texts: What does *she had spiked out stylishly* mean?

texts:
Context: “Hi,” chirped a girl beside me. I lifted my head to look at her. She was pretty in a ‘not in your face’ kind of way, she had short black hair with some blue streaks which she had spiked out stylishly, and big brown eyes. She was smiling a friendly smile.

  What does it mean? Does it fashionably or not cool?


texts:
I'm wondering if there is a synonymous phrase that I can use instead of "nothing but." Here is the context:

  ....which is often backed by nothing but one's unsubstantial reasoning or particular fondness.

Thanks!


texts:
In the paragraph below, what does Twice as many campaigns... and turn customers off mean?

Twice as many campaigns are for lead gen as customer retention (84% vs. 43%), so make sure you start with the audience, on every campaign. Approaching longtime friends as if you're perfect strangers can actually turn customers off.
— Marketing Professionals website


texts: What's a word or phrase to describe literature that builds upon topics discussed earlier?

texts:
If I were teaching a class, how do I say that the topics currently being discussed build upon the topics that were discussed in earlier classes?

I'm looking for colloquialisms but if you know about an archaic word or phrase that can be used in this situation, that is also welcome.

I found out about superstruct/superstructure but what I need is a word that applies to academia and not architecture.


texts:
In an app's description, I found the following sentence:

  The game is full of happy moments when the main character overcomes
  his encounters one by one.

Is something missing here? The phrase "overcomes his encounters" seems to be incomplete.

The main character is a lonely man who is looking for the love of his life. He meets many other characters some of whom give him heartbreaks.


texts:
I sometimes see sentences like I no go to Rio (note that no is before go)—as the title of this blog post.
Is it considered slang or is there an actual rule?

p.s. While related, this is not a duplicate of my previous question.


texts:
Based on Wikipedia article, in linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number (at least singular and plural), case (nominative or subjective, genitive or possessive, etc.), and gender.

Declension is a noun. What is a proper verb to say "I want to say different words that appeared from the word day - days, daily etc". How to say it in one word in English?


texts: Relation between "concept" and "conception"

texts:
concept: an abstract idea; a general notion

  conception: the way in which something is perceived or regarded

These two words are troubling me because it seems that there is a way that concept and conception can be used near-identically or near-interchangeably and in a way that differ only to the extent of some kind of inflection.

I'm not a linguist, but I think inflection, though very general, might be the grammatical idea most likely to address this problem.  Is there a more specific way of stating the relation between these two usages?


texts: Is qualifying the verb RESCHEDULE with the phrase "for another time" a redundancy?

texts: The way I see it, the meaning for another time is built into the verb reschedule and as such, it seems like a redundancy to include it explicitly. Naturally, if the specific new time frame were mentioned, it would bear outright inclusion. I recently came across the statement Our class has been rescheduled for another time and changed it to simply Our class has been rescheduled. Since the new time frame wasn't given, I saw no point in gilding the lily with unnecessary words.


texts: Is there a word or phrase for the time taken to become productive?

texts:
I'm looking for a word of phrase that essentially means the interim between when something has begun and when it is productive. This would be "boot time" on a computer.

My specific example would be the time between the established start of a meeting -- 10 am for instance -- and the time when everyone is finally in the room, on the call, technology wrinkles (connectivity/audio/video) ironed out, etc...say 10:05 am.


texts: What is a good word to describe unchanging?

texts:
I want to say something like.

This department is getting [Insert Adjective to describe old and unchanging].

I thought of decrepit but not sure if this will really communicate my point


texts:
I want to write the sentence:

People have now turned their attention toward...

But I am unsure if attention should be written as attentions.

I have looked up this sentence online and it seems that both are used.

For example:

"Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey sparked not only a revolt within the ... and urged the investigators to turn their attentions elsewhere." - https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/19/15768146/trump-fbi-comey-mueller, Dara Lind

"As Welsh politicians turn their attentions to the EU referendum, BBC Welsh Affairs editor Vaughan Roderick gives his view." - http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36358272/eu-referendum-vaughan-roderick-s-view, BBC News

"Just as dieters must turn their attentions away from tempting but forbidden snacks in order to remain..." - Social Psychology, Second Edition: Handbook of Basic Principles by Arie W. Kruglanski, E. Tory Higgins.

"With the problems of the Bowman report and the Brush Gang behind them, the colonists were able to turn their attentions to the day-to-day struggle of survival." - Bread and Hyacinths: The Rise and Fall of Utopian Los Angeles by Lionel Rolfe, Nigey Lennon

"They were constantly under pressure from the Syrian Hittites, and once more, the Assyrians were forced to turn their attentions to the west." - Monarchs, Peter Francis Kenny

"Still, for our understandings as mortals, and our own aesthetic sense, we ask them to turn their attentions to us and our ritual occasions" - The Flaming Circle, Robin Artisson

"few conferences and no journals which can provoke academics to turn their attentions to the new subject, so there was no unifying factor." - Art and Crime: Exploring the Dark Side of the Art World by Noah Charney

and many many others, both formally and informally.

Can someone check which form is correct?


texts:
I am uncomfortable with the use of inputs as the plural noun of the previously non-countable input. Is this a recent computer-related development (as used in many posts on this site) which has spilled into wider use, or is there a subtle demarcation of use happening? I am thinking especially about situations where input equates with a contribution or feedback.

For example, I've seen sentences like: 'The organisation responded to the customers' inputs', and it feels completely wrong. For me this type should always be input whether plural or not.

As an aside I am very comfortable with inputs as the plural of the sockets into which plugs can be put, but again this is a very different meaning.
What is the state of play?


texts: There's an idiom that's on the tip of my tongue, but I don't remember what it is. I remember it as "His star is shining" but I'm not sure that's it, I may be confusing it with something else. it's supposed to mean that he's having a good period or he's reigning, and everyone is adoring him. Does that sound familiar to anyone?


texts: Word for showing a small part of something briefly to hint to its existence or beauty without fully uncovering it

texts:
... perhaps to attract interest, envy or curiosity. That's really all. Thanks in advance.

PS: words that I have already in mind? Few! I thought of "lure" but hmm that's not even close.

The word may go in the dotted space in these examples:

  The man ... his muscles, threatening with fight.

  The scientist ... his knowledge by a technical question.

"Glimpse" is close. In my context it would be: to give or allow a glimpse of something. But it doesn't convey purpose of attracting attention. Better ones?

Thanks


texts:
I'm learning about schwa sound used in English.
I've learnt that the phenomenon called vowel reduction can, in English, generate the schwa sound.

Are all schwa sounds a result of this process, or not?
Can we regard a schwa as a sub-thing to many strong vowels?


texts: Is it ok to use 'before' at the end of a sentence?

texts:
I once had been told by my English teacher that before must be used with a special time or event, like: Say goodbye before you go.

What about:

  I've seen that film before.

Is this correct and appropriate? Or is there a better expression?


texts: How do you handle "that that"? The double "that" problem

texts:
Have you ever had a case where you felt compelled to include strange things like a double that in a sentence? If so, then what did you do to resolve this?

For me, I never knew whether it was acceptable grammar. However, what I did learn was that it was a logic distractor, could lead to confusion, and therefore should be reworded to avoid this.


texts: Is 'The group criticised John' correct, where John is in the group?

texts:
The group = John, Adam and Mary

So this is like 'they criticised John' where they=the group, but that doesn't sound right if John is in they, right?


texts: What do you call a person who does not take risks (or who does not like taking risks)?

texts: I want one word which best suits a person who does not take risks (or one who does not like taking risks).


texts: Is it absolutely necessary to use "than" over "then" in a comparison?

texts:
Do you think you are smarter then me?

While this question should be using than...I have to wonder if this is a debatable topic within English or is this cut and dry? If this specific instance is indeed cut and dry are there any instances on the usage of then and than that would cause a hot debate amongst English professors?


texts: Is there a preferred spelling for the word "leaderboard"? Should it be one word or two? It would seem that both are correct, but is either preferred?


texts: Idiom(s) for: Discouraged when losing and arrogant when winning?

texts: I am looking for idiom(s) that express: Discouraged when losing and arrogant when winning?


texts: "Shuttling between the anal and genital zones of development." Huh?

texts:
Here's a quote from Lolita:

  "Dolly Haze," she said, "is a lovely child, but the onset of sexual
  maturing seems to give her trouble."

  I bowed slightly. What else could I do?

  "She is still shuttling," said Miss Pratt, showing how with her
  liver-spotted hands, "between the anal and genital zones of
  development. Basically she is a lovely..."

  "I beg your pardon," I said, "what zones?"

  "That's the old-fashioned European in you!" cried Pratt delivering a
  slight tap on my wrist watch and suddenly disclosing her dentures.
  "All I mean is that biologic drives--do you smoke?--are not fused in
  Dolly, do not fall so to speak into a--into a rounded pattern."

  Her hands held for a moment an invisible melon.

What the hell does it mean? Is it some kind of late 1940's psychobabble, or a disdainful parody of same, or what?


texts: Greeting for Correspondence to Multiple People

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How do you greet multiple recipients in an e-mail?

I'm sending an email to four people at a client, all in different roles / departments and of varying genders (Dear Sirs is out and probably not preferable to begin with). What greetings would be suitable?


texts: What is a better way to say "deceptively deadly"?

texts: While intended to mean "seemingly harmless but actually deadly", "deceptively" when used in the positive sense ("deceptively safe") inverts the meaning, and there's no reason it shouldn't do this in the negative. "Deceptively deadly" could be construed as meaning "seemingly deadly but actually harmless".


texts:
Decades of research has/have shown.

Should this sentence use a singular or plural verb?

decades is plural
research is murky

I'd be inclined to write 'has'. Should it be 'have' instead? Why or why not?


texts: Can "obviously" be used in a sentence which is related to past event?

texts:
Let's say there would be a sentence like this:

  I obviously still don't speak Danish and therefore I am having a hard time living here.

