texts: What do you call someone who can't keep secrets?

texts:
Some one who is not good at keeping secrets. In my native language it is called "chugalkhor" but it's a slang. So I can't translate it.

What do you call such a person who can't keep secrets because his instincts don't let him.


texts: What is a word for my uncle's ex-wife's daughter (who was his stepdaughter)?

texts: So, my aunt and uncle divorced a while back. My cousin, let's name her "Ariel", was my aunt's kid, and my uncle was her stepdad. I'm related to my uncle; my "Aunt" was his wife. And as I said, my aunt left him (which I guess technically means she's not my aunt anymore). So what does that make Ariel?


texts: "Any" vs. "anything" — are these answers the same?

texts:
Could you please tell me if these sentences are correct and the same?

  How much luggage do you have?

  I don't have any.
  I don't have any luggage.
  I don't have anything.


texts: How did "Draw" come to mean pull, as in draw drapes?

texts: Common phrases are draw drapes or shades, draw a bath (pull water?), draw a conclusion (out of someone) and other uses of pull. Why does draw mean pull? It becomes confusing when something that had a visualizable meaning - pulling drapes across a window - has been extended to something that does not make sense - turning Venetian blinds from the open position to closed position. How did this happen?


texts: Can we say "same to you" in response to "nice to meet you"?

texts:
Is it ok to respond with "same to you" when someone says Nice to meet you ?
I am getting confused because "you too" can be interchangeably used for "same to you".


texts: Can I say "I was seeing Lucy last Sunday"

texts:
And if I can, is the sentence

  I saw Lucy last Sunday.

any different?


texts: What is the difference between the words "inquiry" and "query?"  I tend to associate the latter with technology (e.g., search engine queries), but I'm not sure what the actual meaning is.


texts:
Typically when something is reversed or inverted we say it is "upside down", could we also say that it is also "downside up"?

For example...

  "The picture is upside down"

could we also say it like this...

  The picture is downside up

Are there any sort of rules for the latter? I know it doesn't get used much (if it all) but is it still valid?


texts: What would you call people who attend conferences? Maybe "Attendee"?


texts: Looking for an adjective meaning "perfect in a way that looks effortless, but isn't"

texts:
There was a particular word which describes a "quality(or level of perfection?) which looks very smooth and simple but requires a serious effort to achieve". That word was pictorially described by a meme where a whole iceberg was shown but most part of it submerged inside the water-body and only the tip which was visible for a person standing on the ground. It was signifying that the tip is appreciated by all but only a few know what's beneath the water-body(the greater part of the iceberg which is the metaphor used to describe the effort). Also let me know the etymological breakdown of the word.

  The way that gymnast moved was so _________, they made it look
  effortless though I could never do it.


texts: words other than "performance" to describe a player's outcome?

texts:
I am writing a post based on various sports players and their performances, and would like to know which alternative words or phrases can be used instead of repeating the word "performance".

For Example:-

Describing the first player -"his performance was outstanding in the previous season".

Describing the second player - "due to his performance in the previous season"

I have tried to find the synonyms for the word but most of them give a non-sporty impression.As there are many player's the repetition of the word in each description is decreasing the quality of post.


texts:
According to a grammar book (Advanced English Grammar in Use, Cambridge) we should use "since" as follows:

"We use the present perfect in the time clause with since if the two situations described in the main clause and the time clause extend until the present."
E.g. Since I´ve been able to drive, I've felt much more independent.

I wonder, is it correct to use simple present instead of present perfect in that sense? I.e, "Since I am able to drive."


texts: How do I say this correctly? I can't figure it out. Do I have it correct already?  I am trying to say that there are a lot less people. The opposite would be "so many more people".


texts: Nicely packed story - a better way to say it?

texts:
"She told us a story, it was a very nicely packed story but..." Is there a better way to say "nicely packed story"?

There was this person who gave us a speech and she shared a personal story. It was a nice story, "nicely packed" as a called it but when you look closely, the story pointed to the wrong thing and it was bad, but she made it sound very good. So what I want to do is to create a sentence which says she told us a very nicely packed story, beautiful on the outside, sounds great, but really rotten on the inside when you think about it.


texts:
Example:

  We sipped our tea in silence for a while, the steam [...] our faces.

I searched on Google and Thesaurus but couldn't find anything.


texts: What is a word that means an inability or refusal to accept losing

texts: I need the word or word combination that describes a person who is unable to accept losing.


texts: What is a word for making fun of someone that's learning or new at something?

texts:
With as many word suggestions as possible, what words can you use to describe a person who makes fun of someone for being new to something or learning?

Like for example, being shamed for asking questions or riding a bike for the first time or making a mistake or just not understanding something yet
Ignorance comes to mind but it's not specific enough..

Please help me out


texts: Is there an equivalent of 'onomatopoeia' for words inspired by the appearance of thing?

texts: 'Onomatopoeia' is a reasonably common word used to describe words that sound like the sounds they're used to describe. I was wondering whether there was an analogous term for words that sound like what their meanings look like — words like 'glint' or 'shimmer'.


texts: What does 'swallow' mean in this context?

texts:
I have a report of the Peace Celebrations 1919 written by the vicar of a village in Kent (a county in the southeast of England) in which he describes some of the sporting competitions staged in the afternoon, including:

  'The sight of all these contests stirred the blood of old and young.
  Wager matches were made and run off, Mr. J. Prior beating Mr. E.
  Orpin, and Mrs. Checksfield, after a good swallow, proved more than a
  match for her husband.'

What could he have meant by 'after a good swallow'? Google, as you can imagine, is no help as the top ten results for 'a good swallow' are probably quite different in meaning to what the good vicar intended. My one thought is that as this is a celebration in a quintessentially English village, Mrs Checksfield's 'swallow' is a gulp from an emboldening cup of tea.

I'm writing an article to commemorate the centenary of these celebrations next year and want to include the most likely meaning of this phrase.


texts:
In English possessive adjectives and reflexive pronouns are

I - My - Myself
You - Your - Yourself
He - His - Himself *
She - Her - Herself *
It - Its - Itself *
They (sing.) - Their - Themself *
We - Our - Ourselves
You (pl.) - Your - Yourselves
They - Their - Themselves *

Except for the starred ones, all reflexive pronouns are formed by combining possessive adjectives and the word "self". But starred ones are formed differently. They use objective pronouns. Why are the formations of these reflexive pronouns different?


texts: What is the noun to describe the possible responses to the question "How did you hear about us?"

texts: I am modelling the allowed responses for the question "How did you hear about us?" in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. How would you name this type of entity?


texts: What is the correct way to construct a conditional sentence with “would”?

texts:
I was told several times that a conditional sentence with the following structure is incorrect:

  If I would do this, then he would do that.

Rather it should be:

  If I do this, then he will do that.

But today I read a sentence like the first one in a paper written by an English speaker, and I’m wondering if it was just a typo or whether it is actually considered a correct form.


texts: How to translate a Brazilian term that means "sell company cars"

texts:
There is a process in Brazil called 'desmobilização' and I would like to know how to properly translate this term to the English language. So let me give an example:

Imagine a company having a few cars that their employees use. Now these cars are getting old and the company wants to sell it to buy new cars. This sale is exactly what we call 'desmobilização' in Brazil (I wouldn't say in Portuguese because I don't know if they use the same term in other countries that speak Portuguese).

This term would be literally translated as demobilization (as per Google Translate), but after a little research I could see that 'demobilization' is not used in the same manner as I want.

In Brazilian Portuguese, 'demobilization' means remove ('de') money that is "stuck" ('mobilized') in cars. This last explanation is not very good but I guess you guys will understand it.


texts: Idiom or proverbs for the word "not pleasant"

texts:
Furthermore, the toilets should be more clean because some toilets are
  _________ to go into.

What is the idiom or proverb that could be used for the word "not pleasant"?


texts: What's the word for "too many but not good enough"?

texts:
There's a single word that I can't remember what it is.. the word I'm looking for is when there are many choices/points but no substance or not good enough. For example:

too many kinds of food/dishes in a buffet but none that stands out.
too many suggestions or ideas but none that is good or workable.
many awards or praises but really hasn't achieved much.
many features but none is useful or what you need.

The word is not hype nor bells and whistle..


texts: Subject-verb agreement when using singular they?

texts:
This is NOT a question about whether they/them is acceptable as a singular pronoun. I know some of you will have to die before you give that argument a rest, but I am starting here with the presumption that them/them IS an acceptible alternative to refer to non-binary gendered people. On to the question...

I was writing about a person who prefers the pronoun "they/them":

  Talk to Abigail when they are a resident.

After I wrote it, I realized (assuming here in 2016 that "they" can serve as a singular pronoun - and more so here in 2017) that technically there is a lack of subject verb agreement. More correctly, I should write:

  Talk to Abigail when they is a resident.

But of course that sounds terrible and wrong to my ear.

As they/them becomes an acceptable singular pronoun, do we amend the subject-verb agreement rules to use a plural verb with this singular subject?


texts: What tense is used for "go" in "you see it go away"?

texts: I understand it's not the present tense, else it would be "goes". Is the sentence grammatically correct? If so, does it mean "you are seeing that it is going away"?


texts: What does "channel disagreement" mean in this context?

texts:
I am watching Startup Funding Explained on Youtube. he spoke the word channel disagreement at 41 second. I looked up both the words "channel" and "disagreement." I am still not sure. could someone explain them?

  It all starts with a vision. The project, the product, the service. No one has done it before. Unbelievable, it's so painfully obvious. Can you pull it off? Maybe. You're two friends, you're excited. Design a logo, design a name. All fun and games. Design a concept, things get serious. You decide to make this a company. You need a structure, a legal structure. How much will that cost you? In the U.S., incorporating a company will set you back anything between $25 and a few thousand dollars. That's in part registration fees, which actually vary depending on where you are and legal fees, which vary depending on how fancy you need your first channel disagreement to be. Your incorporation turns out to be on the pricey side. Also you need to rent a server in order to develop your product, therefore you decide to collect some other people's money for it. This earning your venture, who on earth would give you their money?


texts:
I am editing a bit of text, and I need to know: should there be a hyphen in the following passage?

