texts:
Here we wish to make sure the usage of ... number(s) of ..., which one below is correct?

An even number of people

An even number of cards

Even numbers of people

Even numbers of cards

An odd number of people

An odd number of cards

Odd numbers of people

Odd numbers of cards

Six numbers of people

Six numbers of cards

Six number of people

Six number of cards

A six number of people

A six number of cards


texts:
I have been hearing this construct recently:

just from + Ving

For instance:

I'm just from eating [...]
You're just from swimming [...]

This structure certainly isn't part of standard English, if there is such a thing. What dialect does this phrasage belong to?


texts: "dead brother's grandson" VS "passed-away brother's grandson"

texts:
One is

  dead brother's grandson (and) dead sister's grandson.

The other  is

  passed-away brother's grandson (and) passed-away sister's grandson.

They come from part of a novel which I'm translating for study.
Which one is better? I've heard that pass away is more indirect and dead sounds a bit harsh. I don't know which one sounds better or more suitable.


texts:
Today one of my coworkers sent an email saying:

  Dear X, Please don't miss to send Y's laptop to the support today.

I kindly replied to him alone saying that it should've been:

  Dear X, Please don't forget* ...

He told me that "miss" can be used in this context. Well my English isn't perfect, hence my question:

Is the word miss usable in that context?


texts: How does one scan multi-syllabic words in poetry to determine meter?

texts:
Let me explain.

Usually poems written in iambic pentameter have short syllables.

A line could be, say:

I DROVE past DANcing BIRDS aLONG the WAY.

But what if we have longer words, like "alluring, "beautiful", "unusual", or "responsibility".

Take "responsibility": It has six syllables. Dictionaries online scan it thus:

ri-spon-suh-BIL-i-tee

Can such a word ever be used in a, say, iambic pentameter?  Or given that it's three unaccented syllables followed by an accented one, it's hopeless?

Can we actually change the scansion of a word to make it fit a particular poem, either as writers or as people scanning a poem written by someone who is not present to tell us how we SHOULD read it?

For instance, cigarette is usually read as either CI-ga-rette or ci-ga-RETTE.  If one were to read a poetic line such as:

"Smoking cigarettes and talking"

it could be read as

"SMOking CI-ga-RETTES and TALK-ing" and we got ourselves an trochaic trimeter.  The question is, can we read it as such?

Thank you for your help.


texts:
would you be able to explain me the following line from the end of the Chapter one? Especially the bold part. Thanks Guys. You are all genius :)

  No. I lay in my basket, and my mother lay in her bed;
  but Betsey Trotwood Copperfield was for ever in the land of
  dreams and shadows, the tremendous region whence I had
  so lately travelled; and the light upon the window of our
  room shone out upon the earthly bourne of all such travellers,
  and the mound above the ashes and the dust that once
  was he, without whom I had never been.


texts:
May I know which is correct:
1. I will update you when they told me
2. I will update you when they tell me
3. I will update you when they have told me .

Thanks


texts:
Studying possessive apostrophes I have searched on ELU the questions correlated to this matter.

I have found the following: «What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?» and «When did it become correct to add an 's' to a singular possessive already ending in 's'?»

Reading both the first one and the second one I am not able to understand* why "Achilles heel"† is correct, as we can read on Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Precisely I am asking why we should write "Achilles heel" rather than "Achilles' heel".

Does it depend on etymological reasons strictly correlated to the Greek origin? if so, in different no mythological cases, should we write, for example, either "Achilles tendon" or "Achilles' tendon"?

  * I am not able to understand the
  issue because there is no answer to my question.

  † Named after the Greek hero
  Achilles. When he was a little child, his mother held him below the
  surface of the river Styx to protect him against any injury. She held
  him by his heel, which therefore was not touched by the water.
  Achilles died after being wounded by an arrow in the heel.


texts: Where can I find OED articles on various phonemes' pronunciation?

texts:
Dear ladies and gentlemen. I found myself in need of a detailed source of information regarding variants of pronouncing English sounds, and chanced upon this answer presented by tchrist several years ago:

https://english.stackexchange.com/a/77118/262320

The information given in this reply is exactly the kind I was looking for, however for the life of me I can't find either the original OED article or even the exact edition of OED where such detailed information on pronunciation is present. I would love to ask tchrist directly, however the site won't allow that. Could you please help me?

Best regards,

Xaenor


texts:
I saw a scene in Downton Abbey in which one character said,

  Here we are, ma'am, Crawley House. For good or ill.

What does "for good or ill" mean here?


texts: 'insidious' : How does 'sit in' mean 'gradual, subtle' ?

texts:
insidious  {adjective} = Proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects:
Etymonline: 1540s, from Middle French insidieux (15c.) or directly from Latin insidiosus "deceitful, cunning, artful," from insidiae (plural) "plot, snare, ambush," from insidere "sit on, occupy," from in- "in" (see in- (2)) + sedere "to sit" (see sedentary). Related: Insidiously; insidiousness.)

I wish to delve into the definition, which I already understand and so ask NOT about. I heed the Etymological Fallacy. What are some right ways of interpreting this meaning (to naturalise or rationalize it), so that it feels reasonable and intuitive?
Here are my thoughts. If a problem is sitt[ing] in your awareness or domain, then it already disturbs you instantly. So what's gradual, subtle ?


texts: What is a word that means rough times of change?

texts:
Like for example when two regimes change there is this unrest and change that occurs. Often it isn’t meant in a positive light and simply means that things are beginning to change. It is just when that change occurs people often say this word.

I have a feeling the word I’m thinking starts with an R. Please help because I’ve been browsing the internet for hours and haven’t been able to find a synonym or closely related word that would fit.


texts: Why is it "argument" instead of "arguement"?

texts: Why would you replace the <e> in argue before affixing <-ment>?


texts: When can we use an indefinite singular noun as a subject in the start of a sentence?

texts:
I was told not to use an indefinite singular noun as a subject in the start of a sentence, so I can say such to refer to a general phenomenon:

Cats eat mouses.
A cat eats mouses.
The cat eats mouses.

but not

*Cat eat mouses.

