texts: A noun phrase vs a question (what vs how)

texts:
Let's consider two phrases:

What makes work efficient
How to say 'Hello' in Chinese

The first one can either be a noun phrase (What makes work efficient is careful preparation) or a question (What makes work efficient?), but the second one can only be a noun phrase.
These two phrases seem to have very similar grammatical structure. The words what and how seem to have pretty similar usage in any language (not only English). So as a non-native English speaker, I would use How to say 'Hello' in Chinese not only as a noun-phrase, but also as a question:

How to say 'Hello' in Chinese?

But this one can't be used this way. What is the reason of this difference? Is it a pecularity of the English language?


texts:
Is "falls on" the right term in this sentence? Should it be "falls to"? I think it sounds incorrect to me — success doesn’t "fall on" some action, right? — but I can't put my finger on what should be done to salvage the sentence.

(I know I can change it to "... depends on executives finding a path ..." but I wanted to try to work with the original first.)

  The success of these strategies often falls on executives to find a path to profitability.


texts:
What word should be used when referring to a metaphorical state of two concepts that do not relate to each other?

For example: Love is far from hate, Art is far from commercial interests, Artists who are far from the majoritarian habits?


texts:
For example "The watch was a ____, it brought me nothing but bad luck"

Using the definition "Something worn that gives good luck" the Antonyms suggested by Mirriam-Webster (Hoodoo and Jinx) don't seem to quite fit the bill.

A composite or a metaphor would work too.. Is there something like a rabbits foot that is said to bring bad luck?


texts:
Adding "the" reverses the meaning in these two sentences:

Alice is in charge of Bob.
Alice is in the charge of Bob.

What is the formal grammatical explanation of this difference?


texts: "even more", "even much more", "many more"

texts:
My sentence is this:

Parents teach us how to speak and interact in social situations and even more.

I would like to know how to say "and a lot of other things" at the end of my sentence.
I have some suggestions, but I don't know which one is better:

"... and even more."
"... and even much more."
"... and many more."


texts: What is the function of 'a-' in the phrase 'cocks a-crow'

texts:
This is a beginning of W.B.Yeats's poem Under Ben Bulben:

  Swear by what the Sages spoke
  Round the Mareotic Lake
  That the Witch of Atlas knew,
  Spoke and set the cocks a-crow.

What is the function of a- in the phrase cocks a-crow? What is the general structure and meaning?
I think this function is different from what explained in this link

I guess here a- applied in the meaning of of. The Oxford dictionary indicates this meaning and brings the example of anew.


texts: What is this symbol "Dy" called (see image)

texts: I got a card and there's a symbol which precedes "James".  Something like "from" or "love".  Does anyone know what this symbol is?


texts: Why are black people referred to as "colored people"?

texts: When someone calls a black person "a colored guy", I can't help but think about the question "are white people colorless? Isn't white a color too?"


texts: correct sentence with or without usage of "which"

texts:
In my technical report, I am bit confused that which of the following two sentences is correct or proper.

  An important challenge remains to be addressed in the IoT is the ease of application development for the stakeholders involved in the application development.

OR

  An important challenge remains to be addressed in the IoT is the ease of application development for the stakeholders, which are involved in the application development.


texts:
I am confused if this sentence is correct or do I need to extend it using "performances"

The performance of method 1 and method 2 is compared with method 3 in this section


texts:
This contract clause [...] that I have this-and-that right.

which of the following can I use instead of the [...]?

"says"?
"stipulates"?
"dictates"?
"mandates"?
something else?


texts: Dropping a noun and keeping the adjective in a contrast sentence

texts:
This sentence is parallel and correct: "Eyes with an average rating of >= 4.0 were included in the attractive cohort, while eyes with an average rating of <=  2.0 were included in the unattractive cohort."
Can this be rewritten more concisely and still be grammatically correct as "Eyes with an average rating of  >= 4.0 were included in the attractive cohort, while those with <= 2.0 were included in the unattractive."
Does this violate parallelism? Is it clear that "those" refers to eyes with average ratings? Is it fine to end the sentence with the adjective unattractive without adding cohort to the end of it?


texts: Proper adjective to use with the word "chance" ("low", "small", "slim", etc.)

texts:
What is the proper adjective to use with the word chance? Can chance be low, small, slim?
What would be your suggestion?


texts:
What is correct/preferable and why?

a) "The error of the first model is lower than the one of the second model."

or

b) "The error of the first model is lower than the second model."

To me, a) sounds more natural but also overcomplicated.

Thanks!


texts: Difference between *guile* and *beguile*?

texts:
According to the dictionary, guile as a noun means cunning or deceit, while as a tr.verb it means to deceive.
Beguile, doesn't seem to have a noun form, and as a tr.verb means to deceive or to be cunning. Is the difference simply that of a noun/verb?

Can guile be used as a verb? If I am sightseeing and a tout charges me too much, was I guiled? Or was I beguiled? (or neither?)(or both?)

Both seem to mean to deceive. Can anyone offer some clarification on the differences between the two? Are the interchangable?


texts: What would be an appropriate opposite of "advance" in this sentence?

texts:
I want to convey the ability to navigate up and down a list of features*, similarly to the "next" and "previous" scene buttons in a DVD.

What would be the appropriate opposite of advance in "advance to the next feature"? Is "revert to the previous feature" the appropriate phrase?

* Feature in this case refers to a GIS feature (record), though this is irrelevant for the question.


texts:
I was wondering if there is a specific preference for the soon position in the following line:

  You will receive a message with the activation link soon.

Or if it is better/more common to use:

  You will soon receive a message with the activation link.

Is it merely preference or does it have other implications? At first sight I don't really see a form of intonation here that might make the sentence give a different meaning.

My primary language is Dutch, so I might make some mistakes in this field :)

In Dutch we would say:

  Je ontvangt zo spoedig mogelijk je activeringslink per email.

But can also say:

  Je ontvangt je activeringslink zo spoedig mogelijk per email.

Which in both cases zo spoedig mogelijk refers to the same principle as the soon in the English form. zo spoedig mogelijk means as soon as possible, whereas binnenkort might better refer to soon as in a bit.


texts: What does the word "hacking" or "hacker" come from?

texts:
Is there a history behind the word "hacker" and "hacking"?

Could it have anything to do with "hashing" i.e. using a hash function?


texts:
In a video, two people are describing a character from a fictional show and they say: 'he loves bits, he's always doing bits' and they move on to another topic. I don't understand the meaning of 'bits' and 'do bits' in this context. I looked up 'bits' in the Urban dictionary but I am not sure if any of those definitions would fit there.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!


texts:
I've learned that we use "someone" when in affirmative sentence and "anyone" when in negative or question sentence.

Altough, I saw a lot of results in google for the sentence "how can ANYONE".

So what is right?


texts:
What does the phrase "before too long" mean?

Excerpt from where I read this phrase:

  The response to the SDK has been quite
  good and I expect to start hearing
  about some great apps and success
  stories before too long.


texts: Is there a better way to write multiple Nota Bene? i.e "n.b., n.b.b." e.t.c

texts:
What is the preferred way to write:

n.b. Thing.
n.b. Related thing #2.

Can you use an approach similar to P.S.?:

p.s (post-scriptum)
p.p.s (postquam-post-scriptum)

Or, should it be something like:

n.b. Thing.
related thing #2


texts: Question about GRE sentence in supporting the passage?

texts:
I am confused about the this solution. It says that the author includes "East End working-class theaters" to illustrate that the magazines can sway public opinion.

Although the preceding sentence discusses this, how can we know that the working class had a favorable opinion of "East End theaters," thus confirming that their opinions were swayed? The passage never addresses the actual working-class's opinion.

The only possible explanation is that if this sentence was not supporting the idea that magazines could sway public opinion, then it would be a useless/irrelevant sentence. Is this enough justification to support this answer, or is there another explanation?


texts:
Example sentence:

  People always ended up hating him. This __ not only manifested itself
  in matters of friendship, also in his relationship with the opposite
  sex.

The closest word I could think of was incidence, but it's not quite right for the context. Is there a better alternative?


texts: Is a syllable defined phonetically or etymologically?

texts:
Reading recent postings about syllables I've been struck and baffled by talk of the possibility that words may have a different number of syllables when they are written than when they are spoken.

Is "church" one syllable or two?

How many syllables are in the word 'hour'?

As a musician I am very clear that a book of music is just that, a book containing a (more or less helpful) representation of music.  The book itself is not a piece of music (any more than Magritte's painting of a pipe 'is' actually a pipe).  Only the sound of music is music.  It is also my view (and among musicians I'm not out on any kind of limb!) that wonderful and awe-inspiring as music theory is to me, it is based on the work of a succession of rule-breaking composers.  Music theory has always, and can only, play catch-up with music practice.

Do you think this is the case with language ? When I say church I make two clear sounds. I think you have to. On what grounds could church be said to have only one syllable ?

The OED offers that syllable is

  a vocal sound or set of sounds uttered with a single effort of articulation and forming a word or an element of a word; each of the elements of spoken language comprising a sound of greater sonority (vowel or vowel-equivalent) with or without one or more sounds of less sonority (consonants or consonant-equivalents).

If I say, "I'll meet you at the church" - church involves, for me, two 'efforts of articulation' ... two syllables?


texts: Use of infinite/-ing: to have someone do something or to have someone doing something

texts:
I have a question regarding the use of infinite/-ing (or past participle?) in the following sentence. Which one is correct between

"Firms often have some of their executives sitting on the board of competitors."

and

"Firms often have some of their executives sit on the board of competitors."

? If both forms are wrong, could you suggest a correct form? If both forms are correct, could you kindly say it in an answer?


texts: Using a "to-infinitive" after coordinating conjunctions (e.g., "and") or not?

texts:
I am wondering whether the "to" should be repeated after a coordinating conjunction or not. For example,

a) [...] practical examples to round up the learning experience and provide the tools for real-world applications.

b) [...] practical examples to round up the learning experience and to provide the tools for real-world applications.