"While transecting the designated territory, survey-team members collected numerous artifacts."

Could it just be "survey team members"? Or "survey team-members"?


texts: Interjection made in mockery to make someone jealous

texts:
I seem to remember there is an interjection used by children when they have something another kid doesn't as a way to make them jealous: it's something along the lines of nuh-nuh-nah-nuh-nah said in a singy-songy voice. Might remember wrong, but my question is: if there is a way to say this (again, I'm thinking of something children use), what would it be?

An example: one kid gets a present, the other doesn't, what kind of sound does the kid with the present make?

Mostly interested in American English, but all answers welcome.


texts:
The phrase "to have a cow" is defined as "to be very worried, upset, or angry about something" in Free Dictionary Online.

Other sources also define it to mean to react very strongly and emotionally. While it almost always is a negative response to stressful news or events, I imagine it might be used under other more positive circumstances.

Many may have become recently acquainted with this expression from "The Simpsons" TV show, as "Don't have a cow" is a catchphrase of the character Bart Simpson.

This source says, without reference, that the phrase is said to have originated in the 1950s, and also may related to the British phase "to have kittens" (Phrase Finder).

My interest was piqued when I was acquainted with some of Gertrude Stein's writings from the movie "Paris Was a Woman". In particular, "A Book Concluding With As a Wife Has a Cow: A Love Story", published in Paris in 1926, (Google Books) caught my attention. The analyses that I heard say that there is little doubt from the context that "to have a cow" equated to having an orgasm. One summary of that analysis appears here.

My question comes down to whether Stein's metaphor is the origin of the phrase as it is currently used. It seems possible that the meaning of "an extreme, emotional reaction" might fall somewhere in the evolutionary path between Stein's usage and the current one. (It's also possible that she simply created a double entendre from an existing phrase.) What I've covered so far doesn't necessarily mean there is a relationship between Stein's metaphor and the more current expression, but it does look like a possibility.

I don't have a good understanding how to pursue this question any further. What I have seen about the origins (as cited above) is that they don't seem to be very certain, and only agree to a possibility about its provenance.

Is Stein's usage related to the current meaning? If so, how did it evolve? How did it come to be associated more with negative reactions. If it originated before Stein used it, what is the source?


texts:
I know that "either" is singular as is "neither". But I've seen it used as a plural pronoun. Take this sentence for example:

  It's the only chance either of us have of getting home.

Is this usage informal? If it is, then I think the above sentence should be re-written like this:

  It's the only chance either of us has of getting home.

Am I correct?


texts: Please explain constructions in the following paragraph

texts:
I took the following sentences from  the book, "Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century" I bolded particularly confusing parts and would appreciate some explanation.

  Europe is still in the process of
  reorganizing itself after the loss of
  its empire and two devastating world
  wars, and it remains to be seen
  whether that reorganization will be
  peaceful. Europe is not going to
  regain its empire, but the complacent
  certainty that intra-European wars
  have ended needs to be examined.

What does war have ended needs to be examined mean? Unclear.


texts:
Which form of "difficulty" should I opt for in the following sentence:

  They have immense difficulties easily accessing the texts.

or

  They have immense difficulty easily accessing the texts.

I am inclined to say "difficulty," but I am editing someone else's work and they had originally put "difficulties." Am I wrong, or is he?


texts: Starting a sentence with "and"-connected adverbs or adverbials

texts:
I want compare one thing with two other things, discussing their differences as follows.

  Balls are better than dice, since they provide better rollability.
  Moreover and in contrast to eggs, balls are symmetrical and thereby
  facilitate rolling equally well in all directions.

Is it valid and commonly used grammar to enumerate adverbs and adverbials with and, or should I better put the second adverbial as comma-separated statement: Moreover, in contrast to eggs ?


texts:
Say you're having a chat with someone and as they're about to leave, they mention that they're about to do a particular task.

How do you wish them a productive time, besides "Go kick some ass!"?

Or is this just something not done by English speaking folk?


texts: Are "consider" and "take into account" always interchangeable?

texts:
I had this sentence in my writing:
"The images were adjusted for white balance to take into account differences in light environment."
One of my supervisors thought it was wordy, and corrected it to:
"The images were adjusted for white balance to consider differences in light environment."
The correction sounds very odd to my ears. But all discussions and examples I found online more or less state that they are interchangeable. Is this true?


texts: Is this sentence correct? “They have never had” in context

texts:
The sentence in question is: “in this room are all the things that she thought belonged to her, but that they have never had”

Thank you so much in advance to whoever answers! This is greatly appreciated.


texts: single word for intense/deep/thorough of technical discussion

texts: Please suggest a single word for intense,deep,thorough,prolonged technical discussions


texts: Why is "breaking the mould" positively connoted?

texts:
I'm not a native speaker so this may be obvious to some of you. I've come across the figure of speech "to break the mould", basically meaning to do your own thing and not adhere to traditions or rules, which may or may not be obsolete. Every time I came across that phrase it was used in a positive context, rebellious maybe, but positive nonetheless.

While I get why it could be seen as a positive character trait to have your own head and not mindlessly follow everything you're told, I don't understand why this particular figure of speech would be positively connoted.

From what I understand it comes from industrial casting, where every cast part comes from the same mould so they're all the same. If one part would break such a mould, not only would it be way out of shape and unusable for any further purpose, it would probably also cause considerable damage and delays in the entire manufacturing process. Neither of those outcomes seems desirable to me in any literal or figurative sense.

Does anyone have some insight into that?


texts: What is the difference between "used to" and "I was used to"?

texts:
What is the difference in the meaning between the following two tenses?

  I used to travel alone.
  I was used to traveling alone.


texts: Is "now" grammatical in "Have you now spoken to him?"?

texts:
Have you now spoken to him?

I really heard that from someone.


texts: Is it correct to say "the bird is in the tree" or "on the tree"?

texts:
In the children's rhyme:

  Johnny and July sitting in a tree
  K I S S I N G
  First comes love
  Then comes marriage
  Then come children in a baby carriage

They are said to be sitting in a tree.  Likewise, when a bird is sitting on a branch, we say it's sitting in a tree.

Is it ever correct to say a bird is on a tree?


texts:
Is it grammatically correct to say, for example,

  Providing that you'll return it tomorrow, you can use my computer.

Notice that I've used "it" before actually naming the object. Can we use both sentences?

  Providing that you'll return my computer tomorrow, you can use it.

P.S.: For the example, let's assume "computer" hasn't been mentioned before.


texts: Phrase or word meaning incoherent/dissonant feeling I have when I hear an unrealistically good description of something I do not like?

texts:
Here is my specific case: lately on Pandora, there have been ads for a particular brand of hamburger describing their food as far more delicious, juicy, and delectable than I have ever experienced.  I feel a feeling when I hear these ads, and that's the phrase or word I'm trying to find.
When I hear the ad, I get this surreal, dissonant feeling.  One one hand, my brain is getting super triggered in happy and delicious ways because of the delectable taste descriptions I am hearing.  On the other hand, my brain is also saying "this is as far from a description of that food as anything I've ever heard."  I am both in a small level of ecstasy imagining the hamburger that is being described while also a good level of repulsion since the source of the advertisement is the last place I would good looking for such a hamburger.


texts: Does anyone have/know the etymology of "dunsel"?

texts:
The definitions listed are cargo, or part of ship, or person which is useless, unnecessary, superfluous, non-functional.  Also, in reference to the captain, lacking authority, or incompetent.
I ran across a reference, I don't recall where, it started out its life as "studding sail".  Over time the words, like other ancient nautical words like focsel or focsle  (forecastle [fo'c'sle, fo'c's'le), suffered from what I call the Telephone Game Affect.  After a number of iterations it went through a variety of mutations such as, studsail, stunsail, dunsail, stunsel, and dunsel.
Studding sails were used on old square rigged sailing ships.  They were an attempt to capture more wind when there was virtually none.  Crew weren't enamoured with them as setting them was a pain.
Studsails were attached to the ends of the yards to add canvas to the sides of existing sails.  Having to go out to the end if a yardarm to set them was difficult.  Worse was having to bring them in when the wind picked up, the difficulty making it dangerous.
There was a very narrow nich in wind speed where they were useful.  They had to be brought in when decent wind was found otherwise it could stress the rigging to the breaking point.
Most crew thought they were useless, worthless, unnecessary, non-functional bit of fluff.  In light winds they just hung there with the rest of the canvas.  There were only certain low winds speeds where they would fill and actually contribute.  Most thought they weren't worth the effort.
I can't find the reference I discovered long ago and  haven't found anything concrete to substantiate this.  Does anyone have anything substantive on the etymology of "dunsel"?


texts:
I'd like to ask about the sentence from The Adventure of the Dancing Men by Conan Doyle.

  But we have several small watering-places not very far away. And the farmers take in lodgers.

The sentence was uttered when asked by Holmes if your neighborhood was a quiet place?
As to the part "watering-places", my dictionary says this means either a hot spring, a beach resort, or a pub. But these three are like whole different words, aren't they? So I can't really pick the one that Doyle meant by "small watering-places".
Is anyone sure of the right one here, like, in those days in England it had to mean "beach resorts" or so?


texts: To choose which facts to say and which part of the truth to hide?(for example)


texts: "early in the morning" and " in the early morning"

texts:
Is there any difference between the two phrases ?

1) There are numerous health benefits of drinking water on an empty stomach in the early morning.
2) There are numerous health benefits of drinking water on an empty stomach early in the morning.


texts: What's the correct way to write the general location of someone in the USA?

texts:
I'd like to write where someone is from, on a website with an international context. The objective is to balance style, brevity and correctness. I only need country-level resolution, so if someone is from Berlin, I plan on writing Germany, whereas if they're from Sydney, I plan on writing Australia.

I suspect that the USA should be an exception here, as I often heard people from the States feel very much associated with their state (I heard a lot more Chicago, Illinois than, say, Sydney, New South Wales).