Anyway, I have seen a lot of sentences with an indefinite singular noun as a subject:

French food is delicious.

and typically, they are often some more abstract things:

Philosophy is interesting.

and more exceptions. I remember there must be many exceptions with non-abstract nouns in indefinite singular, but I cannot come up now.


texts: Word for magnifying eyepiece in scientific instruments

texts:
(Mostly) historic scientific instruments sometimes have a telescope-like device mounted on them in order to be able to read a very fine scale accurately.

My understanding is that telescopes are used to magnify things far away, where for a magnifying eyepiece I imagine something mobile, such as a jeweller might use.  So is there a word for a tubular optical instrument used to magnify things close-by?

here are a couple of examples -


texts: A word to describe a new item added a completed sequence

texts:
We all know the item before the last is penultimate, but what about adding to a sequence that is effectively closed?

'Postultimate' maybe? this seems right but I cannot find any usages. 'Next' is certainly descriptive as are 'subsequent', 'following' and 'succeeding' but these words do not convey the /fact that the sequence was considered complete before the new item was added.

Practical applications could include adding a new letter to the alphabet (unlikely I know but go with it for a moment - no trolling!) or new elements added to the periodic table.

The case in question, the one which prompted this question, is software related. An application we had created was considered complete, updates were no longer being worked on and the current functionality would never be changed (however there are still active users so it was very much alive). Then, for reasons I will not go into, an update (the one after the last ever) was needed.

Maybe the the word 'postultimate' could also be used to describe an aging pop star's comeback tour after they had already retired, though this may draw us into antipostultimate and postantepostultiamte hell!

What fun!


texts: Which is the correct proposition to use?

texts:
I am writing a research article for which I plan to provide supplementary material which details  the methodology. Which is the correct proposition to use in the following phrase?

supplementary material __ the research article.

Is OF or FOR correct?


texts: Is "learning yourself" the same as "learning by yourself"?

texts:
(Other than the first also meaning to learn about oneself...)

Is learning yourself the same as learning by yourself? How much do these two phrases differ?

In India's spoken English, the former is used a lot. Is it grammatically correct at all?


texts:
I came across a sentence in a comment in Stack Exchange Workplace which I can not translate:

  have been freelance for *cough* decades

Can anyone help me?

Here is the link to original post - see comment from @Mawg


texts: What do "a sort of moral attention" and "riotous excursions" mean in this quote from the Great Gatsby?

texts:
“When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart”

Does "at a sort of moral attention" mean the same moral level or something else? What's the meaning of "riotous excursions"? I cannot find this phrase in a dictionary.


texts: What is the opposite of "acquired taste"?

texts:
I've been breaking my head trying to find an opposite term for the phrase/expression "acquired taste". I vaguely know that "acquired taste" refers to something (a taste) that you start liking after you get used to (acquire).

So, what's the term or phrase that one should use to describe a taste that they were born with, or in other words, didn't "acquire", but was rather "inherited" or born with?
I'd like to use this in the context of music.

For example, "House music is an acquired taste." I would like to say something such as "But, Trance music is {what should I say here?}."


texts: What is “It’s me swindle” called in U.S. / U.K. / Canada?

texts:
In Japan, so-called “Ore-ore sagi -おれおれ詐欺"(It’s me swindle) is rampant. “It’s me swindle” is a fraudulent technique to swindle money from aged people, in most cases loving mothers, by calling them in disguise of their son. They say “Mom, it’s me,” on phone. “I lost a big money today. If I don’t pay it back, I’ll be in jail. Please transfer X amount of money to my bank account xxxx,” and urge the target parent to pay the quoted sum immediately into a suggested bank account.

The total amount of damage by “It’s me swindle" jumped up to ￥48.7 billion (USD 487 million) in 2013 from ￥364 billion (USD 364 million) in 2012 in Japan. The National Police Agency officially named “It’s me swindle” as “Special Fraud” last year, which I think very vague naming.

I heard “It’s me swindles” are observed in U.S. too, and that it’s called “I’m Mike” fraud.
Is it true? What do you call this crime in spoken English and in legal term?


texts: I had an argument with a friend regarding etymology of the word "Oz" in "The wizard of Oz". I believe that it doesn't have any etymology, and that generally most proper nouns don't have any origin. He believes that literally all words have etymology, even though I could come up with a random name that doesn't have any meaning whatsoever right now. What's your opinion?


texts: What is the meaning of the suffix “‑don”?

texts: What are the meaning and origin of the suffix ‑don, as in the words pteranodon and megalodon?


texts: Term for: "equal and opposite" and "sum to zero" (physics)

texts:
I'm looking for a word or term that encompasses both of the following conditions:

equal and opposite

AND

sum to zero

I am looking specifically at a term for a pairing relationship in the context of physics.

Here are some examples:

NUMBER

( +5 ) <> ( -5 )

equal magnitude
opposite sign
( +5 ) ADD ( -5 ) sums to zero

VECTOR / FORCE

( magnitude 5 angle 0 degrees ) <> ( magnitude 5 angle 180 degrees )

equal magnitude
opposite direction
( magnitude 5 angle 0 degrees ) ADD ( magnitude 5 angle 180 degrees ) sums to zero

ELECTRIC CHARGE

( 2+ ) <> ( 2- )

equal magnitude
opposite charge sign
( 2+ ) ADD ( 2- ) sums to zero

Thus far, I've found the terms:

equilibrant : a force capable of balancing another force and producing equilibrium

~ but this is for forces only

anti-parallel : In a Euclidean space, two directed line segments, often called vectors in applied mathematics, are antiparallel, if they are supported by parallel lines and have opposite directions

~ but this is for vectors only and does not strictly mean equal

What may help to convey exactly what I am looking for is to consider the pairing relationship from the "opposite end" - let me express my examples again from this point of view:

NUMBER

we start with number ( 0 )

we split ( 0 ) into
( +5 ) <> ( -5 )

VECTOR / FORCE

we start with vector/force ( magnitude 0 )

we split ( magnitude 0 ) into
( magnitude 5 angle 0 degrees ) <> ( magnitude 5 angle 180 degrees )

ELECTRIC CHARGE

we start with charge ( 0 )

we split charge ( 0 ) into
( 2+ ) <> ( 2- )


texts:
Could someone point out for me that which of the following choices is accurate?