Are both a) or b) correct? If yes, which one is to be preferred in terms of "good style"?


texts: English word to best represent the Dutch double A / [a] sound

texts:
My Dutch name is Maarten which has a double A inside of it, pronounced simply as [a]. It is often misspelled as Marteen. I guess that most persons will remember my name as Martin but with a double vowel in there somewhere. So I often have to indicate how to write / pronounce my name.

With that in mind, I wonder what word I could best use to show how "aa" sounds like in Dutch. I've come up with "Hawaii" which I guess has two [a]'s in there. I'm wondering if there is a shorter / better word than "Hawaii" though. "Hawaii" isn't an English word after all, it's a name from another language.

Is there a short English word - borrowed or not - that has the full, high pitched [a] sound in there?


texts: Whom VS Which (According To The Subject Of The Sentence)

texts:
I wrote this recently for an interview write-up, and was corrected with "whom" instead of "which". If the SUBJECT of the sentence is the person/people, then I understand about the use of "whom". However in this case, I meant the subject to be "work" which I introduced early in the sentence, so I used "which" to refer to it. Is that wrong?

Her work primarily requires her to interact with Deaf individuals, which she had no experience with.


texts: Is the phrase "for one of both of us" grammatically correct?

texts:
In portal, Glados at one point says this: "and I thought of a solution that would be the best for one of both of us."

I am debating about whether or not the construction of "for one of both of us" is grammatically correct.

My first opinion is that this is incorrect. Following the words "for one of", you can either:
    * list two alternatives (e.g. "...for one of X or Y")
    * or you can list a single noun that represents a collective (e.g. "...for one of the group").
You cannot treat "both of us" as a list of two alternatives because 'both of' explicitly means they are not alternatives. If you treat "both of us" as the name of a group, then you would have to pre-pend it with a particle. This makes "...for one of the both of us" to be more grammatically correct, but still exceedingly awkward. Consider "...for one of the three of us" vs. "for one of three of us".

Anyway can someone clear this up?

If my above opinion is correct, can someone explain it in clearer grammatically terms (i.e. preferably with grammatical concepts that I can verify on say, wikipedia or an English textbook).

If I am wrong, can someone explain what is flawed about my above opinion? Is "both of us" in Glados' quote considered a collective noun? If not, what part of speech is "both of us" in that sentence?


texts:
I recently had a discussion with a friend, and he was using a phrase repeatedly which said "Conversion Rate vs Time". I pointed out to him that Rate already has the time factor, so you don't have to say Rate vs Time, but he then pointed me to the Wikipedia page for Rate

  The most common type of rate is "per unit time", such as speed, heart rate and flux. Ratios that have a non-time denominator include exchange rates, literacy rates and electric flux.

Which is fair enough, but it did leave me confused (for the first time so many years) by the term Literacy Rate. I never realized it till now, but why do we append Rate to Literacy?

Is Literacy alone not enough to define the metric which we now call Literacy Rate? Why do we use Rate? What does Rate signify in this scenario?


texts: Is there a word that means "every four weeks"?

texts:
Is there a fourth word in this series: weekly, biweekly, triweekly, ...?

If not, and I had to coin a word, then would "quadweekly", "quadriweekly", or some other word be more etymologically appropriate? For example, is there a similar series from which I could borrow the prefix for "four"?

UPDATE: "Monthly" isn't appropriate because one month is a few days more than four weeks.


texts: "Remember those times that" or "remember those times when"

texts:
I have seen that in certain places the phrase "remember those times that" is used, when I actually find it more natural to say "remember those times when".

Since I am not a native English speaker I was wondering which is more appropriate.

For instance:

"Remember those times that I met Bob" vs "Remember those times when I
met Bob".
"I remember those times that I pretended that I was looking
around but I was actually [...]"
"I remember those times that I would
think about [...]"

I found a case in which it sounded more natural to use that: "remember those times that won't come back again", but this is not the same type of sentence.

What do you think? Are these two forms interchangeable?


texts: What does it mean that sea turtles get a smaller ''salary premium''?

texts:
For starters a bit of background about sea turtles to give some context to the question:

  The terms "sea turtle" (a pun on "hai gui") and "seaweed" (a pun on "hai dai") are homonyms for "return from abroad" and "return and wait for work" in Chinese respectively.

My question does not refer to the sea turtles, but to the expression salary premium in the following sentence:

  Several studies show that sea turtles on average must now wait longer to find a less senior post at a smaller salary premium over local hires.


texts: How do you describe these animals' action/ state before attacking their prey?

texts:
Some animals like tigers, lions, cats, etc do this action before attacking their prey suddenly and unexpectedly. In fact they seem waiting insidiously (?) until the appropriate moment for attacking and (usually) the poor prey is not aware of their presence.

What is the verb, phrase, or idiom for describing this action/ state?

I have found "ambush" but I don't know wether it can be used for animals or not.


texts: What do hotel or restaurant employees call the place at the back where tables and chairs are arranged..? It isn't a kitchen or a staff lounge but, it's a place for servers to prepare things needed while business hours such as folding napkins and cleaning glasses. And the place is not invisible for customers. Sometimes when workers feel tired, they take a rest for a few minutes there, usually standing.(There is usually not a big space.) In my country we just call it "Backside", I feel like it's wrong in real English. Is there any proper word for that place?


texts: "Number of attempts per question is unlimited" or "are limited"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “A number of students” vs. “the number of students”

I want to know whether the following construct is correct:

  Number of Attempts per Question is unlimited.

I want to know if it should be are in place of is in the above sentence.

I have read somewhere that the article before number (whether the or a) governs the form of the verb. However, here there is no article before Number.


texts: History of "Asian American" / "African American" nomenclature

texts:
Why are some Americans named to indicate their ancestry? It is not common to say, German Americans, or Russian Americans; however, African American, and Asian American are accepted nomenclatures. Even President Obama's Wikipedia entry reads, "He is the first African American to hold the office."

What is the origin / reason for this?

Update: "I am an American. Black. Conservative. I don't use African-American, because I'm American, I'm black and I'm conservative. I don't like people trying to label me. African- American is socially acceptable for some people, but I am not some people." -Herman Cain


texts: Why did the word, “shellac” come to mean “to defeat completely” as a U.S. slang？

texts:
There were clamorous arguments about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of Mr. Donald Trump’s comment, “Hillary Clinton – former first lady, former U.S. senator, former secretary of state, woman got schlonged by then-senator Barack Obama in her 2008 primary run.” at a campaign stop in Michigan on December 21, 2015.

I suspect that Mr. Trump’s phrase in question “(Mrs. Clinton) got schlonged” is a malapropism of “got shellacked,” after reading the following paragraph in the article under the title of “Donald Trump’s ‘shlonged’: A linguistic investigation" in The Washington Post (December 22, 2015).

  And headline writers often ransack the language for onomatopoeic synonyms for ‘defeat’ such as drub, whomp, thump, wallop, whack, trounce, clobber, smash, trample, and Obama’s own favorite, shellac (which in fact sounds a bit like shlong).
  [emphasis added]

Collins English Dictionary defines “shellac” as:

  verb.

  to coat or treat an article with a shellac varnish
  (U.S. slang) to defeat completely

besides the noun meaning a natural varnish.

So much for a long preamble and apart from right or wrongness of my guess, how did “shellac” come to mean “complete defeat”?


texts: Collective term for data sizes (bytes, kilobytes, megabytes etc.)

texts:
As you will probably work out from my profile, I'm a software developer. This is sort of a software development question, but I think this is more suited to English language too.

Feel free to migrate if you think the question does not belong here.

Say I want to refer to the data size, or capacity of something:

A floppy disk can hold 1.44 megabytes of data.
My flash drive can hold 16 gigabytes of data.
My internet connection can operate at a maximum of 50 gigabits per second
I have just managed to compress a file from 1 megabyte to just 200 kilobytes.

How do I collectively refer to these units of data size/capacity?


texts: Can you always replace "that that" with "which that"?

texts: At least I haven't yet been able to imagine a context in which there is a clear semantic difference between "that that" and "which that". No hardware warnings, either. I've always been a bit troubled by the double-that, and I know that some spelling checkers object, but as far as I can recall none of them has ever recommended "which that" as a replacement.


texts: Present Perfect tense in combination with 'for/in/since'

texts:
I'm currently having a discussion with a friend regarding the usage of a present perfect tense in combination with for/in/since etc.

It revolves around this sentence:

Traffic has been a big problem in The Netherlands for the past few years.

To my understanding with this sentence you say traffic was a problem till now, because with 'for the past few years' you indicate that the problem is solved recently.

But he says the meaning of the sentence here is: 'traffic was and is still a problem'.

I believe this is incorrect, and if he wants to indicate that traffic was and still is a problem he would need to formulate the sentence as followed: 'Traffic has been a big problem in The Netherlands in the past few years.'

*Originally I wanted to use 'since the past few years' but according to this topic that is incorrect in English grammar.

Regardless, I hope you can shed some light if I'm wrong and hopefully also why I'm wrong so I can learn.


texts: Generic word for religious establishment

texts:
I need a word to describe any community that is religious. For example, a Church Group or Temple Youth Group. Would Religous Institution be correct?

Edit: As single word would probably be impossible, 2 or 3 word phrases would also work.


texts: Is there a phrase for the re-establishment of friendship with someone?

texts: What is the phrase which means to re-establish a cordial relation between two friends which used to be bitter?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Which day does “next Tuesday” refer to?

This is October. We went to the hill station this year's (2012) summer. Now, how do I say this to others. I have been saying this summer we went to the hill station. Is last summer we went to the hill station means the same thing?

EDIT:

I got this from the answers:
In essence you are saying: last summer is referred to summer of last year and this summer refers to summer of this year..


texts: "differently" vs. "different" in a certain sentence

texts:
I found the following text in an article at http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/few-hours-left-nomination-74341 :

In Chittagong, the AL and the BNP were not worried as only one person from each party has collected nomination papers.
It's a differently story in the councillors' race. More than 560 individuals, most of them of AL and BNP, have collected nomination papers.