Is it correct if you consider that, in the past, I had a chat with a person I am writing to, in which I have explained to him that I am not planning to learn Danish because I will be leaving soon?

In that case, I think, the word obviously would be interpreted to mean something similar to as expected.

If such usage of obviously isn't right, should it rather be as expected? Please tell me if it is not correct at all, or if you just wouldn't use it, or if there is nothing wrong with using it.


texts: Why does an alarm go "off" when it really goes on?

texts: Why is an alarm said to go "off" when it really is being turned "on"?


texts: Is “Studying will help me with achieving my dreams” grammatical?

texts:
I need to take sentences out of a transcript, so I can’t change the structure of this particular sentence. I can either use it in my work as a grammatically correct sentence, or I can't.

I just wanted to know whether the sentence is grammatically correct.


texts:
What does Her character was written out mean?

(My emphasis)
On That '70s Show, the veteran actress played the promiscuous elder sister of Topher Grace's Eric Forman for five years. Her character was written out, though Kelly returned for a few episodes in Season 5. Then, she was replaced by Christina Moore in Season 6.

I assumed a number of things but I can be sure to be wrong in each case. It doesn't make sense if it relates to writing down individual letters.


texts: When was the "retrospectoscope" first used?

texts:
Today I found myself saying "through the retrospectoscope" to a non-medical person. The retrospectoscope is a poke at the tendency of doctors to rely on medical devices (ultrasounds, Cat scans, etc) to make diagnoses while jabbing at someone with 20/20 hindsight. We could just say, "in hindsight" like the rest of the population, so when I used it, I started to explain myself, but the person I was speaking to (a businesswoman) understood perfectly what I meant.

I'd like to know when the word retrospectoscope was first used and if it has passed into the understanding if not usage of non-medical people today. It's not on Etymology Online, but is in the Urban Dictionary, and I've seen it in the New York Times, and it's in Sheehy's Hillary's Choice:

  Looking back through the retrospectoscope from 1999 to 1992, Davis sees a tragic pattern: “One can speculate that the whole chain of events that led to the Whitewater investigation, then led to Ken Starr, which then led to the investigation of Monica and finally to impeachment can be traced back to the first Jeff Gerth New York Times....


texts:
As in a bad guy, thug, hatchet man, etc. who "persuades" people to pay. I'm trying to think of something overly professional and comedic.

Any ideas?


texts:
I have a question about the sentence below:

  Do not let bygones(or the past) get you

I was wondering what "get you" could mean in this context.


texts:
Ten Things I Wish I Knew When I Started 'Pokémon GO  (Forbes title)
"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a gospel/jazz song written by Billy Taylor
17 Things I Wish I Did Before Turning 35

Are these sentences correct in the past tense or do they require past perfect?
I am asking these because a lot of grammar sites explain as past perfect should be used for wishes for the past?


texts: Why does Pinker classify these words as prepositions in *The Sense of Style*?

texts:
In his recent book, The Sense of Style, Steven Pinker explains permissible uses of commas and writes this sentence

  And when the writer pinpoints the coherence relation he has in mind with an explicit connective such as a coordinator (and, or, *but, yet, so, nor) or a preposition (although, except, if, before, after, because, for), a comma is fine …

(p. 292)

I understand before and after can be prepositions. However, I can't find a reference that because is a preposition. The OED lists senses as an adverb, a conjunction, and a noun. Why has Pinker said that these are prepositions? Pinker is a serious linguist, so I don't regard even the OED's entry as an absolute refutation, but he seems to be on his own here.


texts: When one says "this is too sticky" or "this isn't sticky at all" one is talking about an object's stickiness. Is there a word to say the same about something's possibility (or lack thereof) of being retained?


texts: Does the apostrophe come before or after the s when the noun is less than one?

texts:
I have a noun, "second", that I need to make possessive in the sentence,

  It's like having a second's slower reflexes.

When I make it plural, the apostrophe comes after the s.

  It's like having two seconds' slower reflexes.

However, my noun is actually a quarter second.  You only use the singular noun when there is exactly one of it, so you use the plural for zero and fragments of the noun.

  They finished the task with zero seconds remaining.

  They finished the task with .25 seconds remaining.

Since the noun in my sentence is plural, does that mean that for the possessive the apostrophe comes after the s, or since it is not more than one, does it come before the s?  (My intuition says it comes after.)

  It's like having a quarter seconds' slower reflexes.

  It's like having a quarter second*'s* slower reflexes.


texts: Can I say "X decreases the contribution of our report"?

texts:
I'd like to mention that the contribution of my writing report will be less if I do not describe about previous research.

Is it possible to say that "it decrease the contribution of our report if I do not describe...."? I'm worrying especially about the usage of decrease. Thanks.


texts: Hypernym for "company", "band" and "organization"

texts:
I'm making a website and I'd need a hypernym to refer to company/band(/artist)/organization, so I wouldn't have to use all the words every time.

What would be a common one?


texts: A newbie user question about acronym used today: "SVO." I'm puzzled as to what it could be. What is SVO pray tell? something verb order?


texts: What's the opposite of the hammer and nail saying?

texts:
Everyone knows about the hammer and nail saying, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail," but that's just one end of the spectrum.

On the other end, there's the problem of inventing (or using)* a tool to solve a problem that another can solve with a little extra effort. Eventually, carrying around so many tools becomes unwieldy and not worth the effort.

Is there a saying for this?

* EDIT

By omitting details, I seem to have put too much emphasis on invention. I am familiar with reinventing the wheel and NIH syndrome, but that's not what I am getting at. My specific problem comes from programming languages (and I apologize for the jargon).

Every few weeks, a coworker suggests to me that Java is a good language. He also likes a few other scripting languages that have niche roles. When I tell him that Java is objectively a bad, he says "Whoah whoah whoah. Now, besides being garbage collected and verbose, what's bad about it?" For the uninitiated, that's enough to make a language bad, but I give him like three or four other reasons beside those, and he goes "Oh, oh, okay... It's about using the right tool for the job." He proceeds to forget what I've said and make the same arguments a few weeks later...

This a common problem in the software industry right now. People find excuses to use different programming languages for different tasks, simply because they assume that they exist for reason, and it's there job to figure out what that reason is. Simplifying a bit, I argue that we could get away with one language with both low-level and high-level features, one that can do anything that the niche languages can do, maybe 15% less ergonomically.

I am looking for an expression outside of the software industry that can help put this problem into perspective for people who are stuck in this mindset. From the ones offered so far, "If you don't have a hammer, nothing looks like a nail" comes the closest.


texts:
Quick question:

In this sentence, should there be a comma? I've seen it both ways and both sound correct to me, but an English book I recently looked at (Erica Meltzer) said that the sentence was more proper without the comma.

  This period of prosperity from 1950 to 1973 brought upon the world a plethora of technological advances, which revolutionized society and allowed for significant scientific development.


texts: Is a "rubbish collection and/or disposal" service considered a "utility"?

texts: If water, electricity, gas and similar services can be called "utilities", could rubbish collection and/or disposal be a part of this grouping?


texts:
Here's the case.

Both A and B are value.

I want to describes A is smaller than B, and the difference (B minus A) is greater than 100.

How to describe that in one sentence?

A is smaller but above 100 than B?

It sounds really weird lol.


texts: What is the difference between 'looked at' and 'looked over at'?

texts:
I read the sentence "He put a hand on Bran's shoulder, and Bran looked over at his bastard brother."
Here, they both were on their horses.
I've seen this usage of 'over' before but couldn't exactly get its importance.


texts:
There are several Japanese books teaching Japanese students how to write in English. I found this example in 『英作文参考書の誤りを正す』 (Correcting Errors in English Composition Manuals) by Michio Kawakami and J.D. Monkman.

The authors of this book claim that this sentence is incorrect:

  This box of matches is empty.

They note that a “box of matches” is a box containing matches (and not a box made for keeping matches), hence the sentence should instead be:

  This matchbox is empty.

Likewise, an “empty bottle of beer” should instead be an “empty beer bottle.”

Is this actually an error that I should avoid in writing English? If so, is it a grammatical error or something else?


texts: Is there single word meaning "a meeting of evil/bad people"?

texts:
Is there a single word that means "a meeting of evil/bad people"? I would like to use meeting or a gathering but with a negative connotation to it.

Rather than writing: "I found myself intruding on a meeting of malicious people."

I'd rather write something along the lines of "I happened across a ____" or "I found myself in the middle of a ____".

I've searched for awhile but haven't been able to find anything that fits.

I don't want to pluralize something like villians, because even though it means more than one evil person, it doesn't give off the correct meaning that I'm aiming for.

Any thoughts?

Edit for more details

Not evil in a fictional way like witches, or in a political way, more criminally centered. People who've committed criminal, inhumane, or despicable acts. A meeting of those types of people.

I've found next to nothing in regards to a meeting besides the usual synonyms, none with a negative connonation. But I have found different words for groups of people, like horde, gathering, which I could spin in a negative manner by adding "of evildoers, "of villians or "of criminals" afterwards, but I was hoping to find a word that can be a combination.

For example, congregation, which is normally an assembly/meeting of churchly folks, but a word applied to the worst of society instead.

Hope that makes things a bit more clear.


texts: What is a word for "giving more meaning to something than it deserves?"

texts:
Or something that tries to convey more meaning to you than it deserves to.

It's an adjective similar to "condescending."

I'm almost certain the word starts with an "e."


texts:
As far as I know "parochial" means of or relating to a church/parish. My dictionary (and Google, or that matters, also says so.)

But recently, I've heard it also means "narrow-minded" (or something similar).
Can anyone tell if this is true? I know one should know better than to ask WHY a word means what it means, but I really want to know how/why "parochial" could mean "narrow-minded".