Even though I understand that my comments were offensive, you should cut me a break because I only meant them (joking/jokingly).

First, I picked "joking" but it turned out that the answer key told the answer was "jokingly". As a result, I got flummoxed because I thought that the meaning of the word "meant" in the above sentence was exactly similar to the word "considered"; hence according to my thought, the answer should have been "joking". Anyway, could somebody explain this situation for me explicitly? I will appreciate any help from you guys!


texts: Word for something that is not actually hard to do, but doing it goes against your instincts?

texts:
Example actions: working out, taking an ice bath, cleaning your house, admitting when you are wrong.
These things are not difficult to actually do, but are often described as hard, when in reality they are things that go against your instincts, so your brain tries to convince you to not do them due to instincts like conservation of energy, ego protection, etc.
The best word I have for this is just “a thing that requires mental discipline”. I am looking for something like non-instinctive, but with an additional clause of not actually being difficult to do. Or when the only barrier to doing a simple task is your own instincts. Does this word exist?
Example usage: “I need to go work out, but I am reluctant to do so because it is really ____.”
Thank you!


texts: What is the meaning of "constituent" in this phrase?

texts: Site Location : This is a process that organizations use to identify retail locations most suitable to the "constituent customer profiles ".


texts: Sequence of tenses while describing scientific finding

texts:
Currently, I am writing a statement of purpose for the graduate program, and I want to describe my research experience. In particular, I want to write the following sentence:

  I determined that the electromagnetic force is the main type of interaction between the droplets.

At the same time, I was recently corrected that the proper way would be to write

  I determined that the electromagnetic force was the main type of interaction between the droplets.

as dictated by the "sequence of tenses" rule.

However, for me, it does not sound right. This phrasing creates a feeling that "the electromagnetic force was the main type of interaction between the droplets" somewhere in the distant past, and now it is not.

I read somewhere on the web that "sequence of tenses" may be violated in some occasions (for instance, while describing widely known scientific facts, e.g. "Newton discovered that the planets attract each other"). Would it be okay to violate "sequence of tenses", when describing my own scientific finding?

The other example that I am interested in is whether I should use

  I understood how interesting it is to study physics.

or

  I understood how interesting it was to study physics.


texts:
I recently read the story "The Sign of the Four", by Arthur Conan Doyle. In it, one particular phrase stood out:

  ...rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet.

I believe it refers to them taking a drink or something. Could it refer to a morning dip perhaps?

Also, where does this phrase originate from? When was it first used,etc.


texts: I'm looking for words that can meaning the "outsider" social group but not in context of "loser". Not an "opposition" group but just different; a group that stay aside of mainstream and popular themes. Any guesses?


texts: Better to use: "Lots of" or "A lot of water" is wasted.?

texts:
I know this was already questioned, but i want to ask, if it would be less confusing and better to use:

"A lot of water is wasted." instead of
"Lots of water is wasted.

Where "Water" is uncountable, describing much water or a great amount of water seems to me more suitable by "a lot of", also we don't say "muchs of particles are wasted"

A second reason is that "lot" means "more" by it self, why to add the "s" ?
Except we want to describe a lot of parts of something / many groups.

Also remembering on the rules of double negatives, where we don't say "I wasn't not running"


texts:
I am wondering why "A, or rather B" is used in writing in sentences like the following:

  It is well known, or rather notorious, that Tokyo is the Great Babylon of Japan.

Some people might cross out "or rather notorious" for the sake of brevity.
We know brevity is important in writing. But sometimes it is not the only concern, and it can be overridden by other factors.

I have seen "A, or rather B,..." in written material. Why was it used in the first place, if not for some special effect?

It would be understandable to use it in speech, since people often make slips of the tongue. But why is it used in writing? I am curious what the rhetorical effect might be.


texts:
Where is question mark on below?  After What or Alan

"What?" yelled Alan.


texts: What word can I use instead of "tomorrow" that is not connected with the idea of the rising sun?

texts:
I'm working on a novel while trying to take into account the historical context surrounding it. It begins in 1140 AD, so the characters would use Old English, Latin, Old French, and other similar languages from that time period. It also features some vampiric characters. Over the years, these vampires have developed their own terminologies to refer to common things, such as relative time, without referring to daylight.

Today is easy to conjugate into tonight, and yesterday similarly transfers to yesternight, although that sounds somewhat odd in our language. However, tomorrow is not as easy to translate.

Morrow comes from the Old English morgen, which means morning. (Source: American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Edition) Therefore tomorrow means the next morning in its oldest variant, and the Old-English-speaking vampires would not use morrow or tomorrow, and would come up with their own words.

My question is, what words exist in a historical context that allow the speaker to refer to time periods without necessarily connoting daytime? Or, if there are none, what words would realistically have developed given the languages present?

Tomorrow is the word giving me the most trouble, but I'll also accept other answers that explain how I can refer to time without referring to the daytime. My main concern is staying in context; I don't want to make up words that have no etymological basis.

Helpful answers will give a sourced example of where the word was found and how it was used (along with what language it derives from), or an explanation of where the roots they are using to derive the new word and why it makes sense to derive the word from those roots.