Is the use of "differently" correct here?  I expected it to be "different".


texts:
Is there a special name for small villages? Like a made up name of the village or a real one that functions as a recognizable synonym for a small village? E.g. "This 'town' he lives in is actually the size of _(the name of small village)"

Edit: I was thinking more about something which sounds funny; also, the name does not necessarily have to fit the example. it can be 'as big as _' or whatever comes to your mind.


texts: Is it the expression “from the floor” correct?

texts:
Is it correct if I say

  the object loses contact from the floor

meaning that the object won’t touch the floor anymore?


texts: Is there a word for the sound the wind makes?

texts: I have been in quiet spaces and heard the wind coming long before it gets to where I am. It is almost like a presence that is there at the edge of perception.


texts: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream"- Is there a term that describes this 'word play'?

texts:
What is the term that describes the word play found below?

  “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream”

Another example might be the punchline: "Orange you glad to see me"?


texts: Does Stockholm syndrome only apply to kidnapping condition?

texts:
I mean there should be an implication of meaning that
someone(kidnapper) first treats you badly, then suddenly
changes his attitude to treat less badly. This sudden change makes the object(hostage) become grateful as a result.

I have searched online but only to find that Stockholm syndrome only describes
the kidnapping condition, are there any other words match the above implication
of meaning?

Examples: parents first treats their children strictly like grounded for a week, but then change into less strictly grounded for half a week. This change then makes the children become grateful. Another example, China has a Great Fire Wall that separate its people from reaching the world outside through internet without Vpn, after such long time of oppression, the people gradually become obedient by confronting themselves at least they still have the internet to use inside the wall or think that the world outside have dangerous/unhealthy information, yet they don't argue who should be responsible for this inconvenience but continually comply to the governence of Chinese Communist Party.


texts: A single word describing a piece of literature that contains many figures of speech

texts:
I'm looking for a positive word. A word that describes a writer and/or a piece of their work... which has the quality of being densely packed with impressive uses of literary devices.

Example sentence:

He tends to like authors that are ..........
He only appreciates songs if the lyrics are .........

The word I'm looking for doesn't necessarily have to be applicable to both the sentences above. Either one will do. A single word is ideal, but a short phrase would be acceptable.

Once again, I wish to reiterate that I'm looking for a positive word. I realize that this style of writing has its critics and there are words which could be used to attack its over-the-top nature. But I want to describe it as a good thing. So anything with primarily negative connotations is out.


texts: Is there a better alternative for "marriage seeker"?

texts: I'm trying to find an alternative for "marriage seeker"; ie, someone who asks for the other's hand in marriage.


texts:
Which one is more appropriate - "If you don't mind me asking" or "If you don't mind my asking"?

I always thought that it was "If you don't mind me asking", but I recently heard "If you don't mind my asking" (more precisely, whilst watching True Detective, I heard "If you don't mind me asking" but the subtitles read "If you don't mind my asking").

Now, the latter makes sense if "asking" is referred to as a noun, but it sounds a little twisted.

Which one is the right one?

Thanks


texts: What is the meaning of the terms: brown meat, black meat, white meat and red meat?

texts:
While reading an article, I saw this question:

  Do you prefer brown meat or white meat?

I definitely don't know what this means. Could you tell me more about it?


texts:
I am writing a review of a French film named Les Choristes. I want to describe the troubled children in the film in this way "Those students are experts at defying teachers, they are the inventors of opposition to teachers, and they are graduates in paltering with teachers."
Do I need to use quotation marks for "experts/inventors/graduates" since they are not real experts, inventors and graduates, but ironic expressions. Some say that the ironic meaning can be known in this context. There's no need to add the marks.  What's your opinion?


texts: Word to describe a person who volunteers often

texts:
I'm looking for a single noun word to describe a person who volunteers often! In the US military we often heap praise among servicemembers who volunteer for tasks often, as the willingness to help others is seen as an admirable trait.

Sample Sentence: That Marine is a gifted marksman, an able leader, and a reliable person who volunteers often.


texts: The correct usage of 'Not only' in the beginning of a negative sentence

texts:
Am I  using Not only . . . but also correctly?

Not only have these conditions been not prepared in developed countries, but developing countries also have not accepted them.
Not only have not these conditions been prepared in developed countries, but also have developing countries not accepted them.
Not only have these conditions not been prepared in developed countries, but (also) in developing countries.

Could you tell me which sentence is correct, where the right location of not in the above examples is, and whether  we can ignore the verb after but also like example 3?

In the end, do you have any better idea for writing the mentioned example less casually?


texts: 1 o'clock in the morning OR 1 o'clock at night?

texts: Could you help me on this? In my native language I would speak about the "night" starting from around 11 pm till 4 in the morning. So every time I see an English phrase like "2 o'clock in the morning" I get confused.


texts: Is there a good, well-known, literal translation of the Japanese "山椒は小粒でもぴりりと辛い"

texts:
I've seen

  山椒は小粒でもぴりりと辛い

translated as

japanese peppers small, but hot

even if the seeds are small, they are very spicy

Sichuan pepper is, even small-grained, piriri (onomatopoeia) spicy. (is that even a proper sentence?)

Small head but great wit

Sansho is pretty small grain but pretty spicy

little head great wit

He is short but sharp―small but smart

The Japanese pepper is hot with a small grain

A grain of pepper may be tiny but it still is sharp on the tongue

Within a little head, great wit.

Good things come in small packages

It seems a bit all over the place. I was wondering if there was a good literal translation that is well-known. Any ideas?


texts: Word for moving quickly enough for things to seem blurry

texts:
I want to describe an anecdote, but want to use a word to describe the time period. So in physics when you move quickly enough to approach the speed of light, time breaks down and relativity kicks in. I want to describe a period in the past that I was moving so quickly at the time (such as through college) that the events seem to mesh together. Like a very, very fast moving object in relativity. Preferably a single word I can use such as

I was moving _____ so everything was unclear.

Or

I was moving like a ____ so everything seems to mesh together.

Or

I was so ____ that everything seems blurry now.

Naturally I can just give the long winded physics explanation, but that's extremely verbose, and distracts from the subject matter because the need to explain what the metaphor is directly.


texts:
In a conversation today I needed a word for "Young of an animal". Not animal-specific like "puppy" or "kitten".

The conversation went like this:

  Me: 2 kittens to be precise!
  Person: Kittens are cute!
  Me: All [hesitation due to not knowing a word] youngs of animals are cute.

I would have said litter but I am not referring to a group of youngs. Also I want that word in singular.


texts: Can the term "jack/jerk off" be used for female masturbation?

texts:
I apologize for this potentially obscene question.

Can the terms jack off or jerk off be used for female masturbation? If not (which is my intuition), what would be the not too poetic vulgar slang equivalent? By too poetic I refer to expressions such as spank the monkey, choke the chicken, etc.

I checked online dictionaries, and most of them don't expand on the usage, and some of the definitions in the Urban Dictionary imply that jack off primarily refers to male masturbation, but do not provide the female counterpart.


texts: Which meaning of "as" is used in "as to" and "so as to"

texts:
The common word "as" can be used as preposition, adverb, conjunction etc. But when we use phrases like:-
"So as to", "as to", "as of now", "as of yet" etc.
Which meaning of "as" is being used ?


texts: Word to replace "tomorrow" in a world without "day"

texts:
I am looking for a single word meant to represent the evening, much like "tomorrow", "today", [missing word], and "tonight". I do realise that "tomorrow" doesn't actually mean "this morning", but the word I'm looking for is a sort-of replacement for "tomorrow" for a fictional world where mornings and days are a thing of the past and it is engulfed in eternal nights.

There already exists a question which asks for an antonym to the phrase "on the morrow", which I link here:
Antonym/Opposite of "on the morrow", and the word "eve" came up, which would look utterly horrendous as "toeve" for my purposes.

Is there an existing word in the English language that could substitute "morrow" of "tomorrow" to be related to evening time?

Sample sentence: What I couldn't finish tonight, I will not finish [word] either.


texts: Can the word attendance be used to describe the state or action of being an attendant?

texts: According to Wiktionary, an attendant is "One who attends; one who works with or watches over something". When one is an attendant, is it grammatically correct to describe the state of being an attendant by saying "I am doing attendance"?


texts: Is the word "either" required in a "this or that" sentence?

texts:
Example sentences:

A) You can pick either this or that.
B) You can pick this or that.

Is A, B or both correct?


texts: How to paraphrase: "key questions include"?

texts: I’m not a native English speaker and it seems I can’t find enough suitable and different phrases for introducing lists. I’m writing an abstract for a scientific conference and would like to avoid word repetition in such a short text. I used the phrases “Preferred topics include ...” and “Key questions include: ...”. Do you have any suggestions to preserve the original (or close) meaning of the phrases without repeating the word include?


texts: How to pronounce words starting with hypo-?

texts:
According to Wiktionary, hypocrisy (/hɪˈpɑkɹəsi/) and hypothesis (/haɪˈpɒθɪ̈sɪs/) are both coming from French, from Latin, and earlier from Greek, with the same root ὑπό (hupó).

However, the ‘y’ in hypo- is pronounced completely different in both cases. One plausible theory could be that hypocrisy used to be written ipocrisie in the XII century, and the pronunciation could have diverged at that time.

What rule to use to pronounce words starting with hypo-?


texts: Can the word “art” be used as a verb to mean “create art”?

texts:
In the Washington Post (July 27 issue) article titled, “Figuring out what matters in a midlife ‘Is this all there is?’ crisis” the columnist, Carolyn Hax writes as follows:

  “Tweak as you need to, of course: Travelers should travel and givers
  should give and artists should art (that’s a verb, right?). If mere
  tweaks don’t produce meaning, then, yes, take these recent deaths as
  your hint to reevaluate who you are and what path you want to take. -
  - - Your life is right where you want it - right where your choices took you — and that better lighting is all you need to see its
  beauty.”
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/carolyn-hax-figuring-out-what-matters-in-a-midlife-is-this-all-there-is-crisis/2014/07/27/d3cceeb8-0c5c-11e4-8341-b8072b1e7348_story.html?wpisrc=nl%5fmost

She asks “that (art) is a verb, right?” by herself.