Thanks,


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When is “Y” a vowel?

Why are 'w' and 'y' called semi-vowels in English?


texts:
The instrument to measure current in amperes is called ammeter, while the instrument to measure charge in coulombs is called coulombmeter.

What happened to the -pere? Is there a historical reason for this?

Ampere-meter stands for the seldom used unit A*m.


texts:
What is the correct way to ask another person about the course he is doing/pursuing at a college or university?

  What course are you doing?


texts: Use of plural with "respectively" when referring to a property

texts:
If you are referring to one property but are giving the respective values for two different things do you use the singular or plural form? Can the property be treated as a mass noun so that it takes on a cumulative reference?

The yields of 1 and 2 were 76 and 89%, respectively.

The yield of 1 and 2 was 76 and 89%, respectively.
In control and treated cells, the mean values were 8.6 and 7.5, respectively.

In control and treated cells, the mean value was 8.6 and 7.5, respectively.

It's clear that the plural is used for cases in which two properties are listed (i.e., the yield and recovery rate of A were...) but it's not clear when only one propery is listed.


texts: what does to word 'crete' mean in English?

texts:
In my native language, words are created using 'Root Words' + 'Prefixes/suffixes'.
Also the root words make sense for us.
Is English the same?
For example I think the word 'crete' is the root and 'dis,con & ...' are its prefixes creating the words 'concrete' or 'discrete'. And does the word 'crete' have meaning related to the meaning of the words 'concrete' or 'discrete'?
Thanks a lot


texts:
Why is the past perfect used in these cases? This is from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

  Winston had seen O'Brien about twelve times in almost as many years. Years ago he had dreamed about O'Brien. He was in a dark room and O'Brien had said to him, We shall meet in the place where there is no dark. Winston didn't know what that meant, but he was sure it would happen, one day.


texts: What do you call the little plastic dowel-like protrusions that keep two pieces of plastic together?

texts:
That is, you have two parts to mate and those thingies are supposed to help. You can find those in appliances, model kits, computer cases (to keep the bezel and the aluminum case proper together) and the like.

General example:

The projection fits into a hole, and then it's kept in place with a screw or bolt.

A VHS cassette:

Sometimes you have a flanged projection which doesn't require that, as it simply snaps in place sort of like this:

(Sorry about the poor draftsmanship, that crooked Christmas-tree-like monstrosity is supposed to be a flanged cylinder.)

What are they called? Dowels, projections, lugs don't seem correct. I'm writing a technical manual and I want to be extremely precise.


texts: A word for one who is sacrificed or suffers so others need not

texts:
Although the word martyr somewhat applies, it includes a nobility not necessarily present.

An idiom describing this, in a voluntary situation, would be drawing the short straw, thereby acquiring some unpleasant or dangerous duty. An idiom for an involuntary situation would be getting thrown under the bus.

Context

Friend: I knew someone would eventually need to refactor this code. I didn't think it would be me.

Me: You're our... uh, what's the word?


texts: Single word request - Lose interest after doing something of interest repeatedly

texts:
Is there any awesome word for this above mentioned phrase?

EDIT: I understand, what you people are getting at, but what I want is somewhat uncommon and cool sounding, and the term should preferably not be generic. "Grow weary through monotony" is the most appropriate term I have found from the answers, but I want single word. I will wait a while for a more appropriate one, before marking one. "Bored" is too generalized.


texts:
"It had seceded from the union due to some points of contrast with the other countries".

Is "points of contrast" an actual phrase? If not, what are some synonyms for it (as used in the context of the above sentence)?
Could "conflicting points of interest" be used in place of "points of contrast"?


texts: Difference between 'in the wild' and 'in the wilderness'?

texts:
In

  I once saw a tiger in the wild.

'in the wild' sounds like an existing collocation. How about 'in the wilderness'?


texts: "Picking up your litter puts road-workers at risk" — is this strangely-worded road sign grammatically correct?

texts:
Yesterday I came across a road-sign (just coming onto the M40 at the Oxford services, if you're interested!) that seemed to read rather strangely. It read:

  Picking up your litter puts road-workers at risk.

I think I can work out what it is meant to mean ("Don't drop litter on the motorway so other people have to pick it up- it's dangerous!"), but probably only because I had a fair idea in advance what it was likely to mean.

It's hard to put my finger on exactly what is wrong with it. Do others agree that it is phrased oddly? Is it grammatically correct? What would be a clearer and equally succinct way to say this.

Update: Just noticed this article about this sign (and others). Seems like I'm not the only one who finds the sign confusing.

  Driver Rob Davis says... "In future, I won't pick up my litter. I
  certainly wouldn't want to put any workers' lives in danger by doing
  so."


texts:
I am wondering about a certain type of sentence construction which seems to somehow exclude the word being. For example,

A native English speaker, he was well suited for the task.
Well versed in the English language, he was well suited for the task.

These are different in essence: the first includes the noun in the first sub-clause and the second does not. Are any or both of these grammatically sound?


texts: Difference between 'would have been' and 'was'

texts:
Is the usage of 'would have been' correct in this sentence below?

  The only time I believe we exchanged physical pleasantries would have been at the 70th birthday dinner hosted in honour of your mother-in-law, Erelu Ojuolape Ojora at The Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos some years back.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/candid-letter-senate-president/


texts: Verb for the act of making a "Tch" sound

texts:
This has been bothering me (a native English speaker) for a long time. It seems almost impossible outside of dialogue to describe the act of unconsciously spitting out a "Tch!" in response to something outrageous, comedic, etc. For example:

Bob tch'ed at Mary's absurd suggestion.
John merely tch'ed at the punchline and returned to his work.
Sally tch'ed and rolled her eyes. "He can't be serious!"

In want of the proper verb or phrase for this action, I often have to resort to just choosing another action for my written character to perform so that I can describe it better. But it's not very real to life.


texts:
The parties were living together until 3/24/20, which is when Janet moved out.

Is the comma used correctly here?


texts: A simple word for one who seeks adventure and tries to help, but hurts more than they help

texts:
I'm writing a novel following a naive young man who thinks that he can make his fortune going around helping people. When he visits a space station on the fringe of the galaxy, hoping to help people who have suffered from the war that rages across it every few years (it's a particularly violent sector, that one) his guide tells him that it's useless, because:

  Ain't no one there but mercs, spies, and... adventurers.

(That last bit was said with a glance at the kid and a scowl)

Now, this sounds a little odd, (I think) because the monosyllabic/simple sentence suddenly has a big, fancy word right at the end. It's also said by a character who almost never uses big words, though that context is hard to replicate here, since I'm tryin'a sound fancy 'n' all. Is there a single, simple word, that means "someone going to help, and probably failing/not doing much"? If so, what is it?

Ideally, answers shouldn't be slang, but if there's something that fits well, please feel free to suggest it.

I'm new here. As such, I haven't got the foggiest what the tags are. Any help there is greatly appreciated. Also, I read the On Topic article, but I'm not totally confident that I understood it, so if this is off-topic, please let me know and I'll try to fix it.


texts: Use of "on" vs "in" when referring to one's place of employment

texts:
When should I write in or at while writing on a work place?

For example, should I write

  Meet John, he is a data engineer in a gaming company.

or

  Meet John, he is a data engineer at a gaming company.


texts: A word where when all factors occur, catastrophe happnes

texts: I am looking for a word which describes/has the meaning 'all events/elements have to occur to have a catastrophe/catastrophic outcome'


texts: Why is "ask" sometimes pronounced "aks"?

texts:
We've recently moved from New Zealand to New York City, and have noticed that many people (most of whom have good English) pronounce "ask" as "aks". For example:

  Could you please go aks her tomorrow?

Sure, I'll ax her! :-)

What's the origin/etymology of "aks"? It seems to be more common among African Americans, but it's definitely used by others too.


texts: What term means “place where we can learn and share knowledge"

texts: Is there a term which means "place where we can learn and share knowledge about almost anything"?


texts: What do you mean when you say "An apartment doesn't have a single right angle"? Does it just mean this apartment doesn't have any 90-degree angle? Or it has another meaning? If this is the former, then what kind of apartment doesn't have a right angle?


texts:
I'm currently composing a letter to a good friend of mine—using actual pen and paper—and I just realised, that I have absolutely no idea how to properly handle apostrophes in cursive script.

English, is in fact, a second language to me. My native tongue does not use apostrophes, at least not in a way I'm aware of.  So I've never had to learn them properly.

There are two ways, as I see it, to handle this:

1) To simply write the word as a single word and stick an apostrophe in there, or;
2) To break the script and shove the apostrophe between them.

To better illustrate my question I've included an example of both options below, using the word "friend's". (I'd like to apologise beforehand for my terrible handwriting).

So, which way is the proper way to render this in English script?


texts: What is a synonym for “superstition” but without the negative connotation?

texts:
In my native language (Latvian) there is a word that denotes a superstition, but in a more positive way, somehow. It’s hard to explain, so let me give some examples:

  If you swing on the swings a lot during Easter, you won’t get bitten by mosquitoes later in the summer.

  If you eat eggs without salt on Easter, you will be a liar;

  On Christmas eve you have to run around the house three times, barefooted. Then your teeth won’t hurt.

And so on and so forth.

You can’t really call them superstitions because nobody believes in them anyway. It’s more like fun sayings. Although swings are really popular on Easter here — mostly because people simply like swings. In this case the above quote can be semi-humorously used to justify swinging. :)

The majority of such superstitions have to do with celebrations, but there are quite a few that apply to generic situations, too, like “Broken dishes bring luck”.

The point is that when one starts believing in it and religiously practicing it, it turns into a superstition. But when it’s just a fun quote for the appropriate situation, what is it called then?

