instruction:
Generate the answer for a given question. The question requires common knowledge of English. Make sure that the answer is in detail, long, consistent with the context, and requires general knowledge of English. To be less repetitive, please vary your language for each question. Give a proper explanation to answer, and if necessary, provide the definition of various terms. And conclude your answer if it's long. If you have used other resources (e.g., Merriam Webster's.) to answer the question, include citations in your answer. You don't need to paraphrase the context of your resources, but make sure that your answer is consistent and complete.
question:
Possible Duplicate: How and why have some words changed to a complete opposite? I have noticed that: horrible means bad terrible means bad horrific means bad So why does terrific mean good?.
answer:
The meaning of terrific has actually changed over time. According to EtymOnline: 1660s, 'frightening,' from L. terrificus 'causing terror or fear,' from terrere 'fill with fear' (see terrible) + root of facere 'to make' (see factitious). Weakened sensed of 'very great, severe' (e.g. terrific headache) appeared 1809; colloquial sense of 'excellent' began 1888. So terrific started out on the same lines as horrific, but then gained a positive colloquial sense in the late 1800s. The phenomenon in which a previously bad word takes on a good connotation is discussed here, in which it is called amelioration. Amelioration (which has occurred for terrific, wicked, luxury) is a type of semantic change. While it is unclear what precisely happened to terrific, there are a few ways in which this change can occur: Linguistic forces Psychological forces Sociocultural forces Cultural/encyclopedic forces You can read more about it here. It has been suggested (though there is little proof) that terrific became 'good' because of an association with the popular media via King Kong. Other than this theory, though, it is clear that terrific underwent some kind of semantic change between the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1930 Popular Science was still using the term to mean something 'frightening', and by the 1940s it was used mostly to mean 'good'.


question:
Possible Duplicate: Do you use 'a' or 'an' before acronyms? I got the following sentence from the book I'm reading: You can take a database-first approach by first creating a SQL Server database schema. From what I learned, I think it should be 'an SQL Server database schema', not 'a SQL Server database schema'. So which one is correct?.
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This depends, I would think, on your pronunciation of SQL. It can be pronounced as 'sequel', or spelled out as 'S-Q-L'. That perhaps doesn't help in written English. A thoroughly scientific survey of Google throws up many more hits for 'an SQL' than 'a SQL'. This is also the form used on that Wikipedia article and elsewhere, such as this Microsoft SQL Server documentation entitled 'Executing an SQL Query'.


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In Russian we have the term ''. I would translate it as 'asshands' which literally means that your hands grow out of your behind and you can't do anything right (or do anything at all). Example: Dad: 'Hey son, can you hang up this picture on the wall?' Son: 'No dad, my hands grow out of my behind, I'll probably end up hanging it upside down' (Or 'I am a _____' - i.e. the term I'm looking for.) Is there anything similar in English? Is the term 'screw up' the one? Or are there any other ones? I want slang specifically, preferably American.
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'All thumbs', according to Wiktionary 'clumsy, awkward, not dextrous.' 'Klutz', according to Wiktionary 'a clumsy or stupid person.'