But both of CED and OED provide definitions of “art(s)” only as a noun.

I’ve been told that most of nouns are transferable to verbs by some of respectful users several times in this site. But as the author is asking “’art,’ that’s a verb, right?,” even she doesn’t seem to be very confident of her usage of this specific word as a verb, much less a non-native English speaker like me.

Is it quite common to use “art” as a verb in the meaning of “produce / create” art (works) as shown in the above quote?


texts: Is there a name for the parts that are connected by a conjunction?

texts: For example, the parts of a sentence that a preposition operates on are called "prepositional objects". I was wondering if there's a name for the parts that are connected by a conjunction? E.g. in "apples and oranges", would we say "apple" and "orange" are the objects of "and"?


texts: What's the proper adjective for gaslighting?

texts:
It's well known that to gaslight someone is to cause them to question their own perception of reality, from the 1940s movie Gas Light.

I came across the usage gaslit to refer to someone so treated, but this sounds off. Gaslit is certainly the adjective to use when describing something actually lit by a gas light, but it seems that when invoking the movie we should say that someone has been gaslighted, since gaslighting is a separate term not involving actual light.

Unfortunately I can't find any authority either way. The instances of gaslit I've found clearly refer to physical lights. Can I get either an authority or a strong opinion? (-:


texts:
If I were to write a sentence beginning with a question, where would the question mark go? It does not seem right at the end of the sentence.

For example:

  Was there something changed recently because internet shouldn't be dropping this low, even for a small plan.

The format of the sentence doesn't feel right having a question mark at the end and it does look right having one at the end of question:

  Was there something changed recently? because internet shouldn't be dropping this low, even for a small plan.

What is the correct way to format a question like this?


texts: So I am playing a game with my two year old niece where I fall down and she comes to help me saying "I need help uncle" as in "I need to help my uncle".  The family discussion at the moment is whether "I need help uncle." is grammatically correct when used in this way.


texts: Is it grammatical to use the relative pronoun “that” after a comma?

texts:
I’ve always thought it grammatically wrong to use “that” to introduce non-defining relative clauses, after a comma, or after a preposition.
The following two sentences, however, use “that” after a comma and they still sound idiomatic to me.

  “It’s no use repeating the obvious things, that have been said by others, and that can be found in any encyclopedia.”
  “That’s the person, if I’m not mistaken, that we were talking about."

Can it be that, contrary to what I think, “that” can be used after a comma? Or is it just the wrong use of a comma where there should be none?  It’s true that in the second example “that” introduces a defining relative clause. But it doesn't appear to be so in the first example.

Edit - I'm not asking for a more natural way of saying things. What I'm asking is:

1. Are these sentences grammatical? Should we use "which" in the second sentence?

2. Is it wrong to place the comma before "that"?

3. Is it wrong to use "that" to introduce a non-restrictive clause as in the first sentence?

The questions  Difference between 'which' and 'that' in restrictive (defining) relative clauses  and   Are there rules about using "that" to join two clauses? and The usage of "that" as a relative pronoun have some good answers on when to use or to omit “that” but they do not address these specific points.


texts: A word / term for people who criticize others' behavior while exempting themselves from the same criticism

texts:
During gym class, we were doing a workout video. This is what happened:

Two girls start screaming at someone to keep their back straight. The thing is that they are not even keeping their backs straight.

It's really frustrating how they assume that they're doing all the exercises properly and that they can give criticism to other people.

Also, they screamed it out loud exactly when the teacher was coming around.

Is there a word to explain this type of behavior?


texts: Is this sentence grammatically correct? Thank you

texts: I was extremely surprised and am grateful for you all celebrating Mallory’s and my special day.


texts: Help paraphrase this sentence in plain English: "He could scarcely have astonished and disturbed men more if he had actually set it moving."

texts:
Copernicus ventured to assert that the earth moved. He could scarcely have astonished and disturbed men more if he had actually set it moving.

The word could makes the part in bold sound to me as if it was written in the subjunctive mood, but I don't understand what that second sentence says.

Can you please help me paraphrase the sentence to make its meaning clearer?


texts: Opposition between the LOT vowel and the STRUT vowel

texts: I've noticed that some UK accents have the LOT vowel in words like nothing, none or one, whereas others have the STRUT vowel. The Lexico and Cambridge online dictionaries only give the STRUT pronunciation. Can anyone tell me where in the UK the LOT vowel tends to occur instead? I know that at least some Yorkshire accents have the FOOT vowel in one, so it's not a simple north/south divide.


texts: Noun to describe someone who always knows the right things to say

texts:
I am looking for a single word response for someone who always knows the right things to say in any situation. For example:

  Taylor got us out of trouble with the police. What a ___.


texts: Are "planning on visiting" and "planning to visit" interchangeable?

texts:
More specifically, are "planning on visiting" and "planning to visit" interchangeable in the following sentence:

"I was planning on visiting you during your office hours next week but there was no list to sign up on outside your door."

If only one of the two options works, why?


texts: What do you call the action of alternatively walking and jogging to complete a Full Marathon?

texts:
I am writing about my friend's first experience post completing a full marathon. Being her very first try at the endurance sport of long distance running, she couldn't complete the full distance, not at least by running. She had to complete it by walking and jogging alternatively (walking a few kms and jogging another few for the final ~12 odd kms). If I wanted to express this in a sentence, how can I best do it?

  Shree ________ her way to the finish line, completely exhausted and struggling for breath.

Strolled and tiptoed seem to convey entirely different meanings to the above sentence. Struggled comes close but it would underwhelm what I am trying to say. I'd appreciate a lot if you could suggest an answer, specifically in the context of Marathons.


texts: 'Given a choice' vs.'If I had to choose'

texts:
Can the phrases given a choice and if I had to choose be used interchangeably?

I made a statement like "Given a choice, I would do this," my original intention being to select that over the other option. But it was misinterpreted as "I did not want to do the other option," and I was told that I should have used "If I had to choose between the two."

Some inputs would be highly appreciated


texts:
After searching in dictionaries, I have found that the phrasal verb 'deal with' is informal and its formal equivalent can be, among others, 'to handle'. However, when I searched for the verb 'to treat', I did not find any reference saying that the verb is informal (in Oxford Thesaurus of English, Pocket Oxford American Dictionary, and Chambers Universal Learners' Dictionary...they all consider it formal/neutral).

though I think it would be very informal to say in academic writing (as am writing an academic disssertation) 'to treat the situation' instead of 'to handle/or to manage the situation'. I think it is informal to be used academically. What do you think?


texts:
Is the grammar and structure in the following line correct (specifically in the marked section)?

  In light of this, it was very much in the interests of myself, the relevant department heads, and the foreign partners to ensure that the project be completed far before deadline had arrived."


texts: In formal writing, should you capitalise the word "colonies" referring to the thirteen colonies?

texts:
In formal writing (MLA format essay) when should you capitalise the word colonies? I imagine the in the phrase "The Thirteen Colonies" it would be as that is a title, but I'm not sure if it is indeed correct. Also would it be capitalised in a sentence like one I'm writing, "This caused a rise in Christian influence in the Colonies" is that correct? Or should it be lowercase?
Thanks.


texts: Correct adjectival form of the word "disperse"

texts:
I am writing an article related to the ionosphere and I would like to ask what form of the word disperse is right in the sentence:

A significant majority of the error can be easily removed using two or
more frequencies due to the disperse nature of the ionosphere.

I looked at few dictionaries and googled the combination "disperse nature". Here is what I found:

▶adjective: Chemistry denoting a phase dispersed in another phase, as in a colloid. – derivatives
dispersal noun,
disperser noun,
dispersible adjective
dispersive adjective.

And for example http://www.yourdictionary.com/disperse-system

disperse system
A disperse system is a two-part system made up of microscopic particles and the medium in which they are suspended. (noun)

Here, if I am not mistaken, the word disperse is used as an adjective.

I am not an English native speaker and I have no sense in this. What is the right form for my sentence?


texts: Can the word "premise" ever refer to a location or building?  I have noticed that "premise" is being used in the computer industry to refer to a computer system that is located at a customer's place of business.  I think that this is a misuse of the word and that the word "premises" should be used instead.


texts:
Tech stands for technique or technology. But how should one pronounce tech?  Is it as /tɛk/ as in technical or /tɛtʃ/ as in tetchy?

Similarly, arch stands for architect or architecture. How do you pronounce arch? Is it the same way you do when you say the Golden Arches,  or it it as in archangel with a /k/ sound?


texts: Is there one word that means the inability to remember an event?

texts:
Is there one word that by itself means the inability to recall when something happened (or anything, for that matter)?

For example, if I am asked to respond to the question, "What date did your child lose her first tooth?" and I can't remember and want to respond to the question with only one word, is there a word that fills the bill? The questioner will understand that I cannot answer because I can't remember?

The only word I can think of is 'forgot.' I'd like to know if there are others.

I am not looking for a psychology term like repressed-memory, or anything else pop-science like that, but merely one word that means I can't recall.


texts: If the prefix anglo- means "of the English", what prefix means "of the Welsh"?

texts: The title says it all! Even if Anglo doesn't quite mean "of the English" you get what I mean.


texts:
I am reading a blog for preparing job interview.

So What I want to ask is here.

For starters, can you take a look at below sentence?

"Depending on the gig, it might not even matter whether you are a morning person or a night person, or what your typical work week looks like."

What means really that "Depending on the gig" above?

And morning person and night person is relative with a human life such as sleep, wake up etc?

Also can I ask a person like "are you a afternoon person"?

Finally, What means that "work week"?