Does this sound like a reasonable assumption? How should I write the state/country pair in this case? Illinois, United States? United States, Illinois? Something else altogether?

Edit: another small tidbit, the lion's share of the target audience is in the teenager/young adult age range.


texts: "Must have been + present participle" usage

texts:
How can I express below idea in just one sentence?

  Someone is coming. We are not sure about it. But strong possibility is there.
  And we assume that he is coming. But not yet reached here. We don't know the current position of his travel.

So can I say about his coming like this?

  He must have been coming.


texts: ..can stop the equipment work/working/from working?

texts:
I've just returned from an English exam and there was a sentence that made me wonder (I'm not exactly sure about the wording). The sentence ran like this :

  Overheating can stop the equipment FUNCTION/TO FUNCTION/FROM
  FUNCTIONING/FUNCTIONING

Which is the correct one and why? Thank you.


texts: I have "a limited space" vs. I have "limited space"

texts:
The Corpus of Contemporary American English (http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/) shows both.

I have a small room so I have _____________________.

(1) a limited space.
(2) limited space.

Which is correct?


texts: I described text as sounding a certain way and someone said “I can’t hear him” what is what he did called?

texts: This occurring on a thread of messages and someone previously commented and I replied mentioning they “sounded mad.” Someone then replied, “How is he sounding? I can’t hear him” What is what they did called? Oh- and bonus points, what’s it called when I “heard” the way someone was “sounding” in text?


texts: Who/What decides if a word is "proper" English?

texts:
I was taught since kindergarten that "ain't" isn't a proper English word.

I was wondering, who determines which words are acceptable and which words are not? Do words ever go from "improper" to acceptable? What are some examples and what caused the change?


texts:
In this study of The Great Chain of Being, Diamonds among other various gems are classified as a lapidarical primate.
The Oxford Dictionary does not include lapidarical or even it's root word, lapid. Wikipedia and various online sources cite Lapid as an Israeli community settlement but I don't think that is the appropriate definition here.
My English teacher suggested that it could perhaps be describing a property unique to the various gems described (Diamond, rubies, sapphires, topaz, chrysolite) however the question remains as to what.
What does lapidarical mean?


texts: What does broad, broader and broadly mean?

texts: When I say they are broadly known as this, they are broadly classified into two, A broad reason, A broad feature, A broad category, A broader reason, A broader category. What does broad broadly and broader mean?


texts: What do you call a person who drinks alcohol with someone?

texts:
Someone you are drinking beer with. Someone who goes out for drinks with you.

Not necessarily a close friend but is present during a drink with you.


texts: "Something suffices the condition that" vs. "it suffices that something"

texts:
In a book I am reading there is a sentence:

  Our initial version of Cauchy's theorem begins with the observation that it suffices that f(z) [a function] have a primitive in a region Ω

In this sentence, I think the author wants to say

  f(z) suffices the condition that it have a primitive in the region Ω

but I don't understand why the author writes

  it suffices that f(z) have a primitive in a region Ω


texts: Verb or phrase for "to make an onomatopoeia"

texts:
In the event that a common, recognized, and understood onomatopoeia for a sound does not already exist, how would you phrase the creation of an onomatopoeia for the sound?

Essentially the word onomatopoeize would fit the bill, but I can't find that in a dictionary.

You can see examples of onomatopoeize being used online if you Google it, but as of today there are only 75 hits for that word. This leads me to believe that other people have also struggled to find a verb for this and have "created" onomatopoeize as it is easy to deduce what the intent of the term is even though it isn't a "real" word.

An example of this is on Consumerist's article "Coca-Cola Blāk Effervescent Coffee Crap Debut":

  The macron over Blāk was specially designed by Coca-Cola scientists to help onomatopoeize the sound you’ll make after drinking the concoction.

Is there a proper, non-colloquial English word for this concept?


texts:
In her book Wedding Night, Sophie Kinsella writes:

  He's got a cushy number. Nice salary, cottage on the estate... he's sorted.

I looked up the meaning of "sort" in [insert dictionary here] and didn't find anything that looked relevant. The closest I found was the idiomatic usage "sorted out", but there's no "out" in this quote.

What does "he's sorted" mean?


texts: What is the word for absence of something?

texts:
What is the word used to refer to the absence of something? Let's say that I have a water bottle and, I drink all of the water. I think the word should be an adjective or maybe a past-participle verb in the form of:

The water is ______.

I know I can use 'empty' but it is used for the container.

The water bottle is empty.

This is also a valid sentence, but the subject is not the water.

I ran out of water.

If this could help, I'm looking for the translation of the word habis in Bahasa Indonesia.
Here's the definition. (Translated)

v nothing is left (because it's used, shared, eaten, etc.); doesn't have a remainder

Is there a word for this? If not, is there a compound word or a phrase?

Edited after an answer was given: It's not gone/missing because it implies that I have to search for it (It's gone). I know where it went (I drink it).


texts: Why is 'forty' spelled without a 'u' in Canadian/British English?

texts:
I was writing in Word today (with the Canadian English dictionary enabled) and it kept putting a redline under "fourty" which I couldn't understand. A bit of searching says that, even in British and Canadian English, the spelling is indeed "forty" but without any real explanation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_%28number%29
http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/english/2006/06/forty_or_fourty.html

It seems slightly counter-intuitive as we learn to spell so many words with the extra 'u' in Canada, and of course, some Canadian websites will actually write "fourty".

http://www.hnb.ca/en/home/474-fourty-four-of-atlantic-canadas-best-invited-to-team-atlantic-summer-evaluation-camp

So why do we have four and fourteen, but not fourty?

Update: So I guess really the answer is that, unlike a lot of other words that may or may not be spelled with a 'u' in "recent" times (i.e. when American English became a standard), this has been spelt as "forty" for ages.


texts: Attribution: Quoting a Fictional Character

texts:
Famously:

  "Try not. Do or do not. There is no try."
          -- Yoda

Thing is, this is from a movie. A writer wrote it and a voice actor spoke it. Is there a correct form of attribution for a case like this? If so, what?


texts: Capitalisation of uncle and aunt in phrases like 'your U/uncle Bill'

texts:
I came across this e card:

and the capitalisation of "uncle" just somehow disturbed me. To the point where I googled the capitalisation of "aunt" and "uncle" and I found this GrammarBook article by Jane Straus which seems to suggest that after "your" uncle is not capitalised.

It would be ironic if the person making fun of capitalisation couldn't get it right themselves. However, further googling yielded some contradicting results.

Hence my question is:

  To capitalise or not to capitalise 'Uncle' etc (after your)?


texts: English Legal Case Shorthand: e.g. 13 & 14 Charles II c. 33

texts:
I've been reading scholarship that details English court cases, and the cases in those reports are often referred to in quick shorthand, e.g.:

13 & 14 Charles II c. 33
4 William & Mary c. 4

Does anyone know the name or rules for this kind of shorthand? Also, does anyone know of a comprehensive database of these laws?


texts: Cinematic term for: A known symbol confirms the location of the scene

texts: What is the term for when a scene in a film shows e.g. the Eiffel tower so that the viewer knows that the scene takes place in Paris. I know the term exists but I cannot recall it.


texts:
In what sense do we use "carry a torch for"?
Can it be used as a formal, or is it informal?


texts:
I was just wondering how exactly the word warming is used with different sentences which actually gives different meaning.

For e.g.,

  My house warming ceremony
  Global warming

How it is actually giving different meaning? I understand the meaning of both, but just curious about why it is exactly as such. I would be glad if any one would explain this to me in detail about this.


texts:
Would it be A or B?

A.) A wide variety of classes was added.

B.) A wide variety of classes were added.


texts: Is there a word or a phrase for counting the prisoners in a jail to see if anyone is missing. Is prisoner count a valid term?


texts: What is the difference between "change" and "unstitch"?

texts:
I'm English learner. As what the dictionary defines "unstitch" means to change, spoil, or destroy something that has existed or been done previously.
Example: In two years she has unstitched almost every aspect of the business and re-fashioned it.

Can I replace "unstitch" by the word "change"? Will it make any difference?


texts:
I just googled the difference between as long as and so long as. The difference has alredy been discussed here. There are, it seems, two contexts for these expressions:

lengths and physical comparisons (time, distance, etc.)
“This bridge is as long as that bridge.”
some logical implication or synonym for provided that or something like this.
“You can do that so long as you keep in mind that. . . .”

Somewhere else I found that you can use both expressions for context #2, but should avoid so long as in cases of context #1.

Now, mmyers commented that so long as might be colloquial — or as he put it, “casual”. It seems that it’s possible to never use so long as, since according to what I have been told, you can use either expression in cases of context #1. Given that I am writing academic papers, my questions are:

Is so long as truly non-academic or non–high-style?
Should so long as therefore be avoided altogether?


texts: Omitting the full stops after middle initials in BrE

texts:
In BrE style, can the full stops be omitted in:

C. J. Harris (Charles James Harris)

Can it be written like this?

C J Harris

And if we abbreviated just the middle initial, is the following acceptable?

Charles J Harris


texts:
Does one pay tax on income or pay tax over income?

I come across both regularly. On seems to be preferred usage, but I'd like to know which is most correct or formal and why.


texts: Word for physical sensation of repulsion from magnets?

texts:
I'm looking for a word or phrase to describe when one is pushing quite hard (physically) to connect two objects that are repelling one another. For example, the sensation of trying hard to push two like poles of a magnet together.

Specifically, I'm looking for a way to describe the sensation of futility from when it requires a lot of force to push two things close together, and then at the end they seem to violently separate themselves.

The use of futility isn't enough though because I want to capture the sensation of seemingly getting close with a lot of effort even though there is an inevitable failure.


texts: "Would certainly have" or "certainly would have"?

texts:
I have these confusions sometimes. Firstly, which among the following are grammatically correct to use in sentences-

  She would certainly have loved that.
  She would have certainly loved that.
  She certainly would have loved that.

Can you provide a sentence each for the correct one(s)? If any of them is wrong please enlighten the reason. Secondly if they are correct for specific sentence patterns then please elaborate with an example.


texts:
What does "Oh to have..." mean, as in "Oh to have a song in a national campaign" in Jon Lajoie's song "Please Use This Song"?

