   2. They live in country considered sufficiently democratic _and_ that > country is the proven best in some other way > (affluence/power/stability/happiness index/BMI/trombone players/etc). > In more generalised terms: > An assertion `Best X` could mean: > >   1. Best at X; **or** >   2. A member of X which is Best at Y > **What is this form of linguistic ambiguity called?**


title: Do "operative" and "valid" have the same meaning in legal terms?

text: I found this question when reading a machine manual. In the part about Guarantee, it said "The guarantee will not be _operative_ if any of the following apply:" My question here is that can _operative_ be used in here or is _valid_ a more appropriate choice for this situation. P.S. The manual is a translated version. Thanks


title: Infinitive or gerund complement clause

text: Which is more grammatically correct: "I like to speak Japanese." or "I like speaking Japanese." Also, do they mean the same thing? Why is one better than the other, if they differ?


title: How many syllables are in the word 'hour'?

text: Does the word 'hour' have 1 or 2 syllables?


title: "is only mentioned" or "is mentioned only"?

text: > The list was mentioned only at the meeting. or > The list was only mentioned at the meeting.


title: FCE exam's troubling transformation sentence

text: Today my students were given the following transformation sentence as part of their FCE exams: > I am reading a book which is irrelevant to school work. Do: The book I am reading **is** ..................... school work. Can you please tell me how to do it? The obvious would be: > The book I am reading **has** nothing to do with school work. But the exercise asks us to use _is_ , not _has_.


title: How to separate two phrases in a grammatically correct way?

text: In all stackexchange sites, there is an edit summary field provided when you try to edit a question or an answer. I find myself frequently writing there the following: "edited title, added a tag" or "edited title, added two tags and edited body for clarity" Here are my concerns:   1. Are the above two statements grammatically correct?   2. Should I replace the comma with a semicolon?   3. Are there any fullstops required in any of the two statements?


title: Can the shortening of proper nouns, such as "The Nuge", be considered a type of elision?

text: The earliest example that comes to mind is the shortening of the name Ted Nugent as The Nuge. To be clear, I'm less interested in the dropping of syllables at the end of his name, and more interested in the replacing of an initial word with "the". A more recent example is Mountain Dew's slogan, "Do the Dew" (their re- branding as Mtn Dew is also interesting, but not what I'm getting at). I've heard this formula applied colloquially, such as referring to Taco Bell as The Bell. Would this be considered elision? If not, is there a name for this?


title: Is the describer needed in 'not...but..." type constructions?

text: Consider these two sentences: "His actions reveal him to be a husband who is not jealous but is zealous." "Those words demonstrate not his jealousness but his zealousness." Are the words "is"/"his" needed before zealous / zealousness? They wouldn't be needed if the sequence were reversed: "His actions reveal him to be a husband who is zealous, not jealous." But what about when the negation comes before the assertion? Also are commas needed? Where?


title: Can you say "accurate to"?

text: For example: > The building is accurate to its schematics Is this invalid use of the word "accurate"?


title: Is this sentence a valid example of a double negative

text: Me and my friend were talking about grades and I said > Grades don't mean shit. and we had some more debate and now we are arguing whether that sentence is a example of a sentence with double negatives in it !


title: Position of prepositions in questions and clauses

text: I would like to know if there is any rule to know where prepositions should be placed in questions or clauses. For example, I have heard many sentences and some of them put the preposition in the start and others in the end, but I don't know if there's any rule for this or any recommendation. > Where are you **from**? > > Who are you talking **to**? > > **To** whom are you talking? > > He's the person I was speaking **to**. > > He's the person **to** whom I was speaking. > > This is the place **from** where you should start.


title: What is the word for "history of the study of the subject"?

text: Suppose the subject is nutrition. Is there a word for _the history of the study of nutrition_? Or _the history of the study of a science_ for that matter? I thought it was one of those _epi_ -ology words like epistemology but I was way off. You know how if you go to a Wikipedia page on any of the natural or social sciences, they'll have a "History" section. Is there a better word for that?


title: Future perfect progressive

text: When is the future perfect progressive used? I am trying to understand in which cases it should be used, but I cannot find any practice examples of sentences using that tense. > I will have been loving.


title: Is every sentence in a tense?