I'll also accept phrases, since language is complex, and there might be no single word that does the topic justice.


texts:
Here is a passage in a technical document I'm working on:

Simple vs. associative arrays

Where you need key-value pairs, use associative arrays.
Otherwise, use the simple ones.

As I felt, there was something wrong with "where + otherwise" pair, and as FumbleFingers confirmed in the first comment, this feeling was correct: this pair doesn't really work well.
One way to workaround this issue is to use "if" instead of "where". Though it will fix the passage posted above, I cannot say that I really can use this solution. This is because that document has other similar passages that uses "where you need", "where possible", or "where necessary", and I want to use the same word ("where" or "if") for all of them. Unfortunately, some of them (maybe I'm wrong!) don't accept "if". For example:

Case-sensitive equality operator

With regular strings, use it only where necessary.
With the empty string and numbers, use it on every occasion.

"On every occasion" points to a location or maybe time, and thus using "if + on every location" looks somewhat asymmetric to me.
And another reason that I don't want to replace all my "where"-s with "if"-s is that "if" creates some ambiguity. I would reserve it for passages like this one:

If you think you are really skilled, feel free to use the ternary operator.
If you don't think so, don't use it.

How to rephrase the first passage without replacing "where" to something different?


texts: Verbal analogy: sweet _ness_ is to suffix as boat _swain_ is to ... In other words, what is the term for the _swain_ morpheme?

texts:
At some point in the past I encountered the following verbal analogy:

SWEET NESS : SUFFIX :: BOAT SWAIN : ?

In my view, the question is asking what one would term the "swain" morpheme in "boatswain".

I have ruled out suffix itself as "swain" is neither an inflectional nor (appears to be) a derivational ending.

Some answers I have found and excluded are:

suprafix/superfix : this pertains to the patterns of tone or stress on various parts of a word that may determine its meaning, e.g. to distinguish between the verb form of conduct from the noun form
stem : would only work if you considered "boat" as a prefix

My best guess so far would be "root", in that the word "boatswain" consists of two roots -- "boat" and "swain" -- in a similar way to the word "wheelchair".

What do the expert linguists among you think?


texts: 'It is, isn't it' OR 'it is, is it not?'

texts:
My girlfriend and I are having an argument about whether these two phrases mean the same thing:

'It is, isn't it'

'It is, is it not?'

I argue that the first is affirmative. Meaning that it would be used after a person gives an opinion. Whereas the other desires an opinion from somebody else.

She argues that they mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably.

As my example I use this conversation:

Person 1 - "Fine weather today"

Person 2 - "It is, isn't it" (in my opinion this works)

If you try to use the the other statement, it doesn't feel right to me because it seems like the statement is asking for a repetition of the original opinion.

Person 1 - "Fine weather today"

Person 2 - "It is, is it not?" (This is an open question, so person 1 would be left feeling as though they would have to respond with their opinion again)

My question is whether they are both grammatically correct, whether they mean the same thing and also which is preferable/most usable?


texts:
Is this acceptable:

The cat I see has a short tail.

Or is the “that” necessary

The cat that I see has a short tail.

I don’t know why, but in past tense it sounds to me as if it was ok. Like:

The cat I saw had a short tail.

And since the tense should not matter for this, I’d say it is ok to omit the “that”. But maybe this is also wrong?
Also I’d say “I” is the subject and “the cat” the object. But I’m not sure if this is sufficient to be able to omit the ‘that’.


texts: What's the difference between 'any more' and 'anymore'?

texts:
In the phrase Can't afford to spend any more time, I am not sure if I need a space between any and more.

I have checked two sources including the Cambridge dictionary and Grammarly. They suggest the following:

  Any more is A determiner
  It is similar to some more and describes an indefinite quantity of something.

  Example:
  Would you like any more tea?

Anymore =  adverb
It means 'no longer' or 'in the past, but not now'

  Example:
  The cost of electricity is not cheap anymore.

So, in the phrase, Can't afford to spend any more time, which would you use?

There is an indefinite quantity of time, so based on the examples above it would be 'any more'. But then, the phrase also implies that they had time in the past but no longer, so does that mean it would be 'anymore'?

Also, does it make a difference if you are using American or British English, as the Cambridge link kind of suggests that anymore applies more to American English?


texts:
What is the difference between a curiosity and having a sexual desire? Can they be used interchangeably?

From what I understand, "Sexual Desires" are what you get when you "know" what that something is that you like already. Curiosity is the desire of "wanting" to know what you "LIKE" so for example:

So if I use the word "curious" or "curiosity" instead of sexual desire to refer to having a sexual state of mind, am I wrong or they the same thing? Does curiosity also motivates and warrants the action whereas sexual desires are something you think about and never act on?


texts: Which works best as a synonym for 'Sword of Damocles': 'Damoclean Sword' or 'Damoclesean Sword'?

texts:
In an amusing Greek parable, Dionysius II teaches his courtier Damocles that luxury and wealth also come with responsibility and peril.  This has given rise to the term 'Sword of Damocles'.

However, this is somewhat awkward, so sometimes the opposite term is encountered, in two varieties:

'Damoclean Sword'
'Damoclesean Sword'

I have found references to both.  The first one seem to be more widely supported by dictionaries, but the second one makes more sense (to me).

Which is more correct?


texts: How to describe a cloak touching the ground behind you as you walk?

texts:
I'm trying to describe someone's cloak touching the ground behind them as they walk. I was thinking: "His cloak was long enough to trail the ground behind him."
Is "trail the ground" appropriate here? Is there a different way to phrase this sentence?
Update: The word trail only works using a preposition, e.g. "trail along the ground," "trail on the ground."
You may find alternatives to the word trail in the first answer below.


texts: Would "Greetings" be a better word to greet someone any time than the word "Hello"?

texts:
Would "greetings" be a better word to greet someone anytime than the word "hello"?

Let say I meet Mr. Jackson at 2pm and Mr. Anderson at 7pm.  Would it be better to greet them as "Greetings Mr. Jackson" and "Greetings Mr. Anderson" than "Hello, Mr. Jackson" and "Hello, Mr. Anderson"?