Can somebody explain the origin and meaning of this expression? In what contexts can it be used?


texts: Word for a person who is very much interested in having her photographs clicked?

texts:
No, I am not talking about selfies.
This person misses no opportunity to be in each and every photo shoot at a gathering.

Last time, I remember, at a function we had a choice of getting her for a particular task or her sister in law. She hurried to get the task done (pretending she was very much interested in doing that). She in fact knew that the photographs would be taken and that was the actual reason that was hurrying.

Word for a person who is very much interested in having his photographs clicked?


texts: What is the best term to describe a "native English speaker who is an American"?

texts:
When applying for English teaching jobs, I want to describe myself as a "native speaker of English who has an American accent" since most companies in Europe want native speakers to teach English courses and they usually have a preference for one accent or another (American, British, Australian, etc.).

What is the best term for this, e.g. "I am a...":

American native speaker of English (good?)
American English native speaker (good?)
native speaker of American English (best?)
native American English speaker ("native American" could be confused with being an American Indian)


texts:
How can I construct a relative clause of the following sentence containing the complex preposition "with respect to"?

Original sentence: The expression is differentiated with respect to variable x.

Construction (a): Variable x with respect to which the expression is differentiated

Sounds unnatural.

Construction (b): Variable x to which the expression is differentiated with respect

Sounds even more unnatural.

Construction (c): Variable x which the expression is differentiated with respect to

Better, but it's not pied-piping.


texts: How to understand "If you don't do shit, you can't boo shit."

texts: "If you don't do shit, you can't boo shit." - Will.I.Am, Musician


texts: What do sentences without adjectival complements refer to?

texts:
This event is very exciting.
This event is very exciting to me.

"To me" is an adjectival complement to "exciting," so the two sentences can't be the same. However, if that's the case, what does the event excite in the first sentence? I have thought that it refers to people in general, but if the sentence is changed to past tense like in "this event was very exciting" I am not sure if it still refers to people in general or a specific group.


texts:
What is the term for "make more intelligent" for example
Reading books will ... you?


texts:
I listen to an advertisement on Toronto News Talk radio, and often hear the expression

  Terms and conditions apply

at the end of the ad. It is spoken quickly.

What does it mean? In one
article I found that it is a legal term meaning in some cases (unfair deal) the law can change contract regulations.


texts: Better alternative to "physical product designer"

texts:
Ten years ago, a product designer was widely understood as someone with the competency to design, prototype, build, and manufacture products. Today, the meaning of the role has expanded to include digital products (apps, websites, software). Consequentially, the job search is a challenge for designers of non-digital products.
Some designers use the words physical, hardware, tactile, analog, and tactile. However, the titles "physical product designer" or "hardware designer" lack the finesse of "product designer". Some physical product designers have also attempted to use "industrial designer" which happens to be a different design discipline.
I would love to hear what people think. Perhaps there's a better way to formulate the title. Maybe a new word needs to be invented. It would greatly benefit people like me to stake claim to a title that helps distinguish ourselves from digital product designers.


texts: Meaning of "I've been doing this long enough to drink"

texts:
Here is the context

  I've been a software developer for twenty-one years -- among other things, that means I've been doing this long enough to drink! ;-) But seriously, though, I can't imagine doing anything else as well or as joyously as programming. I'm apparently one of those rare birds that really love this job.

Is this an idiom ?


texts: Document names and proper nouns/definite articles

texts:
I'm a translator and not a native speaker of English and have some troubles understanding definite articles.

Any feedback for my problem would be of great help for me.

What is the rule for document names and proper nouns? I need to translate the following sentence into English: "Documents that increase Inventory and stock list amount are as follows..." Now, 'Inventory and stock list' is a proper noun in this case, it is a caption in our software, but in this context I refer to amount, why I don't need the definite article there? What will modify that noun? Would it be incorrect to say: "Documents that increase the Inventory and stock list amount are as follows..."

I need a grammatical explanation for this.
'It sounds good but I don't know why' rule is driving me crazy.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How to form single, double, triple… and uni-, bi-, tri-… words?

There's single, double, triple, quadruple... — what's next? Is there an end to the "-uple"s?


texts:
Which of these sentences is correct? A comma is added to the second but does it suggest that the "to remove this block" is nonessential etc?

These users will not be allocated a licence by Contoso, to remove this block click remove next to the user below.
These users will not be allocated a licence by Contoso, to remove this block , click remove next to the user below.


texts:
How do you correctly pronounce yin and yang in American English?  Especially the "yang" part because I hear it pronounced as it's spelled and also I think I've heard it like "yong".

If you use IPA please also give some rhyming words because IPA doesn't practically help me.


texts:
I am learning the Java struts 2 by reading a book titled "struts 2 in action" and I encountered the phrase "Go Tiger!". I can't figure out what it means; can anybody give me the answer?

  If you have the pleasure of using Java 5 or higher, we highly recommend using generics to type your collections and maps. Besides being a recommended best practice, the Struts 2 type conversion mechanism can use generics-based typing to learn the correct target type for the conversions. If you do this, you don't have to use the properties file configuration. This is a big bonus for Java 5 users. Go Tiger!


texts:
I'm looking for a word that implies a group of things (which are not good by themselves and somehow incomplete) become strong and somehow complete together.

Something like flocking or swarming but each of those do not have the "completing/improving/positive" connotation I'm looking for.  Any ideas?


texts:
I read this in a news about the passing away of a prominent political figure. One of the critics mentioned that during the time when he was in power he used to "detain without trial" his political oppositions to silence them.

In the news they used a single word for that phrase, but I can't remember it.

What is a word for "detaining without trial"?

I've tried to search for "detain without trial", "imprisonment without proper trial", "detaining without hearing", etc (without the quotes), but all I could find were internment, which is more about concentration camp, or remand, which is about the pre-trial detention. (I hope by putting what I searched for, future people who search for the same thing will find this page with the answer!)

The word I'm looking for seems to mean that the people never went through any trial at all, and so the prominent political figure _____ the political oppositions.


texts: What does "writing intentions" mean in the following context?

texts:
In the following line, I'm not sure what "writing intentions" means at the end.

  "Even if you've written 20 scripts before, perhaps you need help on
  dialogue, a clearer inciting incident, stronger actions to avoid
  writing intentions."

"To avoid"? Wow it completely befuddled me there. "Avoid writing intentions"? Isn't "writing" the whole point? How would "avoiding" (it) achieve anything? It defeats the purpose don't you think?

First I thought it may be "Writing(, but) 'intentions'". Alternatively, "Writing-intentions" perhaps?

Yet again it could mean something altogether different, that I've never come across.

Any thoughts on this, be appreciated :)

p.s. Since I've been prompted to reword the above, (and am at a loss,) I'd just re-emphasise "writing intentions".  Whatever does it mean here? Or anywhere for that matter?


texts:
I've read all related online posts but still found quite confused in distinguishing the two.
I tried to construct the following examples:
i) My colleagues are wrong in alleging there are more crimes in our country. They assume that increasing crime rates to be indicative of the actual number of crimes.
ii) My colleagues are wrong in alleging there are more crimes in our country. They presuppose that increasing crime rates to be indicative of the actual number of crimes.
Could anyone please help explain the difference in tone and implication?
Thanks!


texts:
Would you say
"The different types of cars"
or
"The different types of car"?

In reality my doubt is about types of event/events but can be more confusing to explain what I mean.

I have many events of the different types.


texts: Can a collective noun denoting a collection of inanimate objects be treated as plural in British English?

texts:
This grammar page on ‘Matching verbs to collective nouns’ provided by Oxford Dictionaries says:

  Collective nouns are nouns which stand for a group or collection of
  people or things. They include words such as audience, committee,
  police, crew, family, government, group, and team.

  In American English, most collective nouns are treated as singular,
  with a singular verb:

  √ The whole family was at the table.
  √ The government is doing a good job.
  √ He prefers an audience that arrives without expectations.

  In British English, most collective nouns can be treated as singular
  or plural:

  The whole family was at the table.[singular collective noun; singular
  verb]
  The whole family were at the table.[plural collective noun; plural
  verb]
  The government is doing a good job.[singular collective noun; singular
  verb]
  The government are doing a good job.[plural collective noun; plural
  verb]

  There are a few collective nouns (in both British and American
  English) that are always used with a plural verb, the most common of
  which are police and people:

  √ She's happy with the way the police have handled the case.
  X She's happy with the way the police has handled the case.
  √ It's been my experience that people are generally forgiving.
  X It's been my experience that people is generally forgiving.

Although Oxford says collective nouns stand for a group or collection of things as well as people, every example word provided by Oxford stands for a group or collection of people only (audience, committee, police, crew, family, government, group, and team), possibly except for group, because there can be a group of things as well as a group of people.

In general, "things" can include animals as well as inanimate objects. But I don't think that the Oxford grammar editors intended to exclude inanimate objects from the "things". So, I'd like to interpret the "things" as inanimate objects.

Can you treat the collective noun 'group' denoting a collection of inanimate objects as plural in British English as follows?

  A group are located on the mountain's south ridge. [Assuming that 'a group' here refers to a group of houses.]

Also, are there other collective nouns that denote a collection of inanimate objects that can be treated as plural in British English as shown by Oxford?


texts:
I am writing a document in geo-related engineering. I realized using LaTeX that I am repeating too much the use of "the" article.

Example:

  Leaflet-sidebar: plugin to add responsive sidebar which is used to include the map legend and additional layer controls. Usage API can be accessed in the plugin github web page [11]. The listing 4.6 shows the implementation of the sidebar plugin.

I wonder if it is alright to repeat the article when writing a formal document as this one, otherwise I'd like to know if you have some suggestion to improve the grammatical syntax of my writing.


texts: Does the term 'at most' mean there is at least one?


texts: A word that describes the polite phrases we use to begin our letters

texts:
How can we refer to the polite phrase used at the beginning of a letter (email in my specific context)?