text: I know that "tense" indicates time. If that is true, then not every sentence can be indicated of its tense. Please review these sentences: "If I could go to the market , I must have taken breakfast (by now)."   "If this great mountain was given my secret, it would have broken."   "If she were tall like you, she would never have asked you to pick those clothes for her." Here all these sentences have main clauses in past, but I don't know whether past indefinite or not. Still, these are imaginary conditions, supported by “if”; so can we say that these sentences have no tense? Some people told me that their roots are in the present as we are indicating the absence of the mentioned conditions implies that the sentence indicates the present continuous, or some other sort of present. But that sounds strange, as the sentence itself does not narrate the absence of that condition but only the supposition of “if” that were true... so what is the tense. Thnx for all responses. Now i can safely say that this sentence is making use of auxiliary modals in subjunctive mood. Still according to my perspective, it indicates towards a timeless phenomenon( Though no one knows about the future) still its pointing towards a timeless phenomenon, still if someone wants to refer it to a tense, i think its is present indefinite because it indicates that i am not a bird. "If I were" suggests that I am not.Otherwise the sentence itself does not refer to time. And as i have understood English language does not make use of tense only to indicate time, the total sentence structure depends on many thing sand also the mood of sentence changes the total outlook of any sentence. So tense and/ or mood can be understood if they indicate real things rather imaginary ones. I failed to understand any better through these answers.


title: What is the question tag for "I used to swim in the Tilak tank"?

text: What is the question tag that can be added to the following sentence? > I used to swim in the Tilak tank. This is question from an MCQ test whose options were   1. did I?   2. would I?


Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title? "My Ex-Wife Hates Me" or "My Ex-wife Hates Me"


title: What is proper usage of hyphen in title

text: Which is correct, Co-Sponsor Proposal or Co-sponsor Proposal? This will be a heading on a proposal. Thank you


title: Title case: "Stand-alone" or "Stand-Alone"?

text: I need to write a "stand-alone" adjective as a part of a title. Which capitalisation is correct: > _Stand-alone_ or > _Stand-Alone_?


title: What should be the correct tense and structure of the sentence?

text: Sorry if my question sounds dumb here. I am not a English speaker and now I am trying to learn and improve my English. Suppose following scenario occurs: **Person A has done something wrong in past and Person B is suffering in present due to the fault of A. Now person B wants to tell that what A did was wrong and instead of doing wrong, if he did something else, he should have done right.** So is it correct to use the following structure if B is telling to A (actually I have tried this)? **You _had_ done wrong; instead of doing this,if you _would have done_ that, this _might would have been_ right.** I am confused with the italicized parts. Is this structure correct grammatically? I suspect it is not, then what should be the right format?


title: 'Sit on your left' or 'sit to your left' or 'sit on to your left' etc

text: Which one of the following is correct. There are pairs of chairs in a classroom and one wish to say that students should sit in the left-hand side chair, leaving the right-hand side chair empty.   * 'Sit on your left'   * 'Sit to your left'    * 'sit on to your left'   * 'sit at your left'    * any other phrase At some logical plane, one can never sit on one's left hand side because as soon as he sits on his LHS, his LHS changes.


title: Origin of “Put up your dukes”

text: This link claims that one cannot be sure of origin of this phrase. Three explanations are given here, but they are not very convincing (I am not a native speaker). In one of our newspapers, someone gives an explanation. Apparently, > Duke of Wellington, the man who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of > Waterloo in 1815, though quite the ladies man, wasn’t really much to look > at. The most prominent feature of his not-so-handsome face was his rather > long nose. The officers and the men who served beneath him began to > affectionately refer to any nose which was unusually long as ‘duke’. With > the passage of time, this word began to be used to refer to any nose; of > whatever size. Since human fists are notorious to be employed in fights to > put a ‘duke’ out of joints, fists began to be called ‘duke buster’. Soon, > the word ‘buster’ was dropped, and everyone started referring to fists as > ‘dukes’. This sounds like a great story, but he did not cite any references. Since this explanation is so very different from many others available on-line, I wonder if there is some reliable reference in support of his claim.