I wish to greet my customers in a polite manner, so would the word "greetings" be more "polite" than the word "hello"?


texts:
And if yes, is it common or rather odd?

Example sentence:

  Anecdotally, we do see instances of customers buying both our products
  at the same store.

The Chrome spellchecker doesn't seem to know it, by the way:


texts: Hello I’d like to ask if my grammar is correct! We’re having fun last night!

texts:
I’d like to ask of my grammar is correct!
We’re having fun last night. Isn’t correct?


texts: No with a interrogative intonation replacing question tags

texts:
Is there a more relaxed attitude towards using 'no?' at the end of a sentence as an invitation for confirmation?
In English, question tags serve this purpose; e.g.

  'John has been drinking a lot, no?'

is less common than

  'John has been drinking a lot, hasn't he?'

When I was growing up, the textbooks I read would frown up on this and discourage it as bad form, and a result of non-native speakers carrying over the habits of their own native languages to their English speech.
Is it becoming more and more common for native speakers to replace a question-tag with a negation in this way or has it always been seen as non-standard, but acceptable in casual conversations?


texts: Word/phrase to describe a person who always searches to benefit from other people?

texts:
What is a formal word/phrase that describes a person who always searches to benefit from other people?

It is hard to recall the word in my own language to translate. So I decided to give it a try and ask here.

I prefer adjective


texts: Is there a formal single word for 'emit anal air'? I've heard 'eructate' being used, but this means air from the mouth only; not from the other end.


texts: Why do the words ducky and jake mean fine or satisfactory?

texts: Even the Merriam-Webster dictionary acknowledges both ducky and jake as acceptable terms meaning fine or satisfactory and it dates the word ducky back to 1897 and jake to 1914. Does anyone know how either of these words--ducky or jake--came to mean fine or satisfactory?


texts: Examples of being sharp, and what sharp people usually do?


texts: Which is the preferred usage — "to stop a loophole" or "to fix a loophole"?


texts: Is there a word for the feeling of having messed up?

texts:
How would you describe that burning emotion of having messed up? It's a mix of guilt and being deeply unsettled, together with crushing embarrassment.

Examples;

-When he realized he had given his wife AIDS, he was overcome by deep [word].

-She checked her account balance and realized with [word] that she had underestimated how expensive the mortgage really was.

-After becoming a cuckold, he realized With [word] that he couldn't call himself a real man anymore.


texts:
I'm not a native English speaker. I'd like to ask a question about the usage of "benefit" in its verb form.

For example,
"The device comprises A, B and C.  It benefits to be light and thin."

The usage of benefit like this...Is it sounds weird or wrong on it's grammar??

Because I think "benefit" in it's intransitive form means "derive sth good from", the usage like this may be grammatically wrong?

It would be appreciated if someone could answer this question <(_  _)>


texts: Is it nonboldface? Is bold's antonym nonbold? Is it unemboldened? Is it hyphenated? What word do I use to mean text that is not in boldface style?


texts: Phrase or idiom for an intentionally unfulfillable request

texts:
In some situations, someone may make a request or ask a favor while fully knowing that the other party is highly unlikely to agree. This is often done to shift the blame or to justify oneself. For example, if I feel unsuccessful in life, I might make some unreasonable requests of people in authority. When I am denied, I can then easily blame them for my situation instead of myself.

In such situations, it may also happen that in the unlikely event of the other party accepting the proposer's terms (often in the case of an argument between relatives or spouses), the proposer gets annoyed because the real goal was not the fulfillment of the request, but securing an excuse to get angry at being refused.

Other examples can be found in politics when an unreasonable demand is being made with the expectation that it will be refused, in order to make it possible to rally other people to one's cause against the 'oppressors'.

Is there a phrase or idiom for such a situation, or for a person who often does this? I'm not seeking to cover situations where someone makes themselves into a victim or martyr: the focus is the unreasonable request itself, which is made mostly to enable oneself to feel entitled and to fuel one's own sense of dissatisfaction.


texts: Why are there so many words of apparent (Middle) Dutch origin in English?

texts:
I've observed over many occasions of looking up etymologies for words that so many words that entered English during the Middle English and Early Modern period (I don't know the figures) were of Middle Dutch origin, according to linguists. This really surprised me, as besides trade links, I don't know of any particularly close social, cultural, or political ties of England to the Low Countries until the late 17th century. And so many of these words are common, everyday words. (Again, I can't name any off-hand, but perhaps someone could contribute a few.)

So, what could be the reason for this large of influx of common words from Middle Dutch? My gut reaction was that perhaps the etymologists just got it wrong in some of these cases, since with English and Dutch both being Low German languages (within the West Germanic Branch), there's a chance a certain word went completely unattested in surviving texts until relatively late.

Examples of such words:
wagon, blare, bicker, blink, block, blow, deck, golf, grab, hoist, leak, pickle, plug, morass, pit, pump, smelt, slim, slurp, snack, split, stern, trigger

Further examples


texts:
Imagine you have some operation like inserting data into a database. This operation can succeed or fail. What do you call the result of such operation?

My candidates:

Fallible operation result (primary suspect)
Failable operation result

Is there another, better way to express this?


texts: Is there a difference between "scaffold" and "scaffolding"?

texts:
Apparently scaffolding is always a substantive while scaffold can be used both as substantive and as verb (to scaffold).

I'm interested in the substantive meaning of both words.

Google image searching yields pretty much the same results. Are there any differences in meaning or usage?


texts: Origin and usage of "celestial openness".

texts:
I've recently come across the expression "celestial openness" used to refer to high receptiveness of a child's mind:

  Dr. Kuhl talks about the ‘celestial openness’ of a child’s mind, and explores how we are ‘geniuses’ in language acquisition until age 7. The openness of an infant’s mind makes them a ‘citizen of the world’ (able to perceive sounds from all languages) vs. ‘culture bound listeners’ (only able to perceive sounds from their culture)—see http://www.wimp.com/linguisticgenius/. This openness to hearing all sounds is already diminishing by 12 months of age, and as we grow, we become ‘culture bound listeners’—we lose our ability to be open.