Is that means about a work ethic?


texts: Why should I have to choose between compound sentences and compound predicates?

texts:
Sheba walked to the door and she opened it.
Sheba walked to the door and opened it.

I would use a compound sentence only if the subject in the second clause is someone other than Sheba: Sheba walked to the door and (John) opened it, for I can't see any good reason for the extra one word. But sometimes subjects in both independent clauses are the same person.
I prefer the more concise Sheba walked to the door and opened it, of course, but why should I have to have options?


texts: A word to describe "class of" for summer camps

texts: In the same way that one would say "class of 2010" to describe the student body in a school for a given year, what word could I use to describe the "camper body" of a summer camp?


texts:
What is a word that means "parts of a whole" and implies it can be combined with others of the same word to build something greater?

For example "blocks", "bricks", and "pieces" are examples I thought of. They are decent because they are abstract or general enough to refer to many different things that may be "pieces of a whole". I am looking for other words that are also general, and clearly communicate that they are an object alone, but can be assembled into something greater.


texts: What does "in the space for movement thus conquered" mean?

texts:
What's the meaning of this phrase of Michel Foucault: "in the space for movement thus conquered". The full sentence:

  In the space for movement thus conquered, and broadening and organizing that space, methods of power and knowledge assumed responsibility for the life processes and undertook to control and modify them.


texts: Punctuating a sentence with "because" followed by multiple clauses

texts:
This question or a similar one may have been answered here before. But I couldn't find an answer. So I'm going to ask how the grammarians here would punctuate the following sentence:

"The author argued that his results differed from previous results because the methods he used differed from the methods that previous researches used and his sample came from a different part of the world than the samples that those researchers used."

The following are several of the ways I tried to punctuate it:

(1) "The author argued that his results differed from previous results because the methods he used differed from the methods that previous researches used, and his sample came from a different part of the world than the samples that those researchers used."

(2) "The author argued that his results differed from previous results, because the methods he used differed from the methods that previous researches used and his sample came from a different part of the world than the samples that those researchers used."

(3) "The author argued that his results differed from previous results, because the methods he used differed from the methods that previous researches used, and his sample came from a different part of the world than the samples that those researchers used."

(4) "The author argued that his results differed from previous results because the methods he used differed from the methods that previous researches used and because his sample came from a different part of the world than the samples that those researchers used."

(5) "The author argued that his results differed from previous results because (a) the methods he used differed from the methods that previous researches used and (b) his sample came from a different part of the world than the samples that those researchers used."

I suppose I could rewrite the sentence, but I'd still appreciate an answer because I frequently have problems with sentences like this.

Thanx


texts:
I am curious as to whether abundant in is a more correct usage than abundant with?

For example, the sentence: "The mail room is abundant in letters" seems to have the same meaning when compared to "the mail room is abundant with letters"

I did some search, and it seems like this source suggests that abundant in is used more often; however, no one seemed to disprove the usage of abundant with, either.

Is one of them the preferred usage in some scenario, or are they both correct in general?


texts:
Similar to this question, I'm looking for a word to describe a particular kind of smile.

It's the kind of smile I smile when I receive a sweet message from the girl I love, and just can't help beaming. The phrase which goes through my mind is 'smiling like a fool', but I somehow think there might be a more precise adverb (e.g. smiling sheepishly, which I don't think quite fits).

"I catch myself smiling ____ when I read her texts."

Which adverb fits best?


texts: Why don't we have a preposition after "buy" in this sentence

texts:
Why don't we have a preposition after buy in this sentence?

Each dollar in my asset column was a great employee,
working hard to make more employees and buy the boss a new Porsche.


texts: Which pronoun to refer to "person"? It? He or She? They?

texts:
"When he found his seat on the plane, Sam recognized the person who was sitting in the seat next to his. It? She? was a woman he knew."

Which is more common/natural? Isn't 'it' more correct – grammatically speaking – than 'she', since 'a person' can be a 'he' or a 'she', and obviously you cannot use the singular 'they' here?


texts:
I understand that alien is used as a synonym of foreigner, as well as a synonym of extraterrestrial.

I suspect that people from other planets wouldn't mind being called aliens. But is it wrong (offensive or somehow inappropriate) to call a person (from Earth!) visiting an English speaking country an alien?


texts: Omitting the verb but changing the subject in enumeration

texts:
If I say:

Alpha denotes the car's speed and Beta [denotes] the acceleration.

Can I omit the second "denotes"?
Is there any rule that justifies this?
The omission sounds good to me in the first sentence, but there are examples which sound bad:

Alpha is yellow, Beta blue and Delta brown.


texts:
For example:

  Jack thinks he's responsible for killing his mother and thus for his uncle’s conceived hatred towards him.

Here, I mean to say that Jack assumes his uncle hates him (of course, Jack is sure, but it may not be the truth). And I think it'd be incorrect to say "...and thus for his uncle's assumed hatred towards him." Is conceived also incorrect?

I tried looking for other sentences that use conceive similarly, but those sentences seem to be using conceive to say hatred was formed.

Really, my goal is to say "...and thus for his uncle's hatred towards him, though Jack only assumes his uncle hates him--his uncle truly does not." Or something along those lines. I'm trying to make this sentence more concise by using conceived this way, but am not sure if this is the right approach. Suggestions?


texts: Word or expression for comments that are technically correct but unhelpful

texts:
I think all programmers among us will be familiar with this scenario. You spend several days writing some code and submit it to be tested by someone else. The points that they return, though valid, are not really the reason you wanted it tested. For instance, spotting a missing comma in an error message that you wrote.

I often find myself searching for an appropriate phrase to describe this kind of comment. Perhaps an idiom exists for this particular occurrence.


texts: Were clothes called "loud" because they actually made a noise?

texts:
A loud shirt

According to Etymology.com, the adjective loud with its meaning of flamboyant, bright colours can be traced back to the late nineteenth century.

loud (adj.)
Application to colors, garments, etc. ("flashy, showy") is by 1849

I understand describing someone's clothes as being loud usually refers to the colours being extraordinarily vivacious that they catch your attention. But I was wondering, were clothes in the 19th century, literally, "loud"? Were Victorian fabrics noisier than they are today?


texts: "I'll let you know once I have any" vs. "once I have some"

texts:
I have no questions so far but I will let you know once I have any.

Is this grammatical, or should it be "... once I have some" instead?


texts: A formal word for someone who is being or has been persuaded

texts:
I'm interested in finding a word for a person who is being or has been persuaded.
The person doing the persuasion is called a "persuader", but the person being persuaded is called a "persuadee"? I'm wondering if there is a more formal or more well-known alternative word choice.
Depending on where a persuader is coming from, a(n) X will react very differently


texts: One word for taking something without feeling

texts:
I am looking for a word that explains the state of mind where one is neither happy nor sad about something, i.e., being unbiased in one's feeling towards something or even-minded about something. Something like 'indifferent' or 'impassive' but sans the negative connotation. I was considering equanimous, but I guess that word mostly means stable minded in face of adversities, and it's a character trait rather than a one-time response to something.
Eg:
I am neither sad nor happy about his departure.
Update:
Based on the comment below I wish to add to the question a little. The meaning I wish to convey is the subject in question bears little significance to me and hence I am of an even temperament towards it.


texts: What if the best variant to use: get advert links or get adverts links? The idea is that there are a lot of adverts and each has a link. Thanks.


texts: Is there another term, or even a single word, for "tonal recognition"?

texts:
This has been bugging me for a while. I use the term liberally when I talk about music, and more often than not I draw blank stares.

It's a simple concept. You hear a tune and associate it with something that's happening in your life at the same time, mostly pleasant. Years later the same tune plays on the radio, and you recognize it, and it brings back all those good memories. Without realizing that it's the memory and not necessarily the tune itself that fills your heart with joy, you come to believe that the tune is great music regardless of its actual artistic value. That's the important point: the tune may be boring and stupid, yet you're still inclined to believe it's great.

This phenomenon is known as "tonal recognition." Is there a better term for it, or at least a term everyone's familiar with?


texts: What is an appropriate greeting for the US Memorial Day?

texts:
I find "Happy Memorial Day" an inappropriate greeting for a day of remembrance and memory.

Are there any better alternatives I can use in for a formal email?


texts:
Actually it's from the comedy show, Weird Loners.
What does "You play you pay!" mean? Thanks.

Text from phone :

Where's my money ?
I know where you live.
You play you pay!
1K tomorrow.
In case you don't pay which is your favorite kidney?


texts: An idiom for "saving tap water on drowning Titanic" situation

texts:
I'm looking for a phrase, that can be applied to the situation when someone attempts to resolve a big problem or minimize damage by performing minor, insufficient actions, or is micromanaging instead of dealing with relevant bigger issues. It suggests the actions that are useful per se, but turn out to be in vain while there are way more serious steps to be taken to deal with a challenge. Like, when you're trying to prevent a waste of tap water while your ship is drowning, or turning on the humidifier when your house is on fire.

Is there an idiom in English, that fits such kind of situations? Here are some more examples to provide clarification for its possible usage:

An unprecedented drop of national economy was followed by the    government's decision to mark the products of local manufacturers    with conspicuous "wise choice!" labels.
Our project is about to fail deadline, but Tom is busy with choosing    fonts for its Powerpoint presentation instead of helping us to speed up.
After receiving divorce papers from Jane's lawyer, Steve bought her    flowers, hoping it will compensate the decade of neglecting his wife.


texts: Can I use "outnumber" interchangeably with "exceed"?

texts:
In this sentence:

  The drop in overseas visitors in the first three quarters of this year
  exceeded the drop in mainland Chinese tourists.

Is it incorrect to use "outnumber" in place of "exceed"?


texts: Does the word "commute" apply only to work?

texts:
The title is the question.

We usually say something like "my commute takes an hour", because the commute being "to work" is implicit.

But is it required? Or I can say "I read a book on my bi-weekly commute to the gym"?

If I can't, is there a more appropriate word?