Is there a word or phrase like that in English, too?


texts: Commutative, or "semantically palindromic" sentences

texts:
Being a mathematician with mathematician friends, my friends and I occasionally like to joke about the peculiarities of the English language.  This one came up recently:

Obviously, most English sentences and phrases cannot be read backwards and forwards and maintain the same meaning.  For instance, "watch this" and "this watch" have clearly different meanings.  In mathematics, we call this non-commutativity, and it is deeply interesting.  So the question is, can anyone think of a phrase or sentence which has the same semantic meaning when the words are read from right to left?


texts: "Not my preference", "not my favour" or "not in my favour"?

texts:
I'm considering the following situation:

  A asks B whether B would like to take the Job X. But B actually prefers another Job Y.

So I think that B can simply answer that "Job X is not my preference."

My question is: Can B also answer that "Job X is not my favour."? Are "not my preference" and "not my favour" of the same meaning?

A follow-up question is: How about "not in my favour"? Which roles can these three ("preference", "favour" and "in sb's favour") play in my situation?


texts: Word or phrase for tasking an expert with jobs that a novice could do

texts:
Suppose you hire one of the world's leading heart surgeons only to employ them with bookkeeping or billing at your hospital. You may even be paying a wage that is commensurate with what other heart surgeons make--and he or she probably hired on thinking that heart surgery was what they'd be doing. But you stick them in billing.

I once heard a term for this from a friend in the US Army (I've lost contact and anyway I can't remember exactly whom) where he told me this was common practice. You take a commissioned office who has decades of training and lots of subject matter expertise in some way that might actually, say, help the army if they were smart about it--but they will stick them in charge of filing reports for some outpost or station. Forever.

I'm looking for a short phrase or a single word rather than the using a paragraph or two to explain this concept. For example the army guy said something like: "They had him doing _." (i.e. _ = "a task or job that was far below his training and capabilities and that essentially anybody could do with minimal training (say under two years) and that is a shame".)

Any thoughts?

EDIT: To be clear I want to say that this happens not ONLY to military folks, or people who are near retirement but also to mid-career people who are civilians.


texts: Is there a word for someone who won't think critically?

texts: Is there a word for someone who won't think through issues and instead comes to others hoping that they will think for them and solve problems for them?  A word that is more specific to a lack of critical thinking skills than "lazy"?


texts: But instead serves as both interupt and continuation (commas)

texts:
I have a very complex, long sentence.

The Fire This Time focuses not on the "black rage" that occurred after Michael Brown, a black eighteen year old "unarmed kid," was shot, but instead examines the end sentence.

Do I need a comma after instead?


texts: In software or in Any Industry the change of requirements is often seen. Is there a particular single word  that can describe the "change of/in requirements". Apart form updation, editing, amendment etc.


texts: What could be the expression in English, that means "to have different interests, inclinations"

texts:
I have this question, because I want to translate one expression from my language, that literally means " we are not belted with the same belt", with the meaning: we are not the same, we are differently inclined. It is not similar to expressions like different strokes for different folks or to each their own, because this is not an axiom. For the context, the sentence goes like this:" but as it turned out we were not all belted with the same belt: when one of us wanted to visit the old cemetery, the other was crawling down to  search for humulus lupulus ( a plant).

So, if anyone has any ideas of any similar expression in english, be welcome to share!


texts: what do we call a person who works in reinforcing steel?

texts:
I am looking for the right term to describe a person who works in cutting reinforcing steel (rebar). This person would cut the steel bars and shape them to fit the project he/she working on.
Is there a term for the person whose job is to cut and prepare rebars to be used in buildings?
A photo is attached.


texts: What does it mean by "bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of..." in Lincoln's 2nd inaugural adress?

texts:
I'm not sure who is the bondsman and why his wealth matters here.

Here is the quote, from the paragraph of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

  Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the
  bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
  sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid
  by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago,
  so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and
  righteous altogether.


texts: Is there a nuanced difference between "unknown" and "not known"?

texts:
Consider the following two sentences:

Suppose that for a certain liquid the values of  x1  and   x2   are    9.762  and   3.91  receptively, but the true exact values  are unknown.

Suppose that for a certain liquid the values of  x1  and   x2   are    9.762  and   3.91  receptively, but the true exact values  are  not known.

For me, I think the second sentence gives more sense than the first one. My goal is to express that the  real values are as stated but we don't know that.
What is the best way to express it?


texts: ''Having you is happy for me'' VS ''Having you makes me happy''

texts:
We can use happy like in "happy endings", "happy story", "happy summer" etc. in order to mean that those things make us or made us happy.

But the following sounds weird to me.

  Having you is happy for me

For example, the sentence “This story is very happy for me” doesn't sound weird to me but the other one does. Is that sentence wrong or not? I need your help.

Edit:
Another example: We can say

  It was sad for me to lose.

but why can't we say the following?

  It was happy for me to win.

If we can't say the sentence above, why does: “The day was happy for me.” sound OK?


texts:
Are vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, radish countable or not when we talk about food?
Which is correct?

"We have some cabbage in the kitchen." Or "We have a cabbage."
"I added some radishes to the salad." Or "I added some radish."
"I don't eat much radish." Or "I don't eat many radishes."


texts:
What does the writer mean by saying "no worse than stealing?"

It is thought the scam, which stores say is no worse than stealing, is a product of our ‘fast-fashion culture’, where trends are popular for a short time then become outdated and therefore worthless. (Mail Online, 2013.11.3.)


texts:
I'm having a hard time fathoming the difference between incomprehensible and unintelligible.

After some research, I assume that

  incomprehensible would be used to express the inability to understand a problem and finding a solution for it or to fathom a process.

whilst

  unintelligible rather emphasizes that a sound or writing is difficult to grasp or understand, for example due to noise or crabbed handwriting.

Is this correct?


texts: Using 'own' in passive voice and causative sentences

texts:
Is it correct to use own in causative and passive voice sentences? For example,

  I had my own house built by a local builder.

  I didn't have my own eyes tested.

  His own hair was dyed by a friend.


texts: Which preposition can be used in the sentence “The bird is flying in/above the sky.”?

texts:
I got confused what preposition exactly goes into the blank and why

  The bird is flying......the sky.(in/above)


texts: Zero article before the word "part" - what is the particular reason for this?

texts:
Please consider the following sentences:

It's part of the life.
It's a part of the life.

What is the difference in the meaning between these sentences?

Why are we allowed to omit the article from the first sentence?


texts:
"I told everyone and their mother about how I won the contest."

"Everyone and their mother" meaning that I told many many people.

Would this be considered slang or just a figure of speech?


texts:
There are three buildings along the same stretch of road next to one another. Lets call them Building A, Building B and Building C. Both the hearer and I are talking about Building B.

Building B is in the middle.
There is a driveway between Building A and Building B
There is a driveway between Building B and Building C

I would like to tell them about the driveways.

If I say

  the driveways between the adjacent buildings

Does that make sense?

And if I were to say there are two driveways, should I say

  There are driveways on either side of Building B

or

  There are driveways on both sides of Building B


texts: Term describing both point of pickup and dropoff point, unambiguously excluding transit between points?

texts:
Is there a term which is concretely associated with a place for pickup and drop-off (like "taxi stand," requiring embarking and disembarking)?

It must also immediately exclude the "dual" case of generically switching states - terms like "transition" can ambiguously refer to either "the point where you go from one trip segment to another" or "the trip segment where you go from one point to another."

I'm looking for a minimal generalization, like going from "man or woman" to "person."


texts:
The course is for anyone who is interested in learning about computers.

Is there an error in the above sentence formation?

Or can we just say:

  The course is for anyone interested in learning about computers.


texts: Why does past participle phrase modifies object of a sentence?

texts:
I am confused when i read the following sentences.

Her cruel sisters had brought expensive new clothes for the party and laughed at her when they saw Cinderella crying , dressed in her plain, dirty rags.
I decided on a suitable model, priced at $2000.

I was taught that participial phrases are used to modify the subject of a sentence. But " dressed in her plain, dirty rags" modifies the object " Cinderella in sentence 1. and " price at $2000" modifies the suitable model in sentence 2.

Are these two sentences examples of dangling modifiers?

Thank you for your help!!


texts: What part of a sentence is that word in these kind of sentences

texts:
hi and thanks for reading.
I can find many sentences which are very simple but i can't assign all of the words with the correct part of a sentence.
What i mean is, in sentences such as:

She washed it clean.
He shot him dead.
They bled me dry

So as i already mentioned, these are fairly simple sentences that follows the simple
Subject Verb Object paradigm, but what puzzles me is the adjective that follows
Are they simply an object complement as in: They elected him president ?
I appreciate the help.


texts: What does "claim the benefit from me as his peculiar right" mean?

texts:
This is a translation of Cicero's Speech "For Archias."

If there is any natural ability in me, O judges,—and I know how slight that is; or if I have any practice as a speaker,—and in that line I do not deny that I have some experience; or if I have any method in my oratory, drawn from my study of the liberal sciences, and from that careful training to which I admit that at no part of my life have I ever been disinclined; certainly, of all those qualities, this Aulus Licinius is entitled to be among the first to claim the benefit from me as his peculiar right.

I'm not quite sure what "claim the benefit from me as his peculiar right" means. Is Cicero saying that Aulus Licinius is the first person who can say that he is Cicero's "right-hand man"? Also, does "peculiar" here mean that Cicero deems himself to be peculiar?


texts: A product priced 60$ is advertised by "compare at 100$". What does that mean? Why should I compare it like that?


texts:
I know there are six basic tastes:

sweet
bitter
salt {is there any word to specify this salty taste?}
hot as in chillies, pepper
Sour as in lemon, curds etc [or is it tang?]

What is the name of the taste of gooseberry, betelnut or young leaves of mango?