title: Meaning of "experience pertaining to computer science and diversity"

text: I'm applying for a grant and there is a question in the application form as follows: > As a grad student in computer science, what has your experience been > pertaining to computer science and diversity? Is it asking about what I have done for the computer science world? How about the meaning of _diversity_ here? Does it mean the different things related to computer science?


title: Pronunciation of onomatopoeia, pharmacopoeia, etc

text: Words such as onomatopoeia and pharmacopoeia incorporate the Greek suffix _-poeia_ , meaning _to make_ or _to prepare_. Wiktionary's provided etymology for onomatopoeia reads: > From Ancient Greek ὀνοματοποιία ( **onomatopoiia** ) I'm curious to know how the Greek _onomatopoiia_ is/was pronounced and if the _-poeia_ suffix in the English equivalent has always been pronounced `/piːə/`. Also, are there any words in English that have simplified _-poeia_ to _-pia_ or similar?


title: Less than or below when comparing to a limit

text: When I am comparing a numeric value to a numeric limit, as in a maximum value, should I say the value is "below the limit" or "less than the limit"? Specifically, I am saying, "the maximum concentration limit (MCL) is 5 mg/L," and then "the measured concentration was (below/less than) the MCL," but I am not sure which is correct (below or less than).


title: How do you stop using "you" in every question?

text: I post questions on stackexchange sites and I'd like them to sound more professional. However, they usually start like this: > How do you.... How can I make my questions sound more professional? Is there a better way to think of the question or is there just something mechanical I need to do differently?


title: In English, do people say "the Jack" or "the Donald" to specify someone special?

text: I heard Donald Trump had the nickname _the Donald_. So I'm curious, can I say > Did you see the John? or > Did you see the Michael? Do people say it? What if there are five Michaels at a workplace? Would it be normal to use "the _name_ "?


title: Category hierarchies or tiers?

text: Considering the following lists, what would be a good generic word or phrase describing the **_individual_** bullet point items? It seems "category hierarchy item" is too wordy/difficult, is there a better/simpler term that I'm missing? **Edit:** These words came to mind just after posting this: _segment, scope, dimension_. But still, I'm not sure if there is word that would be a better fit. **Edit 2:** I'm writing some end user documentation for an advanced search feature some software has. So I need a simple way to refer to these bullets in a generic way like "search segment" or "search specificity". I'm just trying to get the most straightforward wording to identify these. List 1:   * Artist    * Artist, Album    * Artist, Album, Song List 2:   * Author   * Author, Book List 3:   * Continent   * Continent, Country   * Continent, Country, Region


title: Software to change American punctuation to British

text: My apologies if this is off topic. American and British writing have different punctuation styles. Is there any software that can change American style punctuation to British? I am referring to punctuation, not spelling. A simple example would be changing the American styled > "Hello," he said. to what (I think is) the British styled > 'Hello', he said. I am not entirely certain about the particulars which is why I need this tool in the first place.


title: What kind of rhetoric is (this particular) "No one ever [...]"

text: > The President also knows that we have to stop blaming victims for these > crimes. No one ever asks the person who got robbed at gunpoint in the street > -- why were you there, what were you doing, what were you wearing? What did > you say? Did you offend someone? We encourage people to come forward. We > don't have to explain why someone took our money. _Source_ I think the "No one ever [...]" claim is literally false, and actually obviously so. So, I understand it to mean: > > The President also knows that we have to stop blaming victims for these > crimes. No one **in their right mind** ever asks the person who got robbed > at gunpoint in the street -- why were you there, what were you doing, what > were you wearing? What did you say? Did you offend someone? We encourage > people to come forward. We don't have to explain why someone took our money. Supposing that I am right, what is this kind of rhetoric called?


title: Is "evidence" countable?