For example, we may start our letter:

  Dear Bob, I hope that you're well and had a nice weekend.

If we want to make reference to the line

  I hope that you're well and had a nice weekend

in such a way that we could say:

  I often wonder how to begin a letter of bad news, but my
  [interjection] stands genuine non the less

The term "interjection" doesn't seem like a good fit here. Is there a word that describes the polite phrases we often use to begin our letters?


texts:
When you are in the pub, ordering a drink from a bartender, which of the following is the correct way to say it?

  When both of you're stand by the bar ordering a drink, and a bartender asks to pay now or open a tab.
  When both of you're stand at the bar ordering a drink, and a bartender asks to pay now or open a tab.


texts:
They are they/them
He is he/him

Which ones are correct?
Is there some sort of agreement rule because for ex- we say it is he, so would we also say "they are they" or "he is he"?


texts: Difference between "understand" and "comprehend"

texts:
Is there a difference in the meaning or the usage of the verbs understand and comprehend? Which one would fit best in the following sentence?

  In order to speak and understand/comprehend a language, there has
  to be a representation of the words.


texts:
Is there a word for the creation of something that solves a problem? I've been using entrepreneurship, because at its core thats what entrepreneurs do, but is there a more specific word that targets the creation of something that solves a problem?

As a P.S., for the act of creating something besides creation?


texts:
In the following statement:

  After confronting Nick about it he said “I have helped you out in the
  past you owe me for that!”.

Should the quoted text be put on a new line and rephrased? This is the only direct speech in the paragraph I am writing.


texts: AmEng equivalent of "Shy kids get no sweets"?

texts:
In the North-East of England we have the saying:

  Shy bairns get nowt

With a less-slang equivalent of:

  Shy children get no sweets.

It's kind of like "Nothing ventured, nothing gained".

Is there an equivalent saying in American English?


texts: "the comparative, the comparative" vs. "as-clause"

texts:
"The longer you work, the more you earn" can be paraphrased as "As you work longer, you earn more."

Is this paraphrase always possible?

For example, given "As the birthrate declines, the workforce will shrink," can it be paraphrased as "The lower the birthrate is, the less the workforce will be"?


texts: What's a word that means a person tries to find an easier, cheaper way?

texts: My mother has always been that type of person who tried to find an easier/cheaper way. For example, let's say I need something for school she then says "oh no there is notebooks and pencils at the house" or like when I was going to advance into my next belt in karate($35) "Why so much? I could just buy a belt myself." Someone please do tell me a word my mother portrays


texts: Why is "Why don't you like ___?" okay, but "Why do not you like?" ___?" isn't?"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is “Don't you know? ” the same as “Do not you know?”?

"Why don't you like?" seems commonly used, but I never hear "Why do not you like?"

Are they both acceptable forms?
How can one best remove the contraction from "Why don't you like?"
Are there any other similar situations where a sentence with a contraction or without changes from being good to unacceptable English?


texts:
In Russian, when a person mixes something up, they can jokingly say "mixed it up with the right angle" (перепутал с прямым углом).
This comes from an old joke:

"Water boils at 90 degrees."
"Sorry, but the textbook says water boils at 100 degrees!"
"Oh, you're right. Mixed it up with the right angle."

Is there a similar catchphrase in English?

"Hey man, check out that Scottish singer, Andie MacDowell, she's so cool!"
"Dude, Andie MacDowell is an American actress. Did you mean Amy MacDonald?"
"Oh you're right! _____ ! (Mixed it up with the right angle)"

Update: I'm not looking for a vocabulary term, but rather for a universally known joke, an ironic expression which is used to complete the statement. Something similar to "... and Bob's your uncle" or "... is the Pope Catholic?", but applicable to this situation.


texts:
It seems to me that whenever I'm in line to pay for my groceries, and whenever I go on Yahoo, I encounter celebrities "opening up" -- about the disgraceful acts of people who had trusted them to preserve their privacy. I have not actually read the articles, but they always seem to be about gross behavior (abuse or drug addition or perversion or something) on the part of parents, husbands, wives, or children.

The expression "opening up" has a positive connotation and does not seem to be the correct word for what these people are doing -- divulging other people's embarrassing secrets for money, or perhaps pretending to do this by making stuff up.

But what would be the correct word? "Angelina finally _____ [betrays Brad's trust and humiliates him for money] about Brad." It seems like some slang words (like sells out, rats out) come close. When I look online for alternatives, they seems somehow wrong. For example, I went here and clicked the "as in admit" tab...

but everything seemed to have the wrong flavor, e.g. legalistic or psychological. Would you expect to see "Angie reveals things about Brad," or "Angie discloses things about Brad"? "Spill" is a funny thought, short for "spilling the beans" I guess; it seems to belong to dialog in a Broadway musical, like "dishing the dirt."

The only word that seems at all plausible is "Angie talks about Brad," but still, that's not quite it. Can you suggest some standard English words for "revealing other people's secrets" at various points on the spectrum from praise to censure?


texts:
Can the term "oxymoronic state" be paraphrased somehow like "a state of paradoxes?"

I know that "paradox" and "oxymoron" are completely different, and I need to translate an article for my thesis, so I need to be really sure that I understand correctly.

The context is this:

  The new Czechoslovakia was one of a number of nominally national but
  in fact multinational states created in East Central Europe after the
  collapse of empires in 1917-1918. In the Czechoslovak case, the
  high-minded principle of Wilsonian self-determination combined with
  the Realpolitik of postwar alliance politics to produce what is
  perhaps best described as an oxymoronic state.

Sorry for the text being so long and thank you for helping.


texts: What do you call someone who substitutes one inappropriate word for a similar word?

texts: Is there a term for someone who fails top distinguish one word from another, i.e. "ambidextrous" from "amphibian"?


texts:
I need to ask a user to request either a minimum or maximum value.
What would be the appropriate label for this?
I have considered extremum but I am not sure if this is commonly understood or appropriate.

Example: Is the user interested in a companies lowest or highest stock price over the last 6 months? They will have the option of choosing 'min' or 'max'.


texts: Difference between "I will ____" and "I'm going to ____"?

texts: My ESL friend and I were talking, and he was ready to go to sleep, so he said "I'll go to sleep!", and I corrected him to "I'm going to sleep", but I couldn't explain why.  Does anyone know?


texts: Does "so that" function as a conjunction together

texts:
"He cleaned the dishes so that he had clean plates."
"so that" seems to function as a conjunction, because "that he had clean plates" is not an independent clause; "he had clean plates" is. Is this true?


texts: Does "turning down the air conditioning" make it warmer or colder?

texts:
As the title says, I've heard two possible meanings for turning down the air conditioning: It could mean set the target temperature lower (i.e. colder) or make it work less (i.e. warmer).

Turning down the heat makes it colder, but both meanings are in agreement there.


texts: Are these questions grammatically correct?

texts:
I have seen questions like

"He went through all that just to go to Columbia?"
or
"That's the Ferrari?"

and I would like to know if they are grammatically correct.
Can you use questions like that in regular speech?
Can you even start a question with "you" or "that"?


texts: Is there a word or phrase for one mistaken belief leading to a web of false ones?

texts:
I'm looking for a phrase or expression to describe a certain kind of cognitive bias.  Specifically, I have in mind a situation where someone is convinced that something false is actually true, and this leads them to more and more unreasonable beliefs.  E.g., someone who is generally reasonable believes the earth is flat (say a few centuries ago, when direct evidence was harder to come by), and when presented with evidence that strongly suggests otherwise, such as visual evidence that the moon is round or the way ships disappear over the horizon, they create a web of convoluted beliefs (which may continue to grow in order to support itself) to explain these effects because their flat-earth belief is so entrenched it doesn't seriously occur to them that that is false.

The closest related terms I can think of are "blind spot" and "ostrich effect."  But these terms don't explicitly refer to the act of making up new narratives/beliefs in order to make observations fit  your preconceptions about the universe.

Edit: In response to many of the comments and answers, let me try to clarify.  It is certainly similar to this question, but what I am ideally hoping for is a phrase (verb, noun, whatever) to describe a gradual process that snowballs, whereby one false belief leads a reasonable person to construct an increasingly warped view of reality.  This could be either something extreme driving the person to a completely insane worldview, or a mild quirk where a person just has a very flawed understanding of specialized issue like what is going on with a plumbing problem in their house and a nearby rascally family of gophers.  The person's beliefs could be logically consistent or inconsistent, and the person might come to realize their mistake after seeing direct evidence or just accumulating enough second-hand evidence to reach a tipping point.  In particular, what I'd like to describe is certainly a consequence of confirmation bias as suggested in one of the answers, but I'd like to more clearly refer to this specific kind of process in which confirmation bias affects one's thinking beyond the original false belief.

(Sorry I don't a have nice pithy illustrative example.)


texts: Word for Crowdsourcing in the reverse direction (or antonym for Crowdsourcing)

texts:
Generally, Crowdsourcing means leveraging others' abilities and facilities to perform tasks. Simply someone assign its work to a group.
So, what's the word for the reverse operation: a group of independent persons, e.g. researchers, send their specific tasks, e.g. an experiments, to a specific person that has such a capabilities to do that.


texts: Why is the answer for this question TRUE?

texts:
I really don't get why the answer for the below question is true.
"According to recent data about 21% of adult smokers used e-cigarettes in 2015, which is more than double the rate in 2016".
For me "which is more than double" clearly refers to the number of smokers in 2015 and if 2015 is double to 2016 it means there was more smokers in 2015.
I am aware that my thinking is wrong but I really cannot understand why. Even when I paste this sentence into google translate and translate it into Polish the results are exactly the same as my understanding.
Maybe it is some kind of a grammar construction that needs to be explained somehow?
Thx for your help!


texts: Proverb for "Happiness comes only through hard work"

texts:
Is there a common English proverb, or maxim which means happiness won't come unless you work hard?

Looking online for idioms about happiness, I found several resources but they only speak about the degree of happiness; e.g. on cloud nine, jump for joy, and  over the moon. Whereas the  website Special Dictionary has a list of proverbs about happiness, they are not English ones. The closest I found was Finnish.