After tasting this taste, if you drink water, it will taste sweet.
Do English have any specific word to describe this taste?


texts: When do we use 'enterprise' to mean 'company'

texts:
What is the difference between a company and an enterprise? The cambridge dictionary defines an enterprise as 'a business', and gives an example, 'a commercial enterprise', Oxford defines it, among other things as 'a business or company', and gives the example of a state-owned enterprise, the EU provides money for 'Small and medium-sized enterprises' (= businesses), yet we would not say: 'my father has set up an enterprise making chocolate bars' or 'the enterprise where I work employs 3 people'. If you look up 'enterprise' on google images, you get pages of space ships, a few aircraft carriers and a car rental firm, if you google image 'company', you get, well, companies.

I am not referring here to the other meanings of enterprise: entrepreneurial activity/ initiative and resourcefulness, but just to 'enterprise' (countable), used as a near synonym for 'company'.


texts:
I took a test on articles and scored 84%. Unfortunately, the site provides no explanation as to why I was wrong, so I kindly ask for your help here.

  Kumiko discovered that there were quite a few cultural differences between the Danish and Norwegians. She had always assumed Scandinavians were the same.

I used 'the Scandinavians' instead of 'Scandinavians' because I though it was referring to a class. Can anybody explain why, unlike 'the Danish and Norwegians', there should be no article?

EDIT:

Thanks for all your help. What helped the most was the thread at http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/definite-article-with-nationalities.1021920/—especially, this part: http://imgur.com/lAT2V8x.


texts: How should I understand "beckon" in this sentence?

texts:
I learned the following sentence from The Economist.

  Perfectly efficient electric cables, more powerful generators and motors, magnetic levitation and a host of other technological wonders beckoned.

I have looked it up in the dictionary:

  beckon
  intransitive verb
  1 : to summon or signal typically with a wave or nod
  2 : to appear inviting : ATTRACT

But I am still not able to understand the sentence above with either explanation of "beckon". How should I understand this word and the sentence?


texts: Competible : There's no word of concatenation of Compete(VB) + -able(suffix)?

texts:
While having a conversation with my friend, it sounded as if she said competible:

  LG electronics is not competible to Daikin because of its gap of market shares between them ...

I actually understood what she said, but while hearing it, this also sounded to be confusable with compatible.
So, I looked into the Wiktionary, but there’s no word like competible.

Is this correct or is there a conventional use of this word?


texts: that feeling where you feel like you need to do something but can't remember what it is

texts:
You know when you feel like you need to do something but you can't remember what it is?

You almost feel a little anxious because you can't remember what you were going to do / what you need to do.

Is there a name for this feeling?


texts:
I am smarter than Jake, but he's richer than (me or I).

What should come as the object?


texts: Word for "too irresistible to be kept as a secret"

texts:
Consider a scenario where a person encounters something or hears something (experiences something) and he realises that something should be kept as a secret based on ethics or by the nature of something itself. But something is so irresistible to be kept as a secret and eventually the person loses his patience and blurts it out to people.

I would like to know if I can denote such an event by a phrase or a word.

Ex:

  "Mr. X encountered a/an _______ event".

The blank should be filled with a phrase or a term that denotes,
an event that should have been kept as a secret, but due to irresistible circumstances, it came into light

Also, the event is not irresistible for a specific person. It is associated with the nature of the event.

I am not able to find an exact scenario to be given as an example. But this is what that person would think about the event when he encounters: Ah! This should be kept as a secret. But how can I? I cannot restrict myself from telling this, and he tells it out.

How would one describe such events as?


texts:
For a user interface project, my group is trying to determine the correct phrasing for when an account is being used at multiple computers. There were a few different options being given, but which one most accurately describes the situation? Is there a better option we've missed?

"Your account is also logged into another computer." / "Your account is also logged into other computers."
I was against this one because the issue isn't that they're logged into the computer but that they're logged into our app from another computer.
"Your account is also logged in at another computer." / "Your account is also logged in at other computers."
This one was said to be awkwardly-worded because of the "at".
"Your account is also logged in from another computer." / "Your account is also logged in from other computers."
Seemed less awkward than 2. but not as good as 1.


texts: Is there a single word for "stall attender"?

texts:
I would like to put in my resume that I have voluntarily attended a particular stall to promote a social section in the university and introduce that to the new students.

But what is the title for such a duty?

I look for a professional word that add value to a resume.


texts: Is there an etymological connection between the English “arachnid” and the French “arachides” (meaning peanuts)?

texts: What is the etymological connection; between "arachnid" (the English scientific term for insects that include spiders), and "arachides" the French word for peanuts ?  Thank you


texts:
Is there a single word or short phrase to describe someone who treats women like objects?
Is there a similar word/phrase for who objectifies other people in general?


texts: What is it called or the term for when I use the word "You" to mean "Everyone"?

texts: Such as when I say "Well, you can't just walk into a bar and yell fire" meaning anyone can't walk into a bar and yell fire.


texts: Why can't we use the plural in "Mt. Fuji is higher than any other mountains in Japan"?

texts:
These are two sentences that I have a question about.

  Mt. Fuji is higher than any other mountains in Japan.
  Mt. Fuji is higher than any other mountain in Japan.

I know the second sentence is the correct one, but why can't we use the first sentence? The dictionary says "Do you have any other questions?"  and "He doesn't have any other shoes to wear." Using any here we use the plural, so why can't we use it with the first sentence that I questioned you about?

How can I explain to students who are learning English?


texts:
Could you explain the meaning of "As Single As It Gets"?
Does "As Single As It Gets" mean "very lonely"? Is it used to emphasize "loneliness"? (just like in "as good as it gets").

Thank you


texts: Are the words "swag" and "sway" cognates?

texts:
I'm fascinated by the similarities between them, which both refer to some kind of action meaning alike, namely "wavering" action, and they are morphologically alike too.

If they are cognates, in my opinion, these similarities may be explained reasonably.


texts: Where does the use of "deck" to mean "set of slides" come from?

texts: Nowadays, the word deck can be used to refer to a set of slides (e.g., PowerPoint slides). Where does that sense come from? Online Etymology Dictionary  didn't yield any insight on it.


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

texts:
The following sentence is from an article of Harry Frankfurt who is a professor from Princeton University:

  It must be part of the point of saying that humbug is "short of lying," that while it has some of the distinguishing characteristics of lies, there are others that it lacks.

How should I understand the second "that" (in bold) here? Does it refer to "it" in the sentence or is it an object of the word "saying"? How should I understand this sentence?


texts: "Of which many" vs "many of which" as parenthetical modifiers

texts:
The houses on Canal street, of which many had been damaged in the storm, looked abandoned.

Is the modifier "of which many... storm" correct?

I know that "on canal street" is a prepositional phrase so it cannot be the antecedent of "which".
also, I can say that "of which many... storm" is a subgroup modifier which modifies "houses."

But I doubt whether the modifier is properly used. My friend suggested this:

  The houses on canal street, many of which had been damaged in the storm, looked abandoned.

Although I know that this is correct and more appropriate, I cannot figure out what is wrong with the original sentence.

Is the modifier "of which many... storm" correct or not, and why so?


texts: What do you call a mother whose children have died?

texts: For instance, a child whose parents have died is an orphan; while a woman whose husband has died is a widow...


texts: You cannot contract "there are"!!. Right or Wrong?

texts:
The Woodward English website claims that

Contractions
The contraction of there is is there's.

There's a good song on the radio.
There's only one chocolate left in the box.

You cannot contract there are.

There are nine cats on the roof.
There are only five weeks until my birthday.

So, can we not say There're nine cats on the roof?


texts: Synonym for character (as in a person in a book)

texts: A story normally consists of several characters (i.e. the protagonist, the antagonist, and so forth), but is there a good synonym for the word character? I've often used "people", but it seems overly general.


texts: Words that describe the repetitive sound of machine

texts: I'm looking for words that can describe the repetitive sounds that machine produces (For example an engine). Those droning, looped and long-lasting sounds. Patterned sounds of various parts of an engine or an engine as a whole machine.


texts: What is the word that sounds like "caromize" which means "cook a dish until we can reduce the juice in that dish to being viscous"?

texts:
OK, once I watched the Master Chef program and I heard people use a word that sounds like "caromize" to express the meaning of “cook a dish until the juices of the dish has reduced and is viscous”.

For example, you season your raw meat in a pan and then pour coconut water into meat. Then you cook it until all the coconut juice in your pan has reduced and becomes viscous.

Then I can say "cook the meat until it got caromized". I am not sure caromize is the word.

So, what is the word that sounds like "caromize" which expresses the meaning of "cook a dish until we can reduce the juice in that dish to being viscous"?


texts: Is the usage of “at play” limited to children’s action?

texts:
Time magazine picked up the topic, “Chick-fil-A meets a first amendment buzzsaw”
 in its 10 most popular stories of this week, which was followed by the following lead copy:

“The issues at play are the personal view of the owner of the restaurant chain and the philanthropic efforts of the private company.”

I understand “the issues at play” here means something like “hot issues” or “issues in motion, or in the process,” but I don’t find the pertinent definitions of “something at play” in dictionaries at hand.

Oxford Online Dictionary defines ‘play’ as a mass noun meaning (1) activity engaged in for enjoyment and recreation, especially by children by showing the example of usage: A child at play may use a stick as an aeroplane. (2) behaviour or speech that is not intended seriously: I flinched, but only in play.

None of Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, and OALD carries “at play” as an idiom.

Ngrams for at play,in play  shows high usage of both since before 1840, with the latter significantly surpassing the currency of the former since 1910 until recently.

I assume “at play” is definitely a generic reference not limited to children as Oxford Dictionary defines.