I found several instances of "commute" being used in this and other contexts, but every definition I found (admittedly on a relatively short research) is quite explicit in that it's a travel between home and work, so I was wondering whether "commute to the gym" is actually correct or if it is an abuse of language (such as "I only perused the book" meaning the exact opposite of what was intended, or "irregardless" being just plain wrong).


texts: What do you call the metal corners on a briefcase?

texts: Some suitcases and briefcases have metal reinforcements at the corner, sometimes in gold, sometimes in silver. Is there a specific word in English for those or should I simply say "....with golden metal reinforcements at the corner..."?


texts: the first consonants of "think" and "than"

texts:
think /θ/

than /ð/

As you can see,the first consonant of the two words differs.But according to the wiktionary,they are both from Proto-Germanic,and the first characters in Proto-Germanic are both þ which pronounced as θ.

So,why the pronunciation become different from each other nowadays?

the wiktionary pages: think and than


texts: "Assumption of a guarantee for qualities" meaning unclear in warranty terms and conditions

texts:
I've been asked to translate the sentence,

  "The above is without prejudice to further claims in the event of the
  assumption of a guarantee for qualities."

The phrase "assumption of a guarantee for qualities" seems unclear to me in this context.

Does it refer to an assumed guarantee in the event of transferred ownership (e.g. buyer B purchases the article in question from buyer A, thus assuming the ownership of the guarantee as well)?

Or does it refer to an assumed guarantee that is not explicitly defined in the warranty terms and conditions but is either assumed to be valid nevertheless as per to good common practice (or perhaps by law)?

Can there be another interpretation I am missing altogether?


texts: Where does the phrase pattern “X! Whiskey! Sexy!” originate?

texts:
From around 2006-2007, the blog “Crazy Apple Rumors” sometimes used the phrase “Technology! Whiskey! Sexy!” in its posts (see e.g. http://crazyapplerumors.com/2007/01/09/post-keynote-keynote-live-blog/).

I’d assumed this was a neologism, but then I saw this article from 2004 using the phrase “Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy”.

What’s the derivation of these two?


texts: double negation: unless followed by a negative verb form

texts:
"We will not cancel the game if the weather gets better."

Replacing "if" with "unless", you end up with either:

"We will cancel the game unless the weather gets better."

or

"We will not cancel the game unless the weather does not get better."

Is the latter sentence an absolute no-no? Or even a no-no-no!


texts:
I just saw a number of comments complaining about the first n in the phrase ‘an Herculean task’, claiming it implied a mute h. But is that true? My impression has been that earlier all words on h + vowel got an an, regardless of whether or not the h was mute. Was ‘an hundred’ pronounced ‘an undred’?

PS. Let me be clearer that I am not asking about standard contemporary usage. I never doubted that ‘an Herculean task’ had an archaïc ring to it. But the fact that something is archaïc does not make it wrong.


texts: What kind of word is "Frankenstein" in this context?

texts:
This question was asked on ELL.SE.
...and as answered over there, the verb "To Frankenstein" is a reference to popular culture that implies to cobble together (a team in this case) from various (likely unrelated) sources just to get something working, as the fictional Frankenstein himself did to build a functioning human body from parts of multiple cadavers.
But my question is, what kind of word is "Frankenstein" when used like this? I know it's a verb, but that's not what I mean, I'm more talking about inventing a use for a word whose meaning can be inferred from having knowledge of the reference.
e.g. Is it a metaphor?


texts:
I'm little bit confused of using later and after to mention a specific time in the future. For example, I wanted to say:

I'll be on a vacation for 3 days after precisely 21 days.

Can I also say that:

I'll be on a vacation for 3 days 3 weeks later.
I'll be on a vacation for 3 days after 3 weeks.
I'll be on a vacation for 3 days in 3 weeks.


texts: Is this sentence grammatically correct and readable?

texts:
I came across a sentence puzzling me, can you tell me whether the use of "that of" parts is correct? why or why not.

"You have been working here for 10 years, do you really need me to tell you whether your behavior is that of bad or that of good?"

Can I just say "...whether your behavior is bad or good"? Thank you in advance!


texts:
Bell's inequality holds for all non-product states

To my understanding, this sentence should mean "Bell's inequality is correct for all non-product states".
But the true meaning is "Bell's inequality is NOT correct for all non-product states" as indicated in the original paper.

So what's wrong here?


texts:
In the abroad entry of The Oxford Living Dictionaries, there are a handful of examples containing the word spirit (Examples are rearranged by me):

[T]here is a new buccaneering spirit abroad.
First, there may be an entrepreneurial spirit increasingly abroad in Sweden and its cultural industries that has led to a wave of start-ups.
A spirit of enquiry is abroad among the Chinese, and there is a class of students, by no means small in number, who receive with avidity instruction on scientific matters from the West.
After all the bitterness in the game over the past few years, there seemed something of a new spirit abroad, to which the persona of Tony Gilbert, the Borders' Kiwi coach, has contributed.
When traditional people speak of ‘spirits’ that are abroad, they tend to refer to presence such as the wind, or the creative force of a word.

In short, at the top of the new century he caught a new spirit abroad.
The OED gives, ‘When a nation is in the throes of revolution, wild spirits are abroad in the storm.’
In our three weeks in Cornwall, Wales and Ireland, we saw amazing sites and felt remarkable spirits abroad in the land.

As for the first group of examples I can identify the meaning of the word spirit with the second meaning in spirit:

  2 [in singular] The prevailing or typical quality, mood, or attitude of a person, group, or period of time.

What about last three examples? Do they refer to a ghost or an ethos?


texts: "I am not going to buy your threats" and "who's going to buy your lies" can someone explain these two sentences to me


texts: What is the noun for someone who receives a referral?

texts: When a referrer (noun) gives a referral (noun) to another person, what is the term (noun) used for the recipient of the referral? "The referred" may work, but am I missing another term? "Referred" indicates past-tense, but I intend to use the term in future and present tense as well.


texts: Word for an upgrade which is really not an upgrade

texts:
As a computer user, I often have to deal with new versions of the software I use. The updated version is always called an upgrade, as in You should upgrade to the latest version of our awesome software.

However, sometimes—or perhaps even often—it happens that (a) the newer version isn't noticeably better than the old one, and (b) the update requires some annoying and/or complicated tweaking in order to ensure compatibility between the newest release and prior version(s).

In my opinion, this isn't really an upgrade at all. I see it instead as a lot of extra work for no apparent benefit. Is there a word for this?


texts:
What is the meaning of this construction in the following sentence heard in this video?

  DA's office is pursuing this as a capital case, which means that come
  sentencing it will be up to the jury to decide [his] punishment...

Is this a short version of when it comes to or a separate instance of to come usage with the same meaning? That is when the sentencing time comes...


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “A historic…” or “An historic…”?

I have heard and read this combination both ways:

It was a heroic act.

It was an heroic act.

Personally, I pronounce the "h", and believe that "a" is correct. I find that it sounds incorrect to use "an" and pronounce "heroic" without the "h."

Are both acceptable or is there one that is correct?

(Inspired by this question.)


texts: "Older version of me" vs. "older version of myself"

texts:
I wrote:

  "...," said an older version of me.

But a native speaker of English — which I am not — replaced the me with myself. Can someone tell me which one is correct and why?


texts: How do I write dialog where list items are prefixed with letters?

texts:
I have dialog with a list of reasons, each prefixed by a letter of the alphabet.  How do I write this, as spoken by a character in a book?

Example:

  Tom said, "I love her because Ay, she makes me laugh, Bee she's
  very caring, See she really gets me."

What is the proper formatting/punctuation?

I've tried parens/commas:

  "I love her because A) she makes me laugh, B) she's very caring..."

With parens/semicolons:

  "I love her because A) she makes me laugh; B) she's very caring..."

Any suggestions?


texts: Balancedness - is this a valid word in American English?

texts:
I am writing a scientific manuscript, where I wrote the following sentence:

The balancedness of a chemical reaction implies that the
stoichiometric coefficients satisfy the law of mass conservation.

Is "balanced" a real American English word? If no, what are the ways to avoid it?


texts: What's a less-artificial-sounding word for "up-to-date" and "up-to-date-ness"?

texts:
I'm describing a software design in a proposal document of mine, and I want to express my intention of the design being up-to-date, taking into consideration existing publications and available examples in its field. But I want to make this distinct from being novel, i.e. going even beyond what's been proposed or presented in other work. My best choice of term so far is "up to date". In Hebrew there's the construct עדכני which is also literally "up to date", but has an additional shade of meaning making it better suitable for my need; and there's a corresponding noun, עדכנות.

I would like a better word in English, especially in noun form but also for the adjective.

Notes:

If you don't speak Hebrew, ignore what I said about the Hebrew word, a suggestion just having to do with English is fine.
Being up-to-date is not binary, i.e. you can be partially up-to-date, or more, or less, up-to-date. I need that semantic aspect.


texts: Does "gay" necessarily mean male homosexual?

texts: I was under the impression that gay always refers to a male homosexual, though sometimes I see this term used to describe female homosexuals (i.e. lesbians) as well. Is it correct usage? Does it depend on a dialect of English (American, Australian, etc.)?


texts: Is there a single word that means expressing insincere kindness in order to draw attention to oneself?

texts:
My girlfriend (we'll call her Mary) recently had a loss in her family, and many friends and family were posting comments to Mary's  Facebook page expressing their condolences. However, Mary couldn't help but feel that a lot of those comments were insincere. Many of those who were leaving comments had Mary's personal cell phone number, so she found it somewhat peculiar that they would write on her Facebook page where everyone can see instead of texting her privately. It was Mary's granmda who passed away. A few days prior, one relative had left an angel figurine at her bedside as a gift. When the news broke out that Mary's granmda had passed, that same relative posted on Mary's Facebook page asking somewhat impudently if whether or not the angel figurine was in the same room when it happened. Mary couldn't help but feel as if that relative was trying to be boastful about the figurine.