Happiness does not come from happiness itself, but from the journey towards achieving it.

I have come up with three versions, but are they idiomatic?

  Happiness only comes through hard work.
  You'll never be happy unless you work hard.
  You will not get happiness without doing hard work.

Is there a well-known proverb I can use instead?


texts: Does this sentence exemplify an adverbial clause?

texts:
On the Wikipedia page for 'Dependent clause,' on the subject of 'Dependent words,' there is provided an example which supposedly presents an adverbial clause, viz., "Wherever she goes, she leaves an item of luggage behind." In this case, "wherever she goes" is said to be the adverbial clause, "wherever" acting as the adverb. It is said that "wherever" is somehow an adverb which modifies "leaves." I don't understand how this is possibly the case. "Wherever," surely, is a noun.

The sentence can be altered in many different ways and maintain the same propositions. E.g., "In going wherever, she leaves an item of luggage behind." "Wherever" is the place that she is "going," and this first clause is certainly dependent, but I don't think that it is adverbial whatsoever; no adverbs exist in the entire sentence. "Wherever (noun) she (pronoun) goes (verb), she (pronoun) leaves (verb) an (determiner) item (noun) of (preposition) luggage (noun) behind (preposition).

Can someone explain how this is possibly an adverbial clause? It is mentioned that "wherever" modifies "leaves," but this is still a place that she is leaving a thing, not that she is leaving her luggage "wherever-ly."


texts:
Hi everyone I saw a video on Instagram which the guy had split thousands of cards like dominoes and it made me think that he was doing it during the lockdown and then it came to me that this is what lockdown made out of people.
I wanted to know if it's correct or not.thank you all
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCJUr8TI0F0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link


texts:
"Snips and Snails and Puppy dogs tails"

I've found several possible definitions for a "snip" such as:

An insignificant person
Something easily obtained, i.e. a bargain
A piece of something that has been cut off

Which definition is the one meant in this delightful nursery rhyme? If the definition is more arcane than one of these, I suppose the etymology is fascinating.


texts: Can this text be misconstrued in a way that perverts its meaning?

texts:
The sentence in question is the first sentence:
"Thank you for the opportunity of a 1 - 1 meeting"
"Sorry, I am busy. I cannot attend meet with you"
Without the 2nd sentence, indicating the participant's inability to attend a meeting, can the first sentence be interpreted to mean a meeting did occur, particularly due to the word "opportunity"?


texts: Which is correct: "I feel tempted to" or "I have the temptation to"

texts:
While asking a question earlier, this issue sprung into my mind. I immediately decided to use the phrase "having the temptation to", but later decided to correct it to "feeling the temptation to".

So which is correct?

Thanks in advance


texts: Looking for a synonym for "experienced worker"

texts:
Is there a single word or short phrase that means “experienced worker” (the opposite of “new hire”) and would work better than “local” in the following sentence?

  The mailing “is packed with useful info and tips to help a new hire feel like a local, fast.”

I have considered using "veteran," but I'm just wondering if there are other choices you can think of.


texts: In the delightful Fry and Laurie sketch The Letter, several puns are expertly delivered by Stephen Fry, however there is one I don't understand. At 4:45 in the video, he says "The man was either mad, or both", and it seems this should be funny, but I don't get it. Where is the pun in this sentence?


texts: What is correct: "we prove statement X by / by using / with / through / ..."

texts:
First, I'm sorry for any duplicates (although I could not find a similar question).

My question is: how do I correctly fill in the ??? in the following sentence?

  We prove Statement X ??? the following equivalences.

I'm not sure what to use: by, by using, with, through, ...
The meaning is that we use the equivalences to prove the statement.

Thank you! Dan


texts: What's another word for 'the only option?'

texts:
Looking for a specific word for 'the only option?' Phrase in my head is:

  Graduating from college shouldn't be the ________ in telling whether a person will be successful.

For some reason, I have zero-sum/end-sum in my head but I am not convinced that is the right word — but perhaps sounds like it.


texts:
I'm trying to accurately describe a person who acts in one way and does another but knowingly and openly accepts that his actions also include him in the same group he criticizes.

This differs from a hypocrite who condemns those who perform an action but justifies his own actions by unrelated means and does not accept he is a part of that group.

Does such a word exist or is there a better way of describing such a person?

Merriam-Webster defines a hypocrite as a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.


texts:
Palladium is the Ringo Starr of precious metals

I know that it's used to compare the role of Ringo in the Beatles with the role of Palladium in the world of metals. It's like saying "Palladium is kind of an underdog, it's not being appreciated as much as others"

The sentence makes perfect sense to me, I know what it means but I can't quite comprehend the grammatical reasoning behind the article "the" before "Ringo Starr"

What rule allows this usage of the definite article "the"? How do you classify this sentence? Is it an allegory or a metaphor... or is it something else? What do you call it from the grammatical point of view? Thank you

update: here's another example of a similar sentence:
Pollen is the snow of the south


texts: What is the specific usage of the expression, "Boom goes the dynamite"? and why is it still frequently used in a grammatically awkward way?

texts: Is there anyone who could briefly explain the specific usage of the famous blooper "Boom goes dynamite"? And is it still OK to use the expression in a formal writing?


texts: How to ask for ratio between more than two items?

texts:
Me: Did you figure out the recipe?
Person: It's mostly mayo and ketchup with some mustard and sambal for spice.
Me: What is the ratio of mayo to ketchup to mustard to sambal?
If it was only mayo and ketchup I'd say "what's the ratio between mayo and ketchup?" but since it's more than two items I'm not sure.


texts: Is the "to" required in "the person (to) whom I granted freedom"?

texts: I had this phrase "the person whom I granted freedom" in something I wrote; a friend maintains that it must be "the person to whom I granted freedom."


texts:
"It feels interesting", Does it make sense?

I am accustomed to using "feel + Adjective" and "feel like + Noun" forms.

but I wonder if it could be right to use "feel + Present-participle(as an adjective)".

Logically, it could be, but I've hardly seen it before.

Googling "it feels interesting", I found out an article using the sentence.

link: http://www.newsworks.org.uk/news-and-opinion/Page-265/trinity-mirror-to-launch-national-newspapers-the-new-day

If you feel it sounds a little impolite, it'll be because I'm not a native English speaker. So, I apologize in advance.


texts: The difference between '' It is ... '' and '' Is does be ... ''

texts:
1

John: Does the fax machine be used any more ?

Mary: Yes, it does be used on occasion.

2

John: Is the fax machine used any more?

Mary: Yes, it is used on occasion.

.

Are these different tenses ?

Can anyone explain these two structures in detail ?


texts: Word or common short phrase for an intentionally hasty initial proposal to group?

texts:
Is there a preferred word or common short phrase (or multiple) for a proposal made to a second party or group that is merely a first draft, intentionally hasty and likely poor quality, in order to spur discussion, and in the hope that the proposal would be improved collaboratively thereafter?

Some candidates:

stab - Often styled "take a stab" or "first stab." My main beef with this is it isn't clear that it is intended as a proposal before a 2nd party or group.
first take - About the same status as "stab." From film terminology.
first cut - Ditto first take.
strawman - I actually use this term often for this situation. It's not the standard usage of "strawman." However the analogy of an actual straw man or dummy is apt, because it designates an argument or proposal that is intended to be easy to refute, or figuratively knock down. But in this case rather than knock down because it is from an opponent, it is to be knocked down in order to give the group something to discuss, likely find fault with, and improve. Still, I don't like to misuse a term, and this feels like a bit of a misuse, or at least not a commonly accepted definition.

Due to the deficiencies mentioned in the above terms, I am still on the lookout for a better term. Or confirmation that one of the above really is a (the?) preferred term.


texts: What does “(Mitt Romney) wells up” mean?

texts:
There was the following sentence in a New York Times (January 18) article titled, “Peeling away the plastic”:

  “Those who have seen “Mitt” - which debuts on Netflix on Friday - are
  agog that filmmaker Greg Whiteley has accomplished what Romney
  himself, --- Willard Mitt Romney seems all too human.

  He wells up. He prays with his family, kneeling on the floor of hotel rooms, and plays with them in the snow. He refers to himself
  sardonically as “the flipping Mormon” and frets that he could become a
  loser like Michael Dukakis, who “can’t get a job mowing lawns.”

Link to the article.

I was drawn to the word, “well up.”
Although neither of Cambridge or Merriam-Webster English Dictionary carries this word as an idiom, Oxford English Dictionary gives definition of “well up” as “rise,” together with examples,

-Tears welled up in his eyes,

-He could feel the hatred welling up inside him,

-Pity welled up in her heart,

Do the OED’s definition – ‘rise’ and examples apply to “He (Mitt Romney) wells up,” in the above quote? What does it mean? Is this sentence self-complete?


texts:
Can "You are an officer and a gentleman" be used to praise a good deed done by a person completely unrelated to armed forces?

I would like to praise a friend of mine for an act of kindness. Is it appropriate to use this phrase for civilian people?


texts: In the phrase "per-diem rate," is the hyphen appropriate?

texts: I am a proofreader and am confused as to why the hyphen I inserted between per and diem in "per diem rates" was stetted, since this would be a compound adjective. Was I wrong?


texts:
Whats the difference between:

  She were gone to party.
  She had gone to party.

Are they both ok?


texts: How should this sentence be constructed?

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

“Do you think there are more than one possible combination?”

“Do you think there is more than one possible combination?”

If it is the latter, why is the singular “is” used when referring to a plurality of possible combinations?


texts: If you place an ly adverb after the verb is the meaning different than if it were infront of the verb?

texts:
For example:

I did not respond physically

I did not physically respond

I can't escape the sense that #2 'strongly' leaves open the possibility (or implies) that the writer responded some way other than physically.

Whereas, #1 seems to rule out physical response and does not imply some other form of response.

Maybe it's just me, or am I describing something that's been analyzed before (and perhaps given a name)


texts: Having trouble with "and therefore". Is it a conjunction?

texts:
I am having trouble figuring out if any of the following sentences is grammatically correct:

(A) People perceive him as manipulative, and therefore do not trust him.