text: As a native English speaker, I am often asked by friends and colleagues to correct their manuscripts. One of the most common mistakes I find is the use of the noun _evidences_. Now, the dictionary definitions I have read state that _evidence_ is a mass noun, that it is not countable. For example, this one: > noun [mass noun]   > > > the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or > proposition is true or valid:the study finds little evidence of overt > discrimination   > > >   * Law information drawn from personal testimony, a document, or a material > object, used to establish facts in a legal investigation or admissible as > testimony in a law court:without evidence, they can’t bring a charge   > >   * signs or indications of something:there was no obvious evidence of a > break-in > However, I came across (don't ask me how) this article: 101 evidences for a young age of the earth and the universe I had firstly assumed that this was either an outright error or at best a usage that is specific to christian literature, but upon further analysis things get more complicated. On the one hand, most google hits for _evidences_ seem to be from the christian fundamentalist and/or creationist literature, on the other hand this article has collected multiple examples of its use citing such luminaries of the English language as William Shakespeare, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Indeed, this google NGram shows that _evidences_ used to be quite common (note that I am searching for " _many_ evidences" which should filter out most uses of _evidence_ as a transitive verb): ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/tWw7R.png) Finally, I also found a definition which includes the following line: > (technical) The cave contained evidences of prehistoric settlement. While I have encountered this use in technical literature (my field is Biology), it was always used by non-native authors in whose language, as is very often the case, _evidence_ is probably countable (e.g. ES: _evidencias_ , FR: _évidences_ ). So, my question is, is _evidence_ countable? The two quoted definitions contradict themselves. _Evidences_ as a plural noun sounds horrible to my native's ear. Apparently, it is indeed a valid archaic usage but is it grammatical today? I don't have access to an unabridged OED or any other dictionary of similar status and quality, what do they suggest?


title: What is the origin of the slang 'kicks' meaning sneakers

text: Street culture uses the term 'kicks' to describe sneakers/athletic shoes. I've been using this term for as long as I can remember so I'm comfortable with it's meaning however, as I'm sure I could make an educated guess in terms of the origins of the slang 'kicks', I'm quite curious to learn the authentic origin. I've tried researching online and while I've found the definition countless times, it seems that the back story is scarce. This site is my last stop so fingers crossed, one or more of you have the information I'm looking for. Thanx in advance :)


title: What's the correct apostrophe usage in this case?

text: I just wrote a response on a meta Stack Exchange site to a question about tag usage and purpose. In that response, I found myself writing the following: > I hesitate to argue for the tag's (and the questions' that go with it) > complete removal. "Tag" is intentionally singular and "questions" is intentionally plural. Is that the correct way to use the apostrophe on "questions"?


title: What is the origin of the saying, "faint heart never won fair lady"?

text: Having heard the phrase, "faint heart never won fair lady" for the third time in very short span, I'm determined to find out its origin. Unfortunately, when I Google, I'm getting a bunch of low-quality sites -- unlike our StackExchange -- that only mention that it's a proverb, and give no clue as to its origin or date of first occurrence. That's what I'm wondering -- is it a literary quote, passed down from some famous author into a proverb? When is the date of its first attestation? How familiar would an ordinary Briton be with this saying? (It's a chiefly British saying, right? I don't believe it's popular in the United States.)


title: Prepositions used with "command line" and "shell"

text: I found the following variations on the use of "command line" and "shell" in computing and wonder which are correct and how to use them appropriately.   * _Command line_ : is it "at the command line" or "on the command line"?   * _Shell_ : is it "in a shell", inside a shell", "at a shell" or "on a shell"? My English teacher once jokingly said that with prepositions it's not only knowledge but sometimes also a good portion of luck for those who aren't native speakers.


title: Term for 'baby-talk'

text: So many newly-weds have this practice of calling one another ridiculous but affectionate names i.e. honey-bunch, or 'bunny-boo' etc. Is there a single-word term for this practice?


title: Can "to be able to" be used without preposition

text: Can the phrase "to be able to" be used without the preposition "to". For example, can you say "I will call you back as soon as I am able?"


title: "Have you got a chance to" vs "Did you get a chance to"

text: What is the difference between following two statements? >   1. Have you got a chance to look into this? >   2. Did you get a chance to look into this? >


title: Having said that, consequently vs conversely

text: Should "having said that" always be used in place of "conversely" or can it also be used in place of "consequently"? Meaning, in the structure: > X. Having said that, Y. Does Y have to somehow "negate", "go against" or "differ" from X, or can it be used with emphasis like "having said _that_ , Y (which follows from X)"?