From: drphilipbennett.com

The are other other usage instances on the web about this expression which appears to be a quite recent one.

Questions:

1) When and by whom was  "celestial openness" coined.

2) What is the  formal, scientific expression which corresponds to "celestial openness"?


texts: Those Who Apply Knowledge vs Those Who Further Knowledge

texts:
I'm looking for two words. They aren't opposites, but they sit on different ends of a spectrum.

Word One

The first word describes someone who takes what they have learned and applies it in the 'real world'.

Related to: Creator, applier, worker

Word Two

The second word describes someone who takes what they have learned and proposes new ideas in that field.

Related to: Theorist, innovator, researcher

It would be best if both of these terms were flattering, and of equal value.

Perhaps the 'related to's I've provided are the best available options; but someone with a greater lexicon will hopefully be able to provide a powerful pair of options.


texts: Contemporary native English words with diacritics

texts:
As I understand, ö in coöperation is considered archaic (or is it?) and words like résumé, cliché and naïve are copied directly from foreign languages.
Are there any contemporary native (non-borrowed) English words left that contain characters with diacritics?
Update: Note that a word from any contemporary dialect of English would work for this question.
Also, of course, as is noted in answers below, besides borrowed foreign language words, there are English words with diacritics, that were created from non-English given names — like ångström for example.
Such words, arguably, also can be considered borrowed. And, at least with ångström, Wikipedia claims that version with diacritics is archaic as well.
Update 2: To clarify:

Contemporary = was a norm in XX century at least (preferably after twenties as well). When I said "archaic" in comments, I meant "non-contemporary".

Diacritics, which appeared in anglicization of a borrowed word (i.e. foreign original does not have diacritics), is acceptable. (So, Brontë surname would be good if survived into XX century.)
(Anyway, is there a source where I can read about the rules which guide when diacritics should appear during "contemporary" anglicization?)

I'm not sure if proper nouns are in the spirit of the question — but if you know one that fits and is not synthetic (i.e. employs "metal umlauts" or imitates some foreign language), please share.


texts: Do these two sentences use the possessive case of gerunds properly?

texts:
Gerunds have proven to be adequate forms of "annoyances" to me and have thus led me to inquire their properties and uses. I would appreciate it if anyone could provide me with assistance in this predicament.
Do both of these sentences make sense? Explanations are valued.

My absence at the dinner party was due to my playing chess with a colleague.

My absence at the dinner party was due to my playing of chess with a colleague.


texts: "What could X do besides Y?" or "What could X do, besides Y?"

texts:
Example:

  But what can a tree do(,) besides turning carbon dioxide into oxygen?

Should I place a comma there? Why or why not?


texts: How to use a smiley at the end of a parenthetical phrase

texts:
This might seem like a silly question, but this situation happens all the time during virtually any type of online correspondence. It's quite common to put something friendly/funny/tongue-in-cheek in parenthesis as an aside, and it's also often important to include the smiley to let the other person know you're being funny, so it's irritating to not know how to combine the two and make it look right. I often end up with rather unfortunate scenarios like this:

  ... but sometimes people here just
  drive me nuts (not you, of course ;)
  ).

I've seen people use a single space like above (perhaps the most common), no space at all, use square brackets instead of parentheses, and also incorporate the smiley into the closing parenthesis.

So, what's the best way to handle this?

P.S. We probably need a parentheses tag...


texts: "Let's you and I/me be fair with each other."

texts:
'Let's you and [I/me] be fair with each other.'
  'Let's you and [I/me] indulge in a little bit of reverie.'

Should "I" or "me" be used in these two sentences, and why?


texts: Should I write "taunt" or "taunts" in the following sentence?

texts:
I cupped my ears so I wouldn’t be able to hear my classmates' taunt(s)
  and scorn.

What's the correct option, "taunt" or "taunts", and why?


texts: not followed by nobody (double negation)

texts:
I wrote this question in a funny and entertaining way, if you want to go straight to the question go to the end.
Last day I was in a bar with some friends and they were talking about soccer (for which I have zero interest) so I started looking around the decoration and saw a neon  light with the sentence:
A little party never killed nobody

The You had one job meme automatically appeared in my mind and I though they probably ordered a custom made neon with an incorrect sentence on it.
A quick search however revealed me that there's a song with that title and there exist neon lights with that sentence, so it was not custom made (this doesn't mean the sentence is correct, but at least it's not just this bar to be blamed, so the owner will avoid the walk of shame for now)
So my question is: Is it correct to say A little party never killed nobody? To me the double negation means that it actually did kill somebody (which maybe is a humor hidden message the sentence tries to transmit)
Is the sentence having a hidden meaning? A poetic license? Or is just plain wrong English?


texts: What's the correct syntax to use for this adjective

texts:
So I have biscuits which are made from cow's milk and the milk used in it is unadulterated and pure.

Which of these usages convey the above correctly?

1st: Biscuits made from pure cow's milk.
2nd: Biscuits made from cow's pure milk.


texts: "Imperial Japanese Navy" or "Japanese Imperial Navy"?

texts: Is it "Imperial Japanese Navy" or "Japanese Imperial Navy", and why?


texts: Is it rude to refer to janitors as 'floor people'?

texts:
I came into the office today and the first thing my manager asked me was is if I saw the 'floor people' while I was walking through the building. The reason he asked me this was because he had put in a request last week for our janitors to mop up and then re-wax the tile floor in our area this morning.

I told him that I thought it was rude to refer to them as 'floor people' but he disagreed and said there was nothing wrong with using this alias.