Do you know why this apparently well-used phrase is not included in popular dictionaries other than Oxford Online Dictionary, which shows limited usage?


texts:
I'm a substitute teacher and recently was teaching a kindergarten class about long i sound. They were crossing out words without long i, circling words with long i. One of the words was ink. I told them no, listen , we don't say i nk (say it with a long i to see what I mean) and they crossed it out. Later, looking at the teacher's edition, it had ink circled. I thought it was just a mistake then I saw that an ink bottle was actually used as an example in the book for the  long i sound. I thought something was terribly wrong so I looked it up in the dictionary—it shows i in ink as a long i sound (I looked at many dictionaries, all were the same). This can't be right, but I'm wondering if it's one if those things that's just been accepted and not questioned. Or if it's a category that hasn't been explored yet as needing a separate sound to clarify, like words with r-controlled vowels. Any comments on this would be extremely helpful.

Edit:

I realized I made a mistake with my original post and used long I all the way through. I meant to say that in ink, think, pink, thing, ring, king, etc., in other words, words ending in "nk" and "ng", the "i" is usually pronounced more like a long e sound, like e in meet. At least, that is how I have always pronounced it and heard it pronounced. I'm from California so this could be regional, but I've never heard it pronounced with a short i like in it.  Fumblefingers listed words in which a short i occurs, including ink, pink, bit, fit. I definitely hear short i in bit and fit, sounds the same. In ink and pink, i does not sound the same to me, nor have I heard people say it with the same i sound as in bit. Unless the i is getting so quickly blended into the "ng" that it is almost ignored, in which case it should have a special sound category like we teach r-controlled vowels.  The pronunciation rules could be very different between the US and the UK .


texts:
Is there a reason as to why certain roles end in different suffixes, like -ist and -er?

For example, why can't a runner be a 'runnist'? Or an artist to 'arter'?


texts: Is the sentence, "What I can tell you is that, hidden within the question, lies the answer," correct?

texts:
Here's the sentence: "What I can tell you is that, hidden within the question, lies the answer." It makes sense, but I don't really know it's it right.

I figured that the "hidden within the question, lies the answer" part is an inversion of "the answer lies hidden within the question," but in the original sentence, there is a comma after "question," while if that part were to stand alone, it wouldn't need the comma (I think it might even be incorrect to include it). So does that mean the original sentence doesn't need it either?

As for the comma after "that," something similar applies, but it gets even more confusing. If the sentence were "What I can tell you is that the answer lies hidden within the question," it wouldn't need any commas. Does the original sentence need a comma after "that" because "hidden within the question, lies the answer" is an inversion? Or could "hidden within the question" be a parenthetical and therefore the reason it is between the two commas? In which case, does the sentence have to make sense without the parenthetical? Also, does "lies the answer" on its own even make sense? Does "lies the answer"?

Hopefully you can help me find the answer!


texts: Are there any new words in common usage for things that existed 200 years ago?

texts:
Are there any newer-ish words for things/ideas that existed 100-200 years ago. In English I don't know of good examples. To be clear I'm not talking about new words like "email" or "blog". Those didn't exist in the past. Basically I'm asking like now we might say "Don't be late" but in the past they said "Don't be foobar" where "late" is the new common word and it used to be "foobar".

At the moment I can really only take some examples from Japanese because in Japanese new words often stick out. Two examples. One, the word "level" is in common usage in Japanese as in "this product has the highest level quality". Clearly at some point in the past the an actual Japanese origin word would have been used for "level" but at some point this new word "level" became common. Similarly the English word "towel" is common usage in Japanese as in "I will dry off with a towel" where as 100 or 200 years ago people would have used a Japanese word.

For English I'm not specifically talking about loan words though. I'm wondering if there are any words in common usage today that have replaced words that were in common usage in the past.

Maybe pants vs pantaloons?

Note: I'm more curious about common words. The examples above "level", "towel", "pants" are every day words and are in this list of the 3000 most common English words. I'm not only looking for words in that list, just trying to help give examples of what a "common word" is. Also not interested in slang.


texts: What's a word for someone who "gave up on love"?

texts:
Is there a word that describes someone who has given up on love? Or someone who doesn't or can't love anymore, or is perhaps too damaged to love again?

The closest word I found was someone who's "Apathetic" but can it be used to describe an individual that has an absence of interest in love due to previous damaged relationships he's been through. Someone who is love repressed that they no longer have the desire to love again or feel emotions. Maybe a word similar to "Anhedonia" but to describe the inability to love again.

Update: I'm sharing the meaning and explanation of this word "Philophobia", because I found it really interesting.

Philophobia, Philophobic

The fear of falling in love or emotional attachment. The risk is usually when a person has confronted any emotional turmoil relating to love in the past but also can be chronic phobia.
A fear of being in love or falling in love. Usually because of past relationships or family issues. Philophobia is closely related with a previous traumatic experience involving love and relationships. If a person had any past relationship failure such as divorce, it can strongly cause philophobia in a person.
Dwelling on bitter memories of past relationships that didn’t go well or that ended badly, whether romantic or familial. Or the sufferer may have an intense fear of rejection and avoids relationships as a way to avoid the embarrassment of being refused by a potential lover. Others may have gone through an acrimonious divorce and be convinced that falling in love again will only lead to another painful divorce or breakup.
Common symptoms occurring in philophobia are:

-Extreme anxiety and nervousness of falling in love or getting in relationship

-Suppressing inner feelings as much as possible

-Complete avoidance of places where couples are found such as parks and movie theaters

-Avoiding Marriage and others’ wedding ceremonies as well

-Isolation from external world due to the fear of falling in love

-Physical signs such as shaking, racing heart beat, trouble in breathing, sweating, numbness, nausea, and even fainting when confronted with anything associated with love and romance


texts: Meaning of "bull" in Byron's "this is no bull, although it sounds so"

texts:
From Byron's Don Juan:

  One with her flush'd cheek laid on her white arm,
       And raven ringlets gather'd in dark crowd
  Above her brow, lay dreaming soft and warm;
       And smiling through her dream, as through a cloud
  The moon breaks, half unveil'd each further charm,
       As, slightly stirring in her snowy shroud,
  Her beauties seized the unconscious hour of night
  All bashfully to struggle into light.

  This is no bull, although it sounds so; for
       'T was night, but there were lamps, as hath been said.
  A third's all pallid aspect offer'd more
       The traits of sleeping sorrow, and betray'd
  Through the heaved breast the dream of some far shore
       Belovéd and deplored; while slowly stray'd
  (As night-dew, on a cypress glittering, tinges
  The black bough) tear-drops through her eyes' dark fringes.

I immediately thought that this meant bullshit, but then I consulted dictionaries and discovered that bullshit was coined in the 20th century. Yet it clearly means "false information" here.

If not from bullshit, what does it derive from?


texts:
While trying to think of a brief list of English prefixes that mean "not" or "opposite to" in some way, I was wondering why so many exist.  As English has roots in so many languages, I was hoping somebody could help me understand maybe how some prefixes hail from different languages, and why we have kept all of them.  Perhaps there are micro-differences in meaning, and I'd love any insight on that. Examples of different prefixes all meaning the same thing, and examples, are below:

a- atypical
an- anaerobic
anti- anticlimactic, anti-clockwise (for Britons)
counter- counter-intuitive, counterclockwise
dis- disengage, disconnect
il- illegitimate
im- immeasurable
in- indestructible
ir- irresponsible
mis- misunderstand
non- nontraditional
un- unhappy

I know it's an antitypical question, but it's disunderstood in my head and seems misresponsible to have counterunderstood meanings to ameasurable words, making it unpossible for people to learn all these incommon prefixes.


texts:
According to Wiktionary page on "on" word , the pronunciation of "on" is either /ɔn/ or /ɑn/ depending if you have the cot-cought merger or not. usually, if a word has a reduced form, it's stated explicitly.

Funny such an "unimportant" helper word is not reduced, especially when /ɔ/ requires you to drop you jaw and round you lips which make this vowel to be "harder" to pronounce.

Can "on" be reduced to just /ən/ ?
it's on the table -> [ɪts ən ðə teibəl]


texts: Infinitive use in “whether or not he be” compared with its use in “if he be”

texts:
Here is the phrase in question:

  . . . but whether he be, or whether he be not. . . .

Is the usage of the infinitive in that phrase above the same sort of thing as occurs in this quotation:

  “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”

Are those two uses of the infinitive be the same syntactically, or are they different constructions altogether?

I find it rather weird that this formal or archaic usage coincides with the colloquial use of be as in

  “Dudes be like. . . .”

Is this last quote perceived as a new colloquialism, but in fact has roots stretching back to Middle English (like for example the word ain’t)?

I’d really appreciate it if you could both parts of my question.


texts: Translation of German "Es wird nichts so heiß gegessen, wie es gekocht wird"

texts:
A German speaker wrote:

  As the German saying goes: You never eat the food as hot as it is
  cooked.

This is a literal translation of the proverb, "Es wird nichts so heiß gegessen, wie es gekocht wird."  I wasn't the only person who had never heard that proverb in English.  To me it sounded like a great proverb, but I couldn't quite figure out what it should mean.  When asked to clarify its application to the question at hand, the German explained:

  We don’t take the rules as literally as they are written.

"Wow!" I thought.  "That is a great proverb!  Why can't I think of an English equivalent?"

Out of curiosity I popped the whole saying into Google translate and it came back with, "Nothing is as bad as it looks."  So that doesn't seem right.

Of course German is famous for having a word for everything.  But without falling back on ethnic jokes I can't figure out why a simple proverb like this would not have been translated or have an English analog.

Is there something equivalent, or similar, in English?  Or any great insights into why there wouldn't be?


texts:
I have a doubt about this sentence:

"If your product arrives broken our Returns Department will organise a replacement as long as you contact them within 24 hours of having received the parcel."

Can the "Returns Department" be referred to as "them" even though it is singular? Using "it" just doesn't sound right to me.


texts: Omission of definite articles before abstract nouns

texts:
I was going through the Grammarly blog about indefinite articles and its usage and the writer used this to exemplify the omission of articles:

Incorrect: The creativity is a valuable quality in children.