title: In Search Of: a noun (or phrase) like "irrefutableness"

text: Ideally I'm looking for a word, though it could be a phrase. It should be a noun, like "veracity". Its somewhat close in meaning to veracity. It should mean low likelihood of being refuted. Sort of like being "authoritative" on a subject, but not as certain as that. I intend to use include it in a sentence like: These improvements give our information product a greater X. I can elaborate if that would be helpful. Thank you! **ADDED** I don't think veracity ("truthfulness") is the right word. It's not a matter of our telling the truth. It's a matter of the likelihood of whether the information presented is sufficient to prove something. **ADDED** Our information product speaks about having observed certain data and presenting an accurately preserved, complete and untampered with record, which is why "authoritative" didn't work. (In theory, there could be relevant unrecorded data.) Also, because of this, "authenticity" isn't the issue since there's no reason to doubt the authenticity of our data. (And I certainly wish the context allowed me to be cheeky enough to say "truthiness"!)


title: What does this "but" mean here?

text: Oh but I were in poverty! What does this mean? I can't find this in my dictionary. I would appreciate it if you could quote some authoriatative source.


title: What is the correct way to style academic degrees after a name in British English?

text: What is the correct way to style academic degrees in British English? I've got a name: > Jane Doe RN Dip HV BSc My question is: How should I style the degrees? > Jane Doe, RN Dip., HV, BSc. or: > Jane Doe RN Dip., HV, BSc. or totally in another way?


title: Head word for Synonyms and Word Families?

text: Is there a word/term/phrase that means the designated word to represent a collection of related words? Dictionaries use a "head" or "root" word for variants (House: >Houses, >Housing, >Housed) - is there such a thing for Synonyms and Word Families? I've Googled and I've searched here (and Yahoo Answers etc.). I'm not sure if there is such a term. If there is, can someone please tell me the name? If there is, can someone point to a source (such as a thesaurus that uses it)? If there is no such term/reference - what would you suggest as a way to implement it?   Should I simply go for the shortest word in the group (with the same/similar part of speech/morphological attributes (mood/gender etc.)? Is there a better way? Thank you.


title: What football position does this phrase refer to: "He plays back for Dartmouth"?

text: What football position does someone refer to when saying "He plays back for Dartmouth"? (I read it in a novel, which takes place in 1931) Edit (more context) A conversation during the game between his friends, one of whom arrived late: "How’s he doing?" "He’s all right, I guess,” says one of the boys. “Decent run in the last series. Eleven yards.”


title: Why aren't double quotes always closed?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  How should I use quotation marks in sections of multi-line dialogue? Sometimes when reading, I will see a **"** at the beginning of a paragraph [When someone is speaking]. It is not closed anywhere, and at the end of the paragraph, there is no ending **"**. How come?


title: Is it proper grammar to omit an ending quote at the end of a paragraph?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  How should I use quotation marks in sections of multi-line dialogue?   >  Why aren't double quotes always closed? In some books I've read, the ending quote will be omitted if the paragraph ends with the character's line. Is this correct? If it is correct, in what cases is it correct?


title: 'Clean' vs 'Clear'

text: What is their difference? Please provide an example (or two if the use as verb or adjective differentiates their meanings).


title: How should I understand this "that" clause?

text: The following sentence is from an article of Harry Frankfurt who is a professor from Princeton University: > It must be part of the point of saying that humbug is "short of lying," > **that** while it has some of the distinguishing characteristics of lies, > there are others that it lacks. How should I understand the second "that" (in bold) here? Does it refer to "it" in the sentence or is it an object of the word "saying"? How should I understand this sentence?


title: Is "crooner" old-fashioned and humorous?

text: My dictionary tells me "crooner" is old-fashioned and humorous. I was wondering why "crooner" is humorous? I would like to hear from native speakers how you view/use this word. Here's an example of use: > Movie star Debbie Reynolds and crooner Eddie Fisher are Fisher's parents. In > the 1950s, they were America's sweethearts. But, Eddie left Debbie for > bombshell Elizabeth Taylor when Carrie was just a toddler. – CBS-Sunday > Morning


title: Is the idiom 'burn the midnight oil' not used as much lately?

text: When I said 'We burnt the midnight oil.', an American guy seemed to have a tough time trying not to laugh. Is this expression so old? How about 'We did/pulled all-nighters'?


title: Is there a list of syllables contained in US English?

text: I'm trying to find a list of all syllables (ideally just syllables that appear at the start of words in english). Any suggestions?