Is it rude to refer to janitors/custodians as 'floor people'?


texts: What noun describes "turning a cardinal number into an ordinal number"?

texts:
If I take a singular noun like 'person' and turn it into its plural 'people', I think I'm doing pluralisation (or, if you insist, pluralization).

What am I doing if I take a cardinal number like '13' and turn it into an ordinal, like 'thirteenth'?  I liked ordination, but that already means some kind of religious thing.

Should I refer to it as ordinalisation?  I couldn't find ordinali(s|z)ation in a dictionary, and all the Google hits are from software packages.


texts: Equivalent of local idiom "The potter drinks from a broken jar"

texts:
There's an idiom in a native language which literally means "The potter drinks from a broken jar".

i.e. a potter will not spend a lot of time making a beautiful jar for himself to drink from, he uses a poor quality one or one that's been broken for himself.

It means that someone who is good at a profession usually sells his high quality work instead of using them for himself and doesn't use them for his own benefit.

Is there an English idiom that conveys the same meaning?

UPDATE

FYI, I was interested in this idiom because my own website consisted of 1 page displaying my email address and saying "We'll have more soon!" during my many years of web development and making websites for others.


texts: Simple question.  I just want to know what this error of usage is called?  The proper form should be "He has gone."  What usage is that proper form called?


texts: What is the difference between "so much" and "quite so much"?

texts:
I was told that "so much" is more emphatic than "quite so much", but I am not sure. Could you explain the difference between the following pairs of sentences?

  Don't put so much emphasis on that sentence.
  Don't put quite so much emphasis on that sentence.
  He figured if he had a rubbing of Grace's tombstone in his collection, maybe it wouldn't feel quite so much like she was gone forever.
  He figured if he had a rubbing of Grace's tombstone in his collection, maybe it wouldn't feel so much like she was gone forever.


texts: Why "should be doing" and not just "should do" in the following sentences?

texts:
What is the difference between "should X" and "should be Xing" in the following contexts? Or are they interchangeable?

  10 Things you should do to improve the health of your hair.
  10 Things You Should Be Doing to Boost Your Immunity.

(From Google searches.) Is there any slight difference between using should do and should be doing there?

Likewise,

  I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our children's children, because I don't think children should be having sex.
  — Jack Handey

Would "I don't think children should have sex" be possible here?


texts: Alternative structures for "not only ... but also ..."?

texts:
I'm trying to write this essay and I find myself writing too many "not only ... but also ..." structures. Can you guys help me come up with some alternatives?

Basically, I want this kind of progressive effect:

  Doing this is not only fun, but also one of the most important activities of human beings.

How about this one:

  He is not only a teacher, but also one of the greatest educators in history.


texts: "her colleague and she/her" which pronoun should I use here?

texts:
I read a friend of mine writing this and I wondered if that was incorrect.

  her colleague and her were working on the web app

shouldn't this have been:

  her colleague and she were working on the web app

?


texts: Is there a single word to denote "arguments on words, word meanings, and their registers"

texts:
I often get into arguments with my colleagues on the difference between formal and informal words.

  Example: He was felicitated on bagging the first prize.

  I tried to explain to my colleagues that the above sentence is an
  example of mixing a heavy formal word (felicitation) with an informal
  word.(bagging)

My question is - "Is there a single word to denote such arguments on words, their registers or their meanings.


texts: How do I greet someone in a different timezone when my morning is his evening?

texts: I am in Nepal and my father is in America. When we talk with him it is our morning and his evening. Now how can I greet him and how can he greet me saying, where one would typically say 'good morning' or 'good evening'?


texts: Is "personal PCs" regarded as a case of RAS Syndrome?

texts: Is it ok to talk about "personal PCs", in the sense of distinguishing it from a work PC? Or would it be regarded as a case of RAS Syndrome?


texts: I'm trying to think of a word or phrase that would mean 'Sorry I was caught, but not sorry for what I did' Unrepentant seems the closest for the second part of it, but doesn't quite convey the first part, too.


texts: What does 'after commencement' mean in the following sentence?

texts:
I have some trouble understanding legal terms. I'll be very grateful to you if you could clarify the meaning of 'after commencement' in the first sentence of the British Nationality Act 1981.

  1.-(1) A person born in the United Kingdom after commencement shall be a >British citizen if at the time of the birth his father or mother is - (a) a >British citizen; or (b) settled in the United Kingdom.


texts:
In academic writing, it is common to refer to or prove properties about the main object of an article.

If I prove a property for (some object), I know I can use the phrase:

  Property X holds for the object Y.

But, can an object hold a property?

  Furthermore, object Y holds some additional properties.

It always sounded "natural" to me (I'm not a native speaker), but now that I'm trying to verify my sentence construction using Google, I just can't seem to find anything useful.


texts:
I am searching for an answer to the use of 'for' in the following sentences:

I would like for you to keep it.
Life was too weird for Jeff to return to class.

I've found some answers. For example: 'because' or 'since' and also as a conjunction instead of as a preposition and I've seen it described as an intensifier. But I don't think it's any of those here. Is it a prepositional phrase?

If so, why is it possible to take out 'for' in the first sentence but not in the second?


texts: What's the noun for an animal's personality?

texts: When you describe a cat or dog's personality, what's the noun for it? "My cat has this personality of ..." just sounds wrong.


texts:
I'm in my mid 40s and dating this lady of a similar vintage. I am trying to find a good word to describe our relationship, but "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" seems inappropriate for us. It reminds me of those forty year old guys who say "I'm gittin' down wi ma hommies." It communicates, but it seems out of place.

Perhaps it is the "girl" and "boy" part that bothers me.

Any suggestions for something more appropriate?


texts: Extensive planning, stringent testing and uncompromising quality control gives our customers confidence in our products. Give or gives?

texts:
Is it 'give' or 'gives' in this context? The 'give' follows a list of singular items. I would have thought it would only be 'give' if the listed items are plural but a colleague has brought it to my attention.

e.g. '...stringent testing and uncompromising quality controls give our customers...'

e.g. '...stringent testing and uncompromising quality control gives our customers...'


texts:
What adjective is between "intermediate" and "advanced"?