Correct: Creativity is a valuable quality in children.

I don't understand why that rule doesn't apply to a sentence like "The creativity that man had was eccentric", because it certainly doesn't sound right to say "Creativity that man had was eccentric."
Is that an exception or a completely different thing?


texts: Why are Irish people called "turk" and "turkey"?

texts:
Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang (edited by John Ayto, John Simpson) lists the following slang words used for Irish people:

bog-trotter, harp, Mick, Paddy, Pat, turk, turkey

I can guess why these terms are associated with Irish people except turk and turkey. (bog-trotter can be analyzed further though.)

bog-trotter: because there are many bogs in Ireland
harp: symbol of Ireland, popular instrument in Ireland
Mick, Paddy, Pat: (derived from) popular names in Ireland
turk, turkey: [seriously?]

On the other hand, the racial slur database doesn't include turk and turkey among many slang words.
I did some research and found an article on word-detective.com that explains possible origins. First theory is related to the stupidity of turkey bird, second theory is related to the uncivilized behavior of a person ("Turk" from US slang) and third theory is related to the derivation of the Irish word "torc".

As to why an Irish-born person resident in another country would be known as a "turkey" or "turkey bird," the crystal ball gets a bit cloudy. This term seems to be largely heard in the US, where "turkey" has long been slang, in reference to the bird's legendary stupidity, for something (or someone) of little value, so there's a possibility that it is simply another derogatory sense of this slang "turkey."

More likely, however, is the possibility that "turkey" in this sense is a development of "Turk," a native of Turkey, which has long been used in a derogatory slang sense in many contexts to mean a person lacking "civilized" qualities. "Turk" has been used in the US as slang for a person of Irish birth or descent since at least 1914, while the form "turkey" in the same sense is first found in the 1930s.

Yet another possibility, bypassing Turkey entirely, is that "turk" and "turkey" in this sense is derived from the Irish word "torc," meaning "hog or boar."

Furthermore, there is a new study claims that Irishmen descended from Turkish farmers which might be related:

A new study has revealed that many Irish men may be able to trace their roots back to Turkey. Focusing on the role of the Y chromosome, which is passed from father to son, the research indicates Turkish farmers arrived in Ireland about 6,000 years ago, bringing agriculture with them. And they may have been more attractive than the hunter-gatherers whom they replaced. [irishcentral.com]

In the light of the those findings, is it possible to trace back this usage to find a more definitive answer?


texts: Narrative tenses (for things that haven't happened yet)

texts:
I learn that when we are telling a story, we should use past tense. What if in our story there's an event that will happen after the story being told?

For example, in the following sentence:

  When he called me last night, I was in the middle
  of preparing my itinerary for my next
  travelling adventure which
  will/would(?) be in the coming month.

What should we use there? Present future or past future?


texts: Shortened form of "the fact that she was alive"

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  After she faked her death, she kept the fact that she was alive a secret from the rest of the world.

Here "the fact that she was alive" is a clear reference to her state of life, but I'd like to express this idea more concisely. It could be rephrased:

  After she faked her death, she kept her being alive a secret from the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, this is a bit awkward and could possibly become unclear without the starting clause ("After she faked her death").

Are there any other options?


texts: Is there an idiom for "looking for something in the wrong place"?

texts:
I want to express how someone might have an unfulfilled social need and seek to satisfy it in the wrong place. For example: someone has a romantic social need yet seeks for it to be satisfied from a popular, professional Twitch streamer; or someone has a friendship social need yet seeks to satisfy it with their therapist, which is inappropriate/unprofessional.
Is there a common idiom that describes something like this? Or can you come up with one?
I came up with "looking for an orange in an apple orchard", but I'm not sure if it captures what I want to say.
(also, I read the responses to Phrase or idiom for funnelling efforts in wrong direction, What could be an idiom describing the action of looking for something in the wrong place?, and An idiom meaning someone's doing something useless and has no result at the end, but they don't have the nuance I'm looking for).
Thanks in advance!


texts:
I feel like it could mean either "what you are capable of doing," or "what you are willing to do."

Do one of those better represent the meaning of this phrase or are they both right?


texts: Is there a word for the dizziness and adrenaline when interrogated under pressure?

texts:
I'm sure everyone knows this feeling: you have worked hard on something (which you understand fully because you have been working on it for so long), and then something goes wrong. You know exactly what it was, and how to fix it, but your manager is already mad. They interrogate you frustratedly, your heart starts pounding, blood rushes to your head and your mouth goes dry. You know you did nothing wrong, but you can't explain to them what happened, or how to fix it, because they simply don't have the technical language/background to grasp it. You usually end up thinking of a really good analogy which you could use, but hours later.
Is there a word for this feeling? Is it fear? panic? stress?
Is there a way to stay calm in these moments, so as to think of an analogy with a clear head, but without coming across as "not having the same sense of urgency" as they do?


texts:
I am having some difficulty wording a title for a paper of mine. I am going for something like, "Automatic text iconification". Which means an automatic method of giving text a symbolic representation.

However, online dictionaries are not helping:

iconification is found on wiktionary but not webster or reference.com
iconify is not found on webster and the case seems weird if I used "iconifing"

What word/tense do I use to make this correct?


texts: Why is Filipino spelled with an F? Philippines is spelled with a Ph. Some have said that it's because in Filipino, Philippines starts with F; but if this is so, why did we only change the beginning of Philippines?


texts: Plural/singular form for a company in American English?

texts:
Somewhere on the internet a guy claims that in American English it's proper to use the singular form for conjugating the predicate of group terms such as company, band, team etc. In British English, he claims, it's more common to use the plural form for there.

My question is threefold.

Is it true that it's not the intended meaning that governs numerus?
If so, how profoundly rooted is that difference in the dialects?
If it is, how does one formulate the following in American English?

  -- The diversity level amongst the people you've hired must be low?
    -- No, our staff is/are actually quite different individuals.


texts:
I am looking for a word that replaces the phrase "as it is". Only a single word should be used to convey the complete meaning.
Sample sentence:
Don't touch the phone. Leave it as it is.

"As it is" as used with the meaning " actual state of things".

Thank you.


texts:
I am not sure about the usage of infinitives in this sentence:

  Finally, one of the accused confessed to have forged the director's
  signature on the report.

Could anyone explain correct usage?


texts:
Here's what "bilbo" means -

  Bilbo

  noun (1)

    : a long bar of iron with sliding shackles used to confine the feet of
    prisoners especially on shipboard.

  noun (2)

    : SWORD

Merriam Webster provides a vague history and etymology for "bilbo" -

  History and Etymology for bilbo

  Noun (1)

    perhaps from Bilboa, Spain

  Noun (2)

    Bilboa, Bilbao, Spain

Etymonline only suggests the etymology for noun (2) -

  bilbo (n.)
  kind of sword esteemed for temper and elasticity, 1590s,
  from Bilbao (in English Bilboa), town in northern Spain where swords
  were made. The town name is Roman Bellum Vadum "beautiful ford" (over
  the Nervion River).

and Lexico states that it comes from -

  mid 16th century: of unknown origin.

for its first meaning.

Therefore, I would like to know more about the history and etymology of the word "bilbo", and how its first meaning came into use.


texts: How to refer to members of the House of Representatives?

texts:
The sentence is

  Call your two Senators and your elected member of the House of Representatives.

I'd like to say something simpler like … your elected Congressman, but that runs into all sorts of issues. First, we can have either a congressman or a congresswoman. Second, Senators are "congressmen." So how to refer to people of the other house?


texts: Proper preposition in 'Are you busy coming week?'

texts:
When I make a sentence:

  Are you busy coming week?

which preposition should I put between busy and coming week?


texts: Need help figuring out a word for a certain situation

texts:
I know there is a word for this!

Person A is a seller.
Person B is a buyer.

Person A is worried Person B will take the her product and not pay. Person B is worried of the inverse.

These two hire an unbiased Person C to mediate the transaction by taking the money from Person B and products from Person A and only releasing either item when both items are held by him.

Many words that seem like they would work, such as mediator, seem to be very general: "to make people involved in a conflict come to an agreement."

I am hoping there is a more specific term for this situation.


texts: A word for someone who loves searching, learning new things?

texts: I'm looking for a suitable word or expression, for someone who really loves to learn, search and read about new things (Technologies, science, economics, politics..), so that his passion is only to acquire more knowledge.


texts: What's a word for saying 'entering a room suddenly and fast'?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that means 'enter a room fast and suddenly'. Using a dictionary I got the word 'to plunge' - however I'm not sure if that's correct.

When looking up 'to plunge' (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plunge) it seems not to be completely correct, especially when looking at the example sentences.

So, is 'to plunge' also used with the meaning of 'entering a room fast and suddenly'? If not, what is such a word?


texts: When should terms be italicized versus put in quotes?

texts:
When a new term is introduced in a book I am writing or an unusual word or phrase is described I either italicize it, or put it in quotes. However, this has led to an inconsistency in which some terms are quoted and others are italicized.

What are the conditions under which I should use italics versus quotation marks for novel words or terminology?


texts:
I have prayed what seem like the same prayers for so long.

OR

I have prayed what seems like the same prayers for so long.


texts: what are the two parts of a binary called?

texts: How would you fill in the blank for the sentence "Some people do not want to conform to one ______ of the gender binary." All the words I can think of imply a spectrum, rather than two options (pole, extreme, end, etc.)


texts:
I have seen "S&H" in restaurant menus in Cyprus. What does it mean? It seems related to a quantity of food in a serving.

 Grill             LARGE   S&H
--------------------------------
 Chicken fillet     8.70   5.90
 Chicken Kebab      8.90   6.10


texts: Make a billing details default? Is it correct English?

texts:
We have a situation where we are asking the user to select one billing details and make it default, from the different billing details that he has already provided to us. The billing details consider of multiple information like: Name, Address, Phone No. etc. What would be the correct sentence for this one?