title: Why do British people pronounce “Ibiza” as “Ibitha”?

text: My brief overseas experience in Great Britain has taught me that British people tend to pronounce _Ibiza_ as _Ibitha_. My questions are as follows:   1. Why is this the case?   2. How did this develop?    3. What are the circumstances that determine if a _z_ is pronounced like a _z_ or a _th_?


title: When is it correct to capitalise 'earth'?

text: At the beginning of a sentence is obvious. I'm referring to the following examples: >   1. A handful of earth. >   2. The earth under this house. >   3. The earth beneath my feet. >   4. What on earth? >   5. The heavens above and the earth below. >   6. The earth moved. >   7. We returned quickly to earth. > Lower: 1,2,3,4 Upper: 7 Not sure: 5,6


title: Can I say "reduces the proximity to zero" to describe 2 objects being very close?

text: When I say " _reduces the proximity to zero_ ", does it mean that the distance between two objects are extremely close? My intention is to describe that the distance between two objects gets very close together. I checked the dictionary and it says proximity is the nearness. I am worry that when I say "reduce to zero", I flipped the meaning opposite to become "reduce nearness to zero", which may feel like it meant "very far apart".


title: Can the word "orbital" mean expensive/high?

text: I have heard someone say "As a consultant, Dave can charge orbital fees, so we would rather have you do it." I tried to look up "orbital" but did not find what I was expecting.


title: How to hyphenate a negated compound noun?

text: We have a term for a process, "defect source assessment". We want to describe a set of processes that are not related to that process. Which of the following (if any) would be correct? >   * non defect source assessment processes >   * non-defect source assessment processes >   * non-defect-source-assessment processes >   * non-defect-source-assessment-processes >


title: What term is a hypernym for "story" and "article"?

text: I need a single word that can be used to mean _article_ (e.g. something printed in a magazine to inform readers or to argue something) and also _story_ (i.e. some fictional short story printed in a literature publication). Sometimes _story_ is used to refer to a newspaper article, but readers will be confused if I simply use _story_ as they might think I am excluding other types of non-fiction articles. What term can I use to describe both kinds of writing?


title: How did "yours truly" become a euphemism for "I" or "me"?

text: Rarely but occasionally I've seen _yours truly_ appear in text when the author wishes to refer to him- or herself. An example from The Cambridge Dictionary: > Some folks, such as _yours truly_ , can't resist a clever pun or play on > words. How did a valediction gain such a form and then maintain its usage despite its—at least, in my subjective view of colloquial language—awkwardness?


title: Is "platonic" generally appropriate?

text: Specifically, I'm wondering about the definition about relationships: > of, relating to, or having a close relationship in which there is no romance > or sex. Is "platonic" generally appropriate? It seems useful to describe non-romantic relationships, but most definitions emphasize the nonsexual part of the definition. Would it be appropriate to use in places where nonsexual would not be?


title: What does "deepest summer" mean?

text: I am new to this English stack exchange, I asked this question on the movie stack exchange Though it was a question from a movie it's also related to English Language. I will be simply pleased and delighted if anyone could help me to understand. Thank you


title: Is “(somebody) own the sunshine” an established phrase or just a set of word?

text: I saw the phrase, “ _Obama owns the sunshine_ ” as the headline of Time magazine’s (January 29) article reporting the result of the latest NBC News/Marist poll of registered Florida voters, which shows President Obama’s statistical edge over all four Republican Presidential candidates. I can easily imagine the implication of the phrase, “ _own the sunshine_ ,” and I thought it is an idiom. But as I checked Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam- Webster online dictionaries, there was no entry of “own the sunshine” as an idiom in any of them. GoogleNgram registers “Your own sunshine,” of which usage started circ 1860, peaking in 1910-20, tailed off until it started to pick up around 2000, but not “own sunshine.” Is “ _own sunshine_ ” a Time’s coinage, or just a set of word?


title: why do we say scorching hot while scorching already means very hot?

text: Scorching means extremely hot. So why do we say scorching hot? Isn't it redundant to bring hot after scorching?


title: Is it wrong to say "cook a cake"?

text: Is it wrong to say "to cook a cake"?