Is there a single word that describes this behavior? A word that means expressing insincere kindness in order to draw attention to oneself? It's not flattery, though I feel it's similar to it.

I apologize if I'm not being clear, or if this question has been posted before.


texts: How does one say to someone that he paid attention to something they said?

texts:
I used to think that "noted" meant just that. But from this question's replies, it seems that that is (mainly) used with a negative connotation. So how would I point out to someone that I took what they said seriously (preferably with a connotation of gratefulness for the information)?

Also, in cases where it is spoken, the tone of my voice might help clarify my meaning, but when it's written it's even more complicated.


texts:
What are all of the subordinate conjunctions in the clauses of which 'should' can come?
(If I should~/so that I should~/lest I should~)
I think that 'should' used with subordinate conjunctions has the role of making a future tense or "assuming meaning", similar to 'will'?  I want to know about this, too.


texts:
I'm a bit confused as to the proper grammar when posing the following question.

"Who lives there?" <- seems to imply just one person
"Who live there?" <- seems to imply more than one person
Also this: 1. "Who worships you?" 2. "Who worship you?"

Which would be grammatically correct?


texts:
Example:

Mom came over and [...] on the bed, making my head bounce on the pillow.


texts:
I have come across contrasting definitions of alliteration in different dictionaries, grammars and on websites.

The website 'Literary Devices' (literarydevices.net) defines
 it as:

  "It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having
  the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series... An
  important point to remember here is that alliteration does not depend
  on letters but on sounds. So the phrase not knotty is alliterative,
  but cigarette chase is not.

Merriam Webster Dictionary defines 'alliteration' and explains further as:

  Definition of alliteration:

  the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more
  neighboring words or syllables (such as wild and woolly,
  threatening throngs)

  What is alliteration?

  In alliteration, consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or
  syllables are repeated. The repeated sounds are usually the first, or
  initial, sounds—as in "seven sisters"—but repetition of sounds in
  non-initial stressed, or accented, syllables is also common: "appear
  and report." Alliteration is a common feature in poetry, but it is
  also found in songs and raps and speeches and other kinds of writing,
  as well as in frequently used phrases, such as "pretty as a picture"
  and "dead as a doornail."

  Alliteration can in its simplest form reinforce one or two consonant
  sounds, as in this line from William Shakespeare's "Sonnet XII":

    When I do count the clock that tells the time

  A more complex pattern of alliteration can be created when consonants
  both at the beginning of words and at the beginning of stressed
  syllables within words are repeated, as in the following line from
  Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Stanzas Written in Dejection Near Naples":

    The City's voice itself is soft like Solitude's

  As a poetic device, alliteration is often discussed with assonance,
  the repetition of stressed vowel sounds within two or more words with
  different end consonants, as in "stony" and "holy"; and consonance,
  the repetition of end or medial consonants, as in "stroke" and "luck."

alliteration. (Fowler's Modern English Usage)

  "The  purposive use in a phrase or sentence of words beginning   with
  or   containing   the same   letter   or   sound.    After  life's fitful fever;  In a summer  season  when soft  was
  the sun.  The  much-quoted line of Charles Churchill  Apt
  alliteration's  artful   aid is  not  as  good  an example of
  alliteration as it looks, since only   the  first  two a's  have
  the  same value".

Fowler seems to accept the repetition of even Vowel letters/sounds as alliteration, when he says that the first two a's of "Apt alliteration's  artful  aid" have the same value.

Collins Dictionary defines 'alliterations' as:

  "the use of the same consonant (consonantal alliteration) or of a
  vowel, not necessarily the same vowel (vocalic alliteration), at
  the beginning of each word or each stressed syllable in a line of
  verse, as in around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran"

Having read all these contradicting definitions and being confused, I am tempted to ask what actually 'alliteration' is. Are there two types of alliterations as Collins Dictionary says - consonantal and vocalic alliterations?


texts: Is there any standard way to refer to college level education?

texts: I'm looking for a way to say college level on the abstract of a paper. In Portuguese we say ensino superior. A direct translation for that would be higher education, but I don't think that fits the language expected on academic writing. Am I right? If so, then what should I say?


texts:
From what I understood, "rid of" is used when I want to express that particular object will be disposed of something. "Get rid of something," on the other hand, does not specify the object.
According to the aforementioned, I found few examples that I do not understand:

  Need to rid of this yeast infection fast? (Should not this be "get rid of.."?)

  He will rid of it. (Is that correct? It is neither "get rid" nor "rid something of something.")

I found both of these examples on the Internet; it can be easily informal. I would just like to know whether I am right here.


texts: What is correct: "You've got to be kidding me" or "You are too kind"

texts:
There is a question in my test that makes me confused. Here is the dialogue and I need to fill in the blank:

  A: You are a great dancer!

  B: _____. I dance terribly.

That is what I remember (not word by word).
I was reluctant between two choices:

  You've got to be kidding me.

and

  You are too kind.

I knew the former can be used so I chose it. However, after thinking thoroughly I thought the correct choice might be the latter so my final decision was to choose the latter. My reasoning: the former (even though is correct) seems rude. The latter seems much nicer.

When I received the test back. The answer is:

  You've got to be kidding me.

In short, I would be grateful if anyone can point out the differences between the two phrases and show some example if possible too. Thank you!


texts:
I’ve recently heard David Bowie’s song where he sings

  To be insulted by these fascists
      Is so degrading and it’s no game.

Is it’s no game some kind of a metaphor or a widely used idiom, or maybe some kind of this particular song specific expression? Or should it be simply taken literally?


texts: What is the word to call a buddy who only helps you, but  never asks for help?

texts: I want to know a good word for a buddy who only helps, but never takes any help, and he is with you only to help you.


texts: I use to pronounce this word so that it rhymes with 'her', but recently I've been told to pronounce it like "air". Which pronunciation was it originally, and which pronunciation was correct?


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

texts:
It’s common and correct to use both after two weeks of rain and after two weeks of fighting. But since fight is also a noun, couldn’t it be used instead of fighting?

Also, why rain and not raining? Is there a rule of thumb to apply those or is it something you just have to “go with common sense” with?


texts: Is there a term for thinking anything heard from an outside source about yourself or someone else is true?

texts:
This is most prominently seen with people who follow astrological signs. E.g. "Well Cancers are very sentimental people, so that totally explains me/my mom/my friend". Is there a phrase or specific term for this fallacy of seeing something said about yourself by an outside source and immediately thinking "Oh, that's definitely me", even though it could apply to most people in some way? Another example could be taking a poorly designed personality test, yet still agreeing with all the results. These are most often general, blanket statements, but they don't have to be.

I'm referring to the terminology of this (usually subconscious) thought process rather than the type of person who might do it.


texts:
When you're the first person to contact clients/respond to request/ etc, you're "what"?

What's the correct word for this person? To be at line of fire ?


texts:
Some people frown upon the use of "leveraging" in formal writing. What would be a good alternative to the expression:

  We will be able to investigate X leveraging from the knowledge of
  Y.

None of the entries in thesaurus seem to neatly apply to the case. Any ideas?


texts:
Here are a few sentences with the structure, “For all the ~, S + V”.

  For all the controversies surrounding the so-called marketing stages or periods, Keith and others appear to have contributed a lasting legacy.

Here, "for all the controversies surrounding ~~" probably means "despite all the controversies surrounding ~~", correct?

  For all the furor it caused, the Auschwitz video arguably isn't the most incendiary of Higgins' social media posts.

But here, it seems "for all the furor it caused" can't be just "despite the furor it caused".

  For all the controversies coming into these Summer Games, they went off better than most expected from a logistical standpoint.

Here, ᴛʜᴇ "despite" interpretation again seems right.

  For all the furor over Trump's reaction to racial issue, if we want to close racial wage gap, we're going to have to start earlier.

Here, it doesn't seem like it means "despite". If it does, then this writer may be "against" the furor over Trump's position and is being a little sarcastic when he said "we're going to have to start earlier". But overall it doesn't read like sarcasm. Perhaps he is "for" the furor over Trump's position.

What is ᴛʜᴇ correct interpretation?

Is there any consistent interpretation of "for all the"?


texts: Father and mother are to parents what brother and sister are to which gender neutral noun?

texts: Looking for a word that denotes both brothers and sisters without gender connotations (gender neutral), in a similar fashion as parents for father and mother.


texts: Can “no problem” ever replace “OK,” "yes, of course," etc., when the respondent has been called to task?

texts: Unlike the use of "no problem" as an alternative to "you're welcome" or "my pleasure," neither of which bothers me much in common speech, its use as a reply to an instruction or directive to put right what the respondent has done wrong, particularly if at great expense or at substantial loss of available time, tests my patience and my temper. To my Boomer-generation ear, it says the respondent somehow feels that s/he is doing me a favor by setting things right rather than accepting responsibility for them, and somehow cannot see that a problem truly is involved. Is this a generational shift that I should get used to, or is the use of "no problem" in this context an erroneous use of this expression?  (For now, at least.)


texts: Instantaneous interpretation of disjoined events over a duration

texts:
What is the correct interpretation of a sentence with two events occurring during some time span joined by "or"? It seems that the scope of "or" doesn't change in either case. For example:

  Today I will be either swimming or reading.

Does this mean

  At any given instant today I will be either swimming or reading.

or

  During the course of today I will engage in exactly one of the set of actions {swim, read}.

?

I realize that the second could be a special case of the first, but I would like to know it the conventional interpretation of the sentence is limited to that case.


texts:
The connotation of adjective 'appropriate' is positive, while that of the verb is negative.

1. What's this phenomenon called, though this question allows any part of speech (and not just an adjective and verb, as above)? I ask this so that I can try to find lists of such words.

2. Why? Does the etymology depend on each word, or is there a more general theory?


texts:
I came across the word, “the fiscal equivalent of spit and glue” in today’s (July 29) article of New York Times reporting the inside story of the decision of Jay H. Walder, chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to move to a Hong Kong transit firm as its head, under the title, “Governor said to have irked Transit leader who is leaving.”