(B) People perceive him as manipulative, and therefore not trusting him.

(C) People perceive him as manipulative, therefore not trusting him.

I understand the "and" is a conjunction and generally connects two independent clauses, but what about "and therefore"? If "and therefore" functions as a conjunction, then (A) would be incorrect because "do not trust him" is not an independent clause. Is this correct?

(B) and (C) also look suspicious to me, but I can't explain why.


texts: apostrophe that goes with a noun which precedes a relative clause

texts:
Suppose you wanted to place a possessive apostrophe in this sentence:
Billy, who goes to my school, favorite game is tag.

I know it's not standard, but I can hear kids (or older) saying an s sound after "school" to make the possession clear.
So I'd like to know if this could be written in the way that it's spoken (albeit not spoken in standard English).

Obviously, the sentence could be reworded, but that's not what I'm after.


texts: Which is the best preposition to follow "demanding"?

texts: My previous referral report demanding on urgent transfer of the patient to your hospital.


texts: When to use articles before programming terms?

texts:
I've found such a paragraph in one of programming tutorials:

  Ruby strings are simply sequences of 8-bit bytes and they are objects
  of class String. Double-quoted strings allow substitution and
  backslash notation but single-quoted strings don't allow substitution
  and allow backslash notation only for \ and \'

What I have problem with:

"class String" instead of "the String class"
"substitution" instead of "the substitution"
"backslash notation" instead of "the backslash notation"
no articles before "\" and "\'"

On the other hand, in the same tutorial we have a sentence:

  Constants defined within a class or module can be accessed from within
  that class or module, and those defined outside a class or module can
  be accessed globally.

Where we have "a class".

So my question is: are these sentences written correctly? And what rules should I obey with articles as a programmer writing about programming stuff?


texts: what is the meaning of the phrase "nice shot"

texts:
In an informal conversation I came to know of this phrase:

  Nice shot, dude.

What does it exactly mean?


texts:
What is it called when English takes a word from another language without changing it?

Examples:

Fernweh (German)
Vorfreude (German)
Eutony (Greek)
Omniscient (Latin)


texts: Could I use "Ending projects(contests)"?

texts: I have a menu item and a category that is called "Ending projects". It means that in this section are projects(contests) that will end soon (like in 1-2 days). I have also a block on my page called Ending Projects, to take attention. My question is if I can use this form or not. If not, what other form do you suggest, thanks.


texts:
I am going through a lesson on articles. I've learned that a definite article is used to identify a particular person or thing. If you are speaking about someone or something you are already familiar with, you use "the" with the noun.
An indefinite article is used to describe someone or something that is unfamiliar to you or about which you are speaking in general.

There is an exercise that involves changing a noun from plural to singular and using the appropriate article for each:
I want to buy the roses.

I thought "I want to buy a rose" was correct, because "rose" is a general term, but that was wrong, and the correct answer was "I want to buy the rose".

Can you please explain why "a rose" is incorrect?

TIA


texts: Does ‘do’s and ‘don't’s look correctly punctuated, i.e., curly single quotes around each word and a single straight quote in ‘don'ts’?

texts:
• Janice used too many ‘do’s and ‘don't’s in her last paragraph.

The sentence above means that she used the individual words ‘do’ and ‘don't’ excessively in her paragraph. Without recasting and without using italics, do
‘do’s and ‘don't’s look correctly punctuated, i.e., curly single quotes around each word and a single straight quote in ‘don'ts’?

• Janice used the phrase ‘do's and don'ts’ several times in her last paragraph.

Does ‘do's and don'ts’, with the curly quotes before and after the phrase, and the straight quote in ‘don't’ look correct?

A very simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is fine for each question. Again, I prefer single quotes around the words/phrases in question, and I opt for not italicizing.

I think I have satisfactorily punctuated each but am looking for confirmation that I did.

Again, please no recasts.

Many thanks.


texts: The words more powerful than "ask", but less powerful than "demand"

texts:
How would you describe the action of forcing another person do something, when they must do this, but it is not very serious if they don't do it.

OR, simply put:

What word is stronger than "ask" and weaker than "demand"?


texts:
Can I put "do" in front of "statistical hypothesis testing"? Thanks.

To address the management of any high risk aspects of the proposed work, we will do statistical hypothesis testing to decide on a final set of attributes.


texts: As much as it may seem like it to me personally?

texts:
As much as it may seem like it to me personally, I feel desperately compelled to remind you that we are in fact not in prison.

Does 'as much as' mean 'although'?
I don't understand 'it may seem like it to me personally'.
I thought 'it seems like + Noun/Noun Clause' is correct, but what is 'it seems like + it to me'?


texts: ...equally useful would be a "poetry expert" (who could be presumed to be a lover of the subject).  Linguaphile, of course, jumps to mind, but I'm looking for something that is specific to poetry, not just language in general. Thanks.


texts: Should I use 'are' or 'were' when talking about event in the past

texts:
In this sentence, I'm talking about something that occurred in the past, but it's something cultural so it's a thing that happens every time, like if I am to attend an Indian event in the future I'm going to get free samosa as well. Given that context I wonder if the tenses I used in this sentence is correct:

There were free samosa at every Indian event that I attended

should I use were or are in this context?


texts: What's a word for when someone is drawing out a story for dramatic effect?

texts:
"Quit _________ , and get to the point!"

None of these seem quite right, although any of them would suffice:

Dawdling
Dilly-dallying
Delaying
Prolonging
Protracting

I think I'm looking for a word that's specifically concerned with relating an event in conversation. Or maybe I've forgotten a word that never existed in the first place. I do that sometimes.


texts: Why does it sound perfectly natural to say Our flight leaves tomorrow at 6pm but weird to say It rains tomorrow at 6pm? What kind of scenario, if any, could make the rain sentence sound natural?


texts: Are adjectives ending with -ing considered non-finite verbs?

texts:
Are gerunds and present participles that function as adjectives considered non-finite? I understand that they aren't but I'm not so sure

for example:
The frightening tiger has eaten the scared doe.

I understand that "have" is the finite verb and "eaten" is non-finite.
While "frightening" and "scared" are mere adjectives.
But a friend told me that all frightening, scared and eaten are non-finite so I'm confused.

Thanks in advance.


texts: What's a word that means "quickly" and "easily"?

texts: The current sentence is: "While this can be interpreted as a response to World War II, it can also be seen as an analysis - a depiction of how fragile society actually is, and how easily it can be disrupted." However, I want to change the word "easily" in the last part of it to a word that means both "quick" and "easy." Of course, now that I need a word that covers both of those meanings, I can't think of one!


texts:
What is correct?

1.) The topic is smart homes.

2.) The topic are smart homes.

Regarding 1.) It sounds wrong for me, but in my opinion grammatically correct.
Regarding 2.) It sound right, but grammatically incorrect.

Thanks!


texts:
I wrote a sentence:

  Figure 6(top) shows that....... while figure 6(bottom) shows....

Does this sentence look grammatically clear with using parentheses?
Do I have to leave a space after number 6, before ()?


texts: Word to describe being useful to many people

texts:
I am trying to find a word to describe a project I am working on. This project has one function, but will be useful to as many people as possible (as many people as meet the requirements to use the project). I would like to use it in the context of something like the following sentence:

"My application is adjective, adjective, and ______________."

Does anyone know of a word that would fit here? Thank you!


texts: Did I stress the words correctly in this sentence?

texts:
I have this sentence: "Keep your voice down!"
I'm not sure how native speakers pronounce it, but I would put a bit of stress on "Keep" and more stress on "voice"

"2Keep your 1voice down!".

I don't think "down" needs any stress but I'm curious about your opinions too.


texts: Usage of ";" . Can it connect verb phrases without conjunctions?

texts:
I know ";" can connect related sentences without any conjunctions.
Now I wonder if  ";" can also connect verb phrases as follow:

The device calculates ....; selects ....; programs....; and changes... .

Thank you for your kind advice in advance.

Regards,


texts:
I understand the meaning of the term "back-order": The item is not available, and will be ordered when it becomes available again. But I can't quite figure out why the prefix "back-" is used, when in other words it means either literally "behind", "reverse", or the anatomical "back".

When I break it into its components, "back-order" should mean "to cancel an order", and the original term would make more sense as "pre-order" or "ready-order".

Is there a reason "back-" made sense in the 1800s, or am I missing a reason that it makes sense even today?


texts:
So I was listening to a podcast today and there was an AMA (Ask Me Anything) round wherein someone said:

  “I love your podcast and I say love with all the gravity of the word/world”.

I couldn’t figure out if the last word was “word” or “world”.
Also, I have no clue what the phrase means. I tried googling but found nothing. I think that phrase emphasizes on the “love” part but an explanation would help.

Thank you!


texts: In one episode of Simpsons there is joke when fire catches because a foreign citizen read "inflammable" on a gas bottle, and said it is all right.


texts:
Is there a word that describes a parent whose child has died?

Along the lines of "orphan", "widow", and "widower", is there a single word for a parent who has lost a child (of any age)?


texts: What's the difference between "trust" and "believe"?

texts:
What's the difference between trust and believe? In a sentence such as

  Don't ... a man who keeps flattering you.

should I fill in trust or believe?


texts:
The context is “We will always do a TAKE 5 prior to undertaking work”. I have no idea what a “take 5” is. I searched “take 5” on Google but I didn’t find an applicable explanation.

Here is the context of the line:

  We will never compromise safety
  We will always wear PPE
  We will always do a TAKE 5 prior to undertaking work
  We will be drug and alcohol free
  We will report all incidents and near hits


texts:
I am learning English at a language school in Korea. Today's topic was about overtime and our teacher who is American asked me how many hours I work per week.
I said I cannot concentrate in the morning, so I  usually work from noon to midnight.
And the teacher asked me "Are you a prostitute? "
I know what a prostitute means. But I don't know if I can take that as a joke or harassment. Anyway I really don't feel good.


texts: what does "to which it is a party" mean in this sentence?

texts:
I have a statement here,  and I dont get the meaning exactly:

  Each of the Members agrees to make an annual report to the International Labour Office on the measures which it has taken to give effect to the provisions of Conventions to which it is a party.