title: "Precondition" vs. "prerequisite"

text: > In conclusion, security is the precondition of political freedom and > political freedom is the prerequisite for economic freedom. Do _precondition_ and _prerequisite_ mean the same in the above? Is there a difference?


title: Curriculum vitae: Proper qualifiers for skills

text: I am updating my curriculum vitae, and there is a section where I list my experience with several technologies and programming languages. I would like to group my experience in two categories; namely, technologies with which I have long experience, and those with which I have relatively basic (yet, not elementary) experience. Currently I am listing my experience as follows:   1. 20+ years of experience with X and Y   2. Some experience with W and Z However, _some experience_ sounds ambiguous and I think gives the impression that my experience with W and Z is quite elementary. I do have some experience with W and Z but not enough to call it "broad". What would be a good or proper qualifier for such skills?


title: Precise meaning of "Last N days, weeks, months or years"

text: Would phrases like these generally be considered inclusive of the current period? I think it's pretty clear that _last week_ does not include the current week. But does _last 2 weeks_ include the current week? Does it make a difference where you currently are in the period? For instance does _last 2 weeks_ on Sunday mean the exact same time period as _last 2 weeks_ on the following Monday (assuming you start a new week on Monday). On the following Thursday, does it then become an 11 day period rather than 14 days?


title: What does 'corporeal form' mean?

text: > These series, however, are only one particularly obvious example; throughout > practically the whole of chemistry, even in the various nitrogen oxides and > oxygen acids of phosphorus or sulfur, one can see how "quantity changes into > quality", and **this** allegedly confused, hazy Hegelian notion appears in > **so** to speak **corporeal form** in things and process.   * What does 'corporeal form' mean?    * What do these pronouns substitute?   * Does "quantity changes into quality" only apply to physic objects?


title: "Prerequisite for" vs. "prerequisite to"

text: When is it appropriate to use "prerequisite for" instead of "prerequisite to"? Does it depend on context, or is it a matter of style? I googled the two phrases and found 4.5 million hits for "prerequisite for" and 3 million for "prerequisite to".


title: Difference in usage of "rock" and "rocks"

text: Recently, I came across this situation where I was asked which one was correct: > Fossils are found in sedimentary rock. > > Fossils are found in sedimentary rocks. Is there is distinction between these statements?


title: What is the difference between " I look him" and " I look at him"?

text: I read some of the book my son was reading at home yesterday. It read "I look him." Afterwards, I felt curious about the difference between "I look him" and "I look at him" What is the difference between the two?


title: Middle English or Elizabethan English as a second language?

text: Are there books, web sites, or language courses designed for English speakers who want to learn Middle English or Elizabethan English in the same way that they would learn a foreign language? It would be fun to be able to understand Shakespeare fluently rather than straining to follow what was being said. Chaucer just seems hopeless without such a course, unless you're a college English major taking your upper-division course on Chaucer.


title: Uniquate = Eliminate or replace duplicates, make unique?

text: I am not a native English speaker and I need a word means **modifying a list/set to make it a unique-values list/set eliminating or replacing non- unique values with unique ones**. I am also aware of _deduplication_ suggestion, but I can't settle for it. Because, it sounds me that it means **eliminating** (deleting) duplicate values, but not **replacing**. So, the word **uniquate** meets this meaning or it is completely different thing? And any other suggestion? **Edit:** I need a word reflects especially **_replacement_** , but it is OK if it **also** reflects _eliminating_. I don't search for an answer focusing to only eliminating.


title: Is healthful considered an acceptable synonym of healthy?

text: To my ear, _healthful_ does not sound right. This could well be geographical bias on my part. Is it now a valid alternative to _healthy_? Does it have another meaning?


title: What does "feeling a little precious" mean?