The article reads:

“He will be paid a much higher salary and direct the fortunes of a multinational corporation that oversees rail, real estate and economic development interests all around the world. In New York, he faced the opposite: a creaking system struggling to pay its bills, a capital investment program held together with the fiscal equivalent of spit and glue.”

I checked dictionaries at hand and both Cambridge and Merriam-Webster online dictionaries, I was unable to find the definition of “spit and glue,” although there was an entry of ‘spit and polish’ in the latter.

From the context of the above clip, I guess ‘spit and glue’ means patchwork or a makeshift measure, but I’m not sure. What does ‘spit and glue’ exactly mean? Can the word be applied to the topics of financial policies of U.S., Japan, or any other countries who are suffering mounting debt problems?


texts: Is the expression "Come what may" an exclamative?

texts:
A bit of a split-hair question, but should the word "come" in "come what may" be understood as an imperative, and therefore "come what may" is an exclamative (as in "Come! Whatever may come/may happen, come!)?
Or is it just an inversion of "what(ever) may come"? If this is the case, shouldn't "may" be the inverted word and not "come"?
Thanks all!


texts: When did "Alright?" become a greeting in UK English?

texts:
Who remembers when and how "Alright?" became a greeting in UK English?

Do you remember the first time you heard it? Can you remember when that was? What was the context? Was there a particular celebrity or TV show that made it so popular?


texts: Words that mean the exact opposite to themselves

texts:
As I'm sure everyone is now aware, the OED has now acknowledged that "literally" can be used to mean both "figuratively" AND "actually" -- two words with the opposite definition. It got me wondering:

Are there any other words in the English language that can mean the opposite to itself?


texts:
What is the function of "the" in these kinds of phrases? It cannot be the definite article.

Can someone analyze this? It's common and definitely standard but seems to elude any grammatical explanation.


texts: Difference between "in contrast to" and "in contrast with"

texts:
I am just wondering about the difference between:

  in contrast to

and

  in contrast with


texts: When the article the is used before theorem names

texts:
When writing math papers, one sometimes has to refer to some famous theorems, for instance, the Pythagorean theorem.

Shall I write "by Pythagorean theorem", or "by the Pythagorean theorem". When shall I use the article "the"?


texts: "I'm just like anyone else" or "I am not like other people"?

texts:
I am translating a Russian phrase, original meaning of which was:

  I am the same as all other people.

A suggested translation is:

  I'm just like anyone else.

I think it should be:

  I am not like the other people.

What are the differences in conveyed meaning between these phrases? Please, help me to clarify...


texts: How to succinctly state that someone is not an “X”?

texts:
If I want to say that a person is not an engineer can I call him non-engineer?
And how about the punctuation, I must use hyphen? And / or capitalize?

I want to use the word somewhere to tell that people who are not engineers can also understand the text


texts: How are these Brazilian Portuguese names pronounced in English?

texts:
How are these Brazilian (Portuguese) names pronounced in (U.S.) English?

João Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto
Vinicius de Moraes
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Vivo Sonhando


texts:
I have this sentence:
The best engineers optimize every aspect of their lives.

Should it be "lives" or "life"?

I'm thinking lives because engineers is plural.

Thanks


texts:
In a menu title/button, does "have" need to be used? Is "1" okay or should "2" be used?
1) People who contacted you in the last 24 hours
2) People who have contacted you in the last 24 hours
This is for a website that uses friendly, informal (American) language. It basically goes by native speech, but as I have been living in a non English-speaking country for a while my intuition is a little rusty.


texts:
When someone asks a question strictly to impart knowledge, as in:

  Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and
  patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to
  repentance? (Romans 2:4 ESV)

What is the type of question called?

This might be a poor example but I'm not looking for "rhetorical question." While yes, this may not be asked to expect a response, I'm more looking for a word with a definition of something like this:

  A type of question asked to impart knowledge or grant clarity to a
  subject.


texts:
One word for "did not join"

Abstain is not appropriate to the sentence.
The word refers to a revolution.


texts: Difference between gerund and present participle

texts: What is the difference between a gerund and present participle? When should we   use a gerund and when should we use a present participle ?


texts: I want to say in my personal statement "At the time, it gave me hope, optimism and certainty that this is what I want to do and that I’m going to [go miles] in my career.


texts: Getting something to work with something else

texts:
What is the proper way of conveying that I'm starting the task of getting some component to work or to be compatible with another component?
Having an app that was developed for iPhone to work on Android, would be Porting.
Having 2 pieces of software work together would be Integration.
I need to convey that I want a piece of software that is using a specific hardware module (a microphone) for its function, to also work with a different module (another microphone).

What would the correct term for this be?

Thanks!


texts: "Dictionary" and "vocabulary" — when to use either?

texts: What's the difference between the two? Is dictionary mostly applied to written or printed forms and vocabulary to others (like "someone's active vocabulary")?


texts: Word for when a writer uses alternate spelling and grammar to immitate a dialect

texts: What is the word for when a writer spells words of a character's dialogue differently for a character in order to express an accent or dialect? I think it starts with a 'd'.


texts: How often do people use "would" when they are talking about past events?

texts:
I've recently learned from a grammar book that in English we can use "would" to describe repeated actions in the past. Actually, I try reading a lot books in English, listening to songs, aticles from magazines, watching movies and I haven't faced with that people use "would" for describing repeated actions in the past. So, my question, how often you use that ?
Or it's quite good to use the Past tense "I helped my parents in the store every school break" or "I would help my parents in the store every school break" ?

p.s. or in the example above it should be like "I used to help my parents in the store every school break" ?


texts: How to express "it's about time" in a usual conversation (translating "langsam" (GER) or そろそろ (JPN))

texts:
I’m searching for the English expression of the German langsam:

Wir sollten uns langsam auf den Weg machen.

Or the Japanese そろそろ:

そろそろ行きましょうか。

I guess it means something like it’s about time (to do something). I
guess it’s often used at the end of a conversational topic.
Do the following sentences (which use slowly) fit the situation? What better expressions are there?

Situation: You talk to a friend in a cafe for 30 minutes. Then you figure out that you should go, because you have other things to do

I should slowly get going.

Situation: You couldn’t study English recently, because you were so busy. You want to express, that it’s about time to start studying again

I should slowly restart my English studying.

Situation: You’re in a restaurant talking to your friend. The food already came, but your too caught up in the conversation. You then figure, it’s about time to start eating, because the food might get cold or it would get too late otherwise.

We should slowly start eating.

Edit: For all those with the same question: I suggest you to read all answers, not just the excepted one.


texts:
In software engineering we use version control systems. Every time we check in modifications we usually leave a message with a summary of change. The question for me has always been: what is the most appropriate and practical tense and form for these messages? Examples:

Changed the function argument type to int
Function argument type changed to int
Function argument type is changed to int
Function argument type has been changed to int
Function argument type is now int

By "practical" I mean, because most messages are in the same form, they should be succinct, to the point, technical/formal. Best candidate in this regard is probably (2). Sometimes it is tempting to use (5) but you end up flooding your message log with "now", which is not nice. (4) is too long although looks (to me) appropriate in many cases. And finally, (1) and (3) feel wrong somehow, although (1) especially is a widely used one in programming, as far as I can tell.

Any thoughts, suggestions?

Edit: some other forms found by some googling:

Change the function argument type to int
Changing ...
Changes ...


texts: What's a good adjective for someone that pretends they are fine or alright, but they really aren't?

texts:
Basically I'm looking for an adjective that describes someone's personality. That they are alright, fine, ok, that they're not hurting when in fact they're in emotional pain or very upset, but they act like they aren't for the sake of others.

I'm aware of the expression, but I'm looking for a single word that could be used as a descriptive personality trait. I want it mostly in a negative connotation, because it's a defect within the character's personality. They do this to the point where they literally harm themselves on an emotional level.

And I've considered stoic, but it doesn't quite fit with the vibe of the character. Rather then remain calm or impassive, they hide their pain under all good cheer - acting as if they are happy rather then in pain. They are the kind of character that would rather pretend nothing is wrong, and that everything is happy and alright, if only to hide how severely dependant they are.

Primarily used for single-word personality trait needing roleplays.

However, an example would be ''That person is the type of person who x ''.

Further example: ''That person is enthusiastic, but I know they're also x''


texts: Proper Time Span Punctuation On The Hour Times

texts:
Curious as to if a colon is needed when typing on the hour times. Example:
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. or 9-10 a.m. or 9:00-10:00a.m. Would love references if you have them!


texts: Is there a word that can be used to refer to a collection of "donations" or "payments"?

texts:
I'm developing a product which is essentially a payment system. In this system, an organization can create a campaign and this campaign can be publicly shared to accept either donations or payments.

To be more specific, a campaign can be created by an organization to:

accept donations for a particular cause
accept payments for a particular service or product

What would be a good word to use, instead of campaign, that would cover both cases? It must be very intuitive and self-explanatory.


texts: Origin of the babytalk phrase goo goo ga ga?

texts: Strange question: I don't know if onomatopoeia are said to have a proper etymology as such, but I was wondering if anyone knows the approximate first usage of the babytalk phrase goo goo ga ga?


texts: What does "use social media to the chagrin of their administrators" mean?

texts:
I learned the sentence in bold from the transcript of a podcast in 60-Second Science:

  Eysenbach tracked more than 4200 tweets that cited 286 articles in his
  own journal. Three quarters of articles that got tweeted a lot (or, to
  use the study’s nomenclature, had a lot of tweetations) turned out to
  get a lot of citations. Only 7 percent of poorly tweeted pieces wound
  up highly cited. As the article notes: "Social media activity either
  increases citations or reflects the underlying qualities of the
  article that also predict citations." But I predict that young
  researchers who use social media to the chagrin of their
  administrators will cite this journal article. Or tweet about it.

I don't understand what is the meaning of "use social media to the chagrin of their administrators". Is there a phrase of the pattern "use something to something"?