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:
There was the following passage in New York Times' (October 6) article commenting on GOP Presidential candidate, Carly Fiorina under the headline, 'If she's a feminist, then I'm a T. Rex': 'Her record at Hewlett-Packard firing skilled Americans by the thousands and outsourcing their jobs to China and India, while almost running her company into the ground with an ill-advised merger is hardly a sterling record for any sort of candidate, assuming we actually want a president of all the people rather than a modern Ebenezer Scrooge, - - This is a woman who would deny other women control over their own bodies, as well. 'If she's a feminist then I'm a T. rex.' According to Jurassic wiki, Tyrannosaurus rex, the most famous of all dinosaurs species and commonly known as T. rex, was the largest of the Tyrannosaur family and by extension one of the largest theropods, reaching 12 to 13 meters in length. But what does 'If she's a feminist, then I'm a T. Rex' mean? Does the writer sarcastically admit herself being anachronistic? Why should it be a T.Rex, not other monsterous or supernatural creatures, say, Moby-Dick and Godzilla? Is this a cute turn of phrase? Could you translate 'I'm a T.rex' into plain English?.
answer:
All that that is saying is that she is no feminist whatsoever, being just as much of a feminist as the columnist is a giant extinct dinosaur. That is, not at all.


question:
As per title of the question, I see this a lot. 'We will release the product when issue 51 has been finalized.' 'We are waiting for it to be finalized.' Is this just a case of people trying to sound professional with corporate jargon , or is there a real difference between 'finish' and 'finalize'?.
answer:
The definitions of finalise and finish are pretty similar, with finalise referring to the production of, or agreement on, the finished version. The single word finalise carries the connotation of just the last bit, whereas finish needs helper words to carry that connotation (e.g. finish off, finish up). Saying that something is finished can also carry the unwanted sense that it is done for, that is, that it is of no further use; finalise doesn't carry that unwanted sense. In commerce (including the fields of software engineering and management that you specifically referenced), completion isn't always enough. The customer wants confirmation of completion. Transacting parties want the signed agreement that follows the completion of negotiations, or the invoicing and payment that follow the completion of work. So it isn't enough that the work is finished (even in the positive sense); it needs to be finalised.


question:
The synonym of trope is defined as metaphor, but there seem to be some other implications when using the word trope that metaphor does not have. Can anyone explain this simply and sensibly?.
answer:

The word trope has shot to prominence in the last couple of decades... And as this article points out, 'Trope is the New Meme', which I read in two ways. Use of the word itself has become a meme (pattern of behavior that spreads throughout a culture). But also, the meaning of the word has shifted for many people. To quote from that article... trope has to do with an agreed-upon narrative, an archetypal reading of a story or situation according to the simplest and most widely-held beliefs, a kind of narrative stereotype. Or, as the excellent site tvtropes puts it... tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations. I actually studied literature over 40 years ago, but I can't say I remember us using the word in the 'typical' dictionary sense as given by OED... A figure of speech which consists in the use of a word or phrase in a sense other than that which is proper to it; also, in casual use, a figure of speech; figurative language. So far as I'm concerned, if someone wants to use it like that, I'm not going to argue with them or their dictionaries. But most current usages are more in line with my first two definitions above. Here's how tvtropes knits the two definitions together... Merriam-Webster gives a definition of 'trope' as a 'figure of speech.' In storytelling, a trope is just that a conceptual figure of speech, a storytelling shorthand for a concept that the audience will recognize and understand instantly.