Q1. Does provisions of Conventions here mean statements in an agreement? ie. provisions - statements in legal documents;
Conventions - agreement between country leaders

Q2. what does to which it is a party at the end of statement mean? does it mean same as to which it as a party?


texts: What does the preposition "by" here stand for? Meaning of dowche

texts:
I was reading a book and encountered a phrase in early modern English:

  "The Gothes speake
  dowche, which I knowe by a dowcheman, my servunt, that was with
  me there : for they understode one an other well enough, as we understande a furlane {i.e., a man of Forli) or a florentine."

I have asked this question because grammatically and, most importantly, logically it is very coherent with the modern English, despite being orthographicly dissimilar. But the usage of the preposition "by" here is ambiguos to me. What is the meaning of "to know something by someone" and dowche? Is dowche the name of a language? I couldn't find its definition.


texts:
What is the correct format to use when referring to trademarks in British English? Is "trademarks" generally preferable?

I've seen both used in different contexts, the UK GOV page uses "trade marks", but I'm not sure. Trade marks looks a little scruffy to me.


texts: What do the parentheses inside quotation marks mean in this Dickens quote?

texts:
Miss Havisham had seen him as soon as I, and was (like everybody else) afraid of him. She made a strong attempt to compose herself, and stammered that he was as punctual as ever.
"As punctual as ever," he repeated, coming up to us. "(How do you do, Pip? Shall I give you a ride, Miss Havisham? Once round?) And so you are here, Pip?"
I told him when I had arrived...

–Great Expectations, Ch. 29, Charles Dickens (1861)
What is the meaning of the parentheses/round brackets inside the quotation marks here?
It seems clear that the participants said something like the following:
Miss Havisham: something like "Jaggers, you are as punctual as ever."
Jaggers: "As punctual as ever"
...???...
Jaggers: "And so you are here, Pip?" (speaking to Pip)
Pip: something like "I arrived yesterday..."
But it's not clear to me what happened in the part I marked "...???...".
When I searched Google for things like "Dickens parentheses dialogue", I found some things, but nothing that seemed to provide a completely satisfactory explanation. According to the blog post "Great Expectations AP Style Literature Questions", the correct answer to the question "In chapter fifteen, what is the purpose of the parentheses around (“Let her alone, will you?” said Joe)" is "To show that Joe interrupted and talked at the same time at which Orlick and Mrs. Joe were arguing." But as the parenthetical portion of the dialogue I am asking about comes between two sentences that are both spoken by Jaggers, I don't see how it could be interpreted as an interruption.
Is it meant to indicate that Jaggers said "As punctual as ever" to Miss Havisham, then "How do you do, Pip?" to Pip, then "Shall I give you a ride, Miss Havisham? Once round?" to Miss Havisham, and then walked around the table once with Miss Havisham before saying "And so you are here, Pip?" to Pip? That's the best I can come up with, but I'm not sure I've ever seen parentheses used to imply that a speaker took some action in between parts of a quotation before, and it reads a little oddly to me.
I would appreciate it if anyone can either give a good explanation of the meaning of this particular example, or just provide more insight based on the use of round brackets in other places in Dickens' work or in the work of his contemporaries. Citations or examples of similar usage would be ideal.


texts:
I'm from Brazil and here the word confer (conferir) has the same meaning as check.

But in the dictionaries online I couldn't find this meaning in its definition:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/confer
https://www.wordreference.com/definition/conferring

So, in the following phrase, for example:

I'm conferring the numbers of the product in stock and as soon as possible I'll give you a feedback

Could I use it this way? Is it correct?

thanks in advance


texts: Using a comma to separate these clauses?

texts:
English is my second language. A co-worker who edits my work wrote the following two phrases:

This way, workers can install the guardrail for the next level from a lower platform eliminating the need for a fall arrest system during assembly.
Thanks to this method, it is not necessary to use a personal fall arrest system during any stage in working with the system making it easier to work safely.

Is it me, or do both of these phrases need an extra comma?

This way, workers can install the guardrail for the next level from a lower platform, eliminating the need for a fall arrest system during assembly.
Thanks to this method, it is not necessary to use a personal fall arrest system during any stage in working with the system, making it easier to work safely.

Can someone please help me verify this, I've been Googling this but I haven't been able to find the rule here...


texts: "Crisis", "drama" and similar words in the news

texts:
Today I read the economist headline:

  On to the next crisis.
  Automatic spending cuts took effect on March 1st; more drama is to come

I startled at the word ‘drama’. It would be regarded as inappropriate in my mother tongue, German, to use the word ‘drama’, because it would have too much connotation of a theatre play. One would either use some alternative generic term like ‘crisis’, which has a grave connotation in German, or get more specific,like ‘recession’, ‘tense times’, ‘unemployment’.

On the other hand, German media frequently use the term ‘drama’ whenever people are trapped or being held captive, like in ‘rescue drama’ or ‘hostage drama’.

It seems that ‘hostage drama’ loses by numbers against ‘hostage crisis’ in the English language, according to Search engine fight. Similar with ‘rescue crisis’ and ‘rescue drama’; see Another search engine fight

Question: Is ‘drama’ an appropriate word for serious problems?

Question: What are the conventions or commonalities in using the words ‘drama’, ‘disaster’, ‘crisis’, ‘calamity’, etc., in the news? How do these reflect in non-journalist speech?


texts:
I was watching "Gilmore Girls"
Lory (Lorelai's daughter) just got in private school, but Lorelai discovered that tuition enroll fee is too much high to prepare on short notice. So I think, she decided to call school management(Ms Bell) to ask if there's any other option. and here's the line of phone call.
Lorelai :I'm holding for Miss Bell. I've been trying all day.
Now, While I know this could mean that she has been looking to connect with Miss Bell whole day, I am kind of confused with use of "holding" here.
I know "hold" when in phone call, it's mostly used for " wait for" like "hold on please" .
Is the "hold for" is colloquial way of saying "I was waiting to connect to this person whole day"?
Thank you for your reply in advance!!


texts:
I wanted to know if the following is a small world situation or merely a coincidence or both.

One of my friends has moved from London to Manchester to work for a corporate bank his name is Wasim. The person he has replaced in this particular role was also called Wasim. I mean it's not the most common of names.

After finding this out could you use the phrase 'It's a small world'?


texts:
What does "If wishes were fishes we'd all swim in riches" mean?

This phrase doesn't make any sense to me, though I do understand the point it's making. But by the logic of the phrase, if a wish were a fish, why would we all just be swimming with the fishes?


texts: Is "days in the future" or "days into the future" grammatically correct?

texts:
When writing a sentence referencing a specific future time period, how would you correctly form the sentence?
As an example, which of the following would be correct?

That date is more than 5 days in the future.
That date is more than 5 days into the future.


texts: What is the best word to translate passport for traveling abroad?

texts: We have two types of passports in our country: internal and for traveling abroad. How can I specify that I have passport for traveling abroad? That's not to be called foreign passport and I'm not sure about international passport. What would you suggest?


texts:
Let's say I'm asking people about characteristics of their ideal workplace.

"Ideally, how old would the company you work for be?"
"Ideally, how many people would also work at the company you work for?"

Personally, this sounds rather awkward. I'd attribute it to the item in question being "the company you work for" as it ends with "for". Any clean-sounding, easily understandable alternatives here?
I was thinking about "How old would your ideal company be?" or "How long would your ideal company have been in business?" but these don't really convey the fact that the person would actually be employed there.


texts: Word related to physical attraction of smoking?

texts:
A long while ago I happened upon a trivia website that mentioned there's a word related to the act of smoking being attractive -- either that smoking is becoming of a certain person, or that a certain person finds smoking inherently attractive, I can't remember which.
I've lost the word and have been unable to find it in my searches. I'm beginning to doubt the original veracity of the claim that such a word is in official usage!
Anyone know the word I have in mind?
I'll include two possible sample sentences since it could be one of two distinct meanings:
Possible Meaning 1

He's not much of a looker, but he sure is _____. When he packs his Camels and puffs away, I'm transfixed.

Possible Meaning 2

Though he never partook himself, he was a _____ and always wound up with tobacco fiends for partners.

Or some minor variations (part-of-speech changes, e.g.) thereof.


texts: What does the term 'consequential seniority' mean?

texts:
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/devesh-kapur-the-honourable-men/483076/

  The Supreme Court struck down the Uttar Pradesh Government Servants
  Seniority Rules – which provided for consequential seniority in
  promotions – holding that, although the Constitution has been
  permitted to enable consequential seniority, the state had failed to
  satisfy conditions relating to the determination of backwardness and
  the appropriateness of reservations. It is unclear what shape the
  proposed amendment will take, but it seems that the state does not
  even want to discharge the burden that the case for special treatment
  must be made out.

I searched in google about consequential seniority, but i could not understand.


texts:
I was watching the movie "Kajillionaire" and heard this quote:

Once your face is in the system, they got you. Fines, 401k, home equity. But maybe you want all of that, I don't know. Me? I just prefer to skim.

So what does "to skim" mean in this context? I looked it up in the dictionary and saw some entries that I felt it might be related but I couldn't be sure.

a. To embezzle (money) by taking a small portion on each transaction: corrupt governments skimming money from foreign aid.
b. To fail to declare part of (certain income, such as winnings) to avoid tax payment.
c. To copy information from (a credit card) as part of a skimming fraud.

So is he saying that he just prefers to skim (like embezzle from) the system?


texts: I was reading this question here, and thinking, the kitten will come to a sticky end. But why is a ghastly but non-specific fate referred to as a sticky end? This source here suggests that blood is involved, but surely there's more to it than that.


texts: How offensive is a word f**k in English?

texts: I hear it quite often in movies, radio , books, songs even in some interviews with actors .In my native language is a word like that very strong and awfully offensive but I think it is not that strong in English since I hear people say it very often .