text: I ran across this phrase in a video made by an Australian walking the Camino de Santiago. He describes a horrible sleep-deprived night and suffering from food poisoning, and states that he's **feeling a little precious**. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dqOI87nSU0 at 1:09:25. I assumed from the context it meant **wasted** or **shaky**. In this blog entry there's a similar use, I believe also from an Australian: > It was a good night as everyone celebrates throughout the city just as we do > at home. Woke up the next day **feeling a little precious** and was having a > coffee and looked at a stamp I had on my hand from a bar we went to. But then, in this blog, which is also an Australian, it's used a bit differently: > Matt is **feeling a little precious** about a couple of scams he's fallen in > to over the last couple of days. The first one was when he asked me the time > one morning and I mistakenly read my watch as 6.30am - off he went running > at 5.30am. He was a tad confused to get back at 6.20am. The second I will > let him explain but when you read it bear in mind how many years he spent > dealing with reps and suppliers getting the best possible price for shop > stock. Right Matt here. Absolutely gutted yesterday got conned by a gypsy > woman about 4 foot 6 and with only one tooth. In that case, it seems to mean **disappointed** or **embarrassed**. So, what's up with this?


title: "Inside of" vs. "inside"

text: I guess this is an American usage. When to use "inside of" versus "inside"? Any example sentences would be greatly appreciated.


title: "Had they have"?

text: > Had they have gone to the same place, they would have talked to one another. Is the sentence above acceptable? If not, then what is a proper way of saying this?


title: When did “green field’ and ‘brown field’ come into use as an economic, or investment term, and who rearranged so?

text: I’ve noticed economists often use the word, “green field” and “brown field” these days in TV talk shows when arguing the efficiency of governmental or corporate investment. I also saw the comment of representative of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), saying “Our interest is brown field. We don’t invest in green field” in an infra investment journal. He meant it’s better for GIP to invest in the field where they can capitalize on their managerial expertise and investment technology than in the field they are unfamiliar and can’t be sure of return of investment. Neither Cambridge nor Oxford English Dictionary carries ‘green field / brown field” as a word. Readers Plus English Japanese Dictionary (published by Kenkyusha) defines 'greenfield' as 'of underdeveloped area," with no mention of 'brownfield.' GoogleNgram’shows incidence of ‘green field’ at high 0.000012% level, and ‘brown field’ low at 0.0000012% level in 2007. But I think the usages of both words are irrelevant to the above case. When did “green field’ and ‘brown field’ as a pair come into use as an economic, or investment term, and who did arrange so?


title: Rationale behind pronunciation of "subtle"

text: I've read pronunciation, yet I'm still irresolute about the exposition/logic behind the pronunciation of **subtle**. Why is the **b** not pronounced? subtle = subtil(e) in French, in which the b is pronounced. That website avers: > "By the 18th century, however, they smartly dropped the silent **b** in > dette, and doute, and decided to begin pronouncing it in subtil. The deletion of **b** in these French nouns may explain the silent **b** in debt and doubt in English.   Yet why does this not extend to "su* _b_ *tle"? In French, dette and doute have no **b** (and thus b sound). Would this explain the silent **b** in "debt" and "doubt"? In French, the b in subtil(e) is pronounced. Yet the **b** in "subtle" isn't? Why does this differ?


title: What does ‘play a blinder’ mean? Is it a popular phrase?

text: I came across the phrase ‘ _played a blinder’_ in the following paragraph of the New York Times’ December 12 article, titled “British Euro Farce,” dealing with British Prime Minister David Cameron’s veto of EU treaty reform in December. > Marx observed that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. > Having a British prime minister say he’ll only go along with Germany saving > the euro if City of London banks get an exemption from a financial > transactions tax, while a Tory M.P. parties with Nazi lookalikes, and > another Tory boasts of Cameron having _“played a blinder,”_ is about as > farcical as it gets. As I am unfamiliar with the phrase, ‘played a blinder,’ I checked its meaning on Google, and found that only the Free Dictionary comes up with a definition: > to perform with a lot of skill, especially when you are playing sport, as an > example: _He's played a blinder in every game so far this season._ Apparently it indicates performing the play skillfully and successfully. Can I apply this definition to the above sentence as it is? Does it mean many Tories believe that Cameron vetoed the EU treaty reform successfully 'with a lot of skill’? Why is “played a blinder” in quotes? Is ‘play a blinder’ a popular idiom, not only in sports but in all other domains, in both UK and US?


title: Am I using “such” right?

text: Are these right?   1. such amounts of money   2. such a lot of money   3. such an amount of money   4. such lots   5. such lots of people


title: "Was the extent" vs "was about the extent"

text: > That was the extent of what I recalled. > > That was about the extent of what I recalled. Do the mean the same? If not, what's the difference?