"Make a billing details default?" I feel there is something wrong in this.


texts: Tyop [sic]? Can you deliberately leave it without the sic

texts:
Suppose you point out a number of typos in a passage - like he wrote argument  instead of argument; fiend instead of friend.
Obviously these are typos. But to draw attention to them can you say I found lots of tyops in the passage - no sic?


texts: "Consider the bear that/which scratches his head." Which is correct?

texts:
If I wish to say something along the lines of

  Consider the bear that scratches his head.

It seems to me that I could instead say

  Consider the bear which scratches his head.

I am unsure which of these is correct, if it even matters.

Does anyone know a rule which makes this clear?


texts: How to spell "the youzhe" as in the abbreviation of "the usual"

texts: The usual is a common reply to what will you order? or what are you up to?. It is often abbreviated, in Canada, to the first syllable of usual, as in the youzhe. How would you spell this abbreviation? Is there evidence of a standard or more common spelling?


texts:
What does "to the back of the bus" mean in

  All of these options push the important element of demand to the back of the bus. And, those in the demand part of the equation—aka consumers—are faced with a dizzying array of options come meal time.

Note this is from The Spoon's "Former Uber CEO Lands in the Cloud Kitchen Market" (link to article, which dishes up the context).


texts: What does "Inahent the coonter she's no' near sic a nochtie, shilpit, wee thingie" mean?

texts:
About a month ago, I looked up the definition of thingy with a thought to answering this question. The following example sentence from 1947 appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary. It seems to be from a Scottish newspaper.  I preface the sentence with the OED definition of thingy.

  orig. and chiefly Sc. A little thing. Also more generally: a thing
  (usually with some suggestion of small size).

  1947   Forfar Dispatch 9 Jan.   Inahent the coonter she's no' near sic
  a nochtie, shilpit, wee thingie.  (Emphasis added.)

What does this sentence mean? I forgot about this mystery sentence until Should Scots language questions be considered in the English language community? appeared on ELU Meta. The consensus seems to be that questions about Scots language are on topic, as long as they show adequate research.  So, here goes.

First, we all know that wee means small. As for shilpit, Merriam Webster says:

  pinched and starved in appearance

WordSense.eu says nochtie means

  good for nothing; insignificant

no' near sic probably means not such a

I am having trouble with finding out what coonter means. The first time I googled coonter, I found a definition that said counter.  However, I cannot reproduce that search result.  The OED has no listing for coonter, and wonders if I mean cooter, counter or booster.  As for inahent. the OED asks me if I mean inbent, incent, indent, intent, or intuent, and Google is sure I mean inherent.

My guess is that the sentence means:

  Behind the counter, she isn't so insignificant.

That is, however wee, puny and insignificant she may seem, she is pretty shrewd when she is selling you something.  Is this correct?


texts: If a group of deceased persons stand out as a good example in the past, and that their example is definitely worth following now, do I say that they 'were' good examples to us; or do I say that they 'are' good examples to us ?


texts:
could someone help with the word order in the following sentence?

"Please note it down as it will shortly be necessary."

Should I flip here "shortly" and "be"? Is the placement of "shortly" correct with respect to "necessary"?

"It" is a sort of a password specified in the preceding sentence.


texts: "Explain me" "Describe me" sound unidiomatic to me

texts:
Sometimes while I am watching movies or YouTube videos I hear phrases like "Explain me what it is" or "Describe me the dish".

I feel that those phrases sound a bit unidiomatic to me. Are those phrases correct?

If so, are there other verbs that skip the preposition "to"?


texts: idiom or expression for technically true but ignoring a bigger more important truth

texts:
What English phrase or idiom expresses this thought:

An argument that refutes an idea is technically correct, but it refutes only a very specific definition, and ignores or sidesteps a more fundamental truth behind the idea that it refutes.

I'm thinking I would be able to find a clever turn of phrase, something along the lines of

"extinguishing the candle and ignoring the forest fire", or

"re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic"

As an example, a contributor to CNN (Max Richtman) says that there is "no truth" in any of the "myths" surrounding Social Security.

"No, no one is stealing from Social Security"

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/21/opinions/social-security-myths-opinion-richtman/index.html

Richtman claims that there is "no truth" in the "myth" that Social Security funds have been used for other purposes. He claims the one "myth" is based on a "fundamental misunderstanding" of Social Security's finances.

His argument is technically correct... money borrowed from Social Security trust fund were replaced with debt notes. At some point in the (near) future, that money will need to be returned to the trust fund in order to pay benefits to Social Security recipients.

Richtman's argument seemingly ignores the basic idea that money "borrowed" from the trust fund went into the general fund, and was spent on things other than social security benefits.

The bigger reality is that it is no longer possible for the Treasury to borrow more money from the Social Security trust fund, and that the money already borrowed will need to be returned.

The political reality is that Social Security is no longer a source of money to be spent, and is now actually an expenditure out of general revenue.

In terms of a logical argument, we might say Richtman is knocking down a strawman of his own invention. But that doesn't feel right. And it's not right to say that he's tilting at windmills.

I don't think Richtman's argument attains the level of subterfuge , and I don't think disingenuous works. (I don't want to ascribe a motivation to Mr. Richtman.)

My question is: What English expression or idiom conveys the idea that an argument, while technically true, that argument fails to address a much bigger, more fundamental truth?

(I've searched but, to borrow the words from a 1987 hit by U2, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for.")

Word meaning something is technically accurate but overly simplistic

Is there a word for when a statement is technically true but misleading?


texts:
I always get a word spelling error when I type my emails regarding screen comps. Screen comps, if you don't know, are a visual representation of a web design or the like. Does anybody know how to spell this. It feels like it isn't a word, but I hear and see it quite a bit, so it feels like it is a word now.

Edit

I assumed it was in reference to Screen Composition, but I haven't ever seen it referenced. When I do a Google search on it, nothing comes up that refers to what I know as a comp.

Edit 2

When people refer to screen comp, are they referring to a composition? If yes, how do you know?


texts:
Let's say that there's a simple NGO, or a non-profit organization, called "ABC" (purely hypothetical name, and unrelated to any existing companies or organizations), and made up of two ordinary people. When starting a, say, introductory email, should I go with:

  The Association "ABC" is a NGO / non-profit...

or with

  The Association of "ABC" is a...

?

I'm guessing the first option is the correct one, since the second one would imply that "ABC" is some sort of association of NGO / business / etc entities, instead of a simple NGO association of two people. But still, since I'm not entirely sure, I'm asking you folks.

EDIT

The term association is not used in the general sense of the word (as in, John Doe is associated with Jane Doe). The name of the organization is ABC (just ABC, without anything else). Knowing all of this, should I even begin emails with the following?

  The Association (of) ABC is a...

Or should I simply start with this?

  ABC is a...


texts: Is this mixture of plural and singular legitimate?

texts:
But what is most important for our purposes is that these changes were
  the signal for the resumption of historical debate on a grand scale,
  of the kind that had been suspended or driven underground during the
  reign of Louis XIV. （The French Idea of Revolution ed. by Dale Van
  Kley: 203)

I am interested in the expression "these changes were the signal". Shouldn't every change be a signal, so that there are many signals? Why use the singular form? Because all these changes together form a signal, and one or two just cannot signify that there is a resumption of that debate?


texts: Difference in meaning: past perfect and simple past

texts:
She lived in Switzerland for ten years when she was a child.

or

She had lived in Switzerland for ten years when she was a child.

Being a non-native speaker, sometimes i get confused.


texts: How did the Idiom "Tit for Tat "get the current usage?

texts:
I have referred to the dictionary and found the following meanings.

Tit -a small bird that searches acrobatically for insects among foliage and branches.

Tat  - Low quality

Tit for Tat means The infliction of an Injury or Insult in return for one that one has suffered.

In Indian Languages  we have a similar Idiom " Beating the dog with cheppals for its bite".

How does the Idiom has got the meaning when ' Tit ' and 'Tat' have altogether nothing to do with the meaning ?

It is not duplicate because I have  known almost the similar Idiom in my mother tongue.
 some Idioms are almost the same all over the world.
For example, He spends money like water.
Besides I have tried to get the meaning of the  Idiom by trying to know the meanings of the Words" Tit" and "Tat"
In the previous post the meanings of the words were not mentioned.I have not seen the post earlier either


texts: what do we call people who watch football

texts:
In everyday talks, I encountered the following problem. I have always used the word "fans" to refer to those who watch football. However, when I tried to just refer to the people and not how they feel about it, I didn't know what to say. Therefore, here is my question:

What do we call people who watch football: audiences / viewers / watchers / spectators?


texts:
Is it okay to answer "Please let me know", short (without "when...", "if...", "what...", etc.)?

Consider for instance

  -- I can check that for you tomorrow morning.

  -- Yes, please let me know.


texts:
I learned that we do not shift tenses between sentences unless there is a time change that must be shown. I have two examples below that I'm not sure whether they're grammatically correct or not.

I was taught by my father, who is very patient.

(Being "Patient"  is my father's personality, and it still exists now.
Should I use 'is' or 'was' for the above sentence?)

Objects that characterize the street scenes in my country were taken into account.

(The context for the sentence above is that I already collected the data in my country a couple of months ago, and I'm describing objects existing in my data in my writing. In my opinion, the phrase 'Objects that characterize the street...' is a factual piece of information, and so I use the present tense, although I'm using the past tense for my paragraph. Am I using it in the right way?)


texts:
Do the English have an ancient (obsolete) verb for the action of the book opening?

For example, in Russian we say otkrit' (open the book), but in the Old slavonic the verb razognuti (to unbend the book) was used.