Specifically, my academic program already has an intermediate programming course, and a proposed course does not seem to meet the standards for what I would consider advanced, so I would like to propose another term that can be used for it.


texts:
I'm creating an AI app that understands the user's sentence. I'm currently working on questions, and I'm wondering what are some common question structures?
I know  questions commonly start with: auxiliary + subject + verb.

If this is a question for english language learners, please move it.


texts:
Barking dogs seldom bite.

Barking is  a gerund or present participle?

His rising early in the morning, helped him score well.

His rising early in the morning   -- is this a participle clause?
Can someone explain how to identify an participle clause in any sentence


texts: I'm trying to describe a country that isn't divided up into anything so distinct as states, or anything terribly specialized, but is divided for the purposes of government, etc.  "Quarter" is out because it makes me feel like there can only be four of them, even if that isn't true.  "District" is out because, frankly, the Hunger Games has colored the meaning of that term for quite a lot of people.  "Region" sounds too open and nebulous.  "Sector" sounds too space-stationy.


texts: Is the use of the singular “they” formal English or not?

texts:
so I have to write an academic essay for school, and I was wondering if the use of the singular “they/them/their” would be accepted.
Which of these would be “formal” and “accepted” by teachers.
A) Someone forgot their hat. Make sure to give it back to them. (Singular they)
B) Someone forgot his hat. Make sure to give it back to him. (Universal “he”)
C) Someone forgot his or her hat. Make sure to give it back to him or her. (Use of both pronouns).
Thank you for lighting things up for me! I am looking for the FORMAL way, since I am writing for school and shall write in a formal way!
Have a great day!


texts: Can this convoluted bit of "tax speak" be deciphered into plain English?

texts:
I am trying to understand a paragraph from a tax manual, and for the life of me I can't seem to understand what they are saying.  The paragraph in question is from page 4 of publication 4681

  The amount of nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV of the property subject to the nonrecourse debt to the extent nonrecourse debt in excess of the FMV of the property subject to the debt is forgiven.

This is an academic question for me now, rather than something I need to know the legal meaning of.  It is the worst piece of double-speak that I have encountered, and I was curious as to what the author was trying to get across.

(The acronym "FMV" stands for "fair market value")


texts: What sort of explicit understanding do native speakers have of their language's grammar?

texts:
You know, for example, if you are a native English speaker, that I can
  utter (23), and that this corresponds to a sentence of English,
  whereas if I utter (24), although you might be able to glean some
  message from it, it simply doesn’t correspond to any sentence of
  English:

  (23)    Anson is incredibly difficult to please.

  (24)   *Anson is incredibly difficult to be pleased.

  How do you know this? Are you able to articulate why (24) is
  unacceptable? In fact, it’s just not obvious why (24) should be so
  bad. The kind of knowledge of language which allows you to make this
  judgement is not accessible to you — the technical term for this is
  that it is tacit knowledge

From the preface of Adger's Core Syntax: a minimalist approach.

What sort of "articulation" is Adger asking for here? Is it possible, rather than difficult, to articulate an answer, without saying the same as we would having studied English grammar?

I'm a native English speaker, and never taught or studied grammar, but want to suggest that the fragment "to be" is wrong there (CF 'Anson wants to be pleased' and 'it is incredibly dificult to be pleased') because the sentence says that Anson both is and isn't who does the pleasing.

That we have to say that it is difficult for Anson to be pleased, if we need to predicate the ambiguity of 'to be' on a person, rather than what they "want" or that "it is" so.

I'm not saying I'm sure I'm right, that "to be" is an ambiguous fragment which cannot be predciated of agents without mediation. But I wondered, how close that is to the actual grammatical answer. And more generally, what sort of explicit udnerstanding do native speakers have of their language's grammar?


texts: Suggest an adjective for dislike of smell

texts:
What word can be used to describe a person who doesn't eat something because they don't like it's smell.
For example: My friend doesn't like the smell of papaya and says that he can't stand it's smell.


texts:
A• Secession is the solution, neither election nor restructuring.

B• Secession is the solution, not election nor restructuring.

Please, which of the above is correct?


texts: What is the linguistic name for sentence with "even though"?

texts: What is the specific name for a sentence that contains the words "even though"?


texts: What is wrong with the expression 'most perfect', and the adjective-forms 'rounder' and 'squarer'?

texts:
Here is an excerpt from the textbook High School English Grammar & Composition, by Wren & Martin (2005 edition by S. Chand, New Delhi):

  Certain adjectives do not really admit of comparison because their
  meaning is already superlative; as,

  Unique, Ideal, Perfect, Complete, Universal, Entire, Extreme, Chief, Square, Round

  Do not therefore say:

  Most Unique, quite unique, chiefest, extremest

  But we still say, for instance:

  This is the most perfect specimen I have seen.

My questions:

Isn't the last example contradicting (by using most perfect) what they described above? What are they trying to imply here? What should I take away from it?
I have heard the expression 'quite unique' at-least in informal English. Is it incorrect in formal English?
I have seen the words 'squarer', 'squarest' and 'rounder',
'roundest' in the dictionary. So what's wrong with using them?

Suppose a child tries to draw a circle and it doesn't turn out to be
a perfect circle, so they make another attempt and the circle they
draw this time is better than the one they drew before; so you tell
them that this one is rounder.


texts: How would a native British speaker say "Betteredge"?

texts: I am reading Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, and a prominent character in the story has the name of Betteredge.  My question is (since I like to imagine the dialogue in a British-English book as if spoken with a British accent), would "Betteredge" sound more like "Better edge", more like "Bedderitch", or is it pronounced completely differently?


texts: This seems to happen every time I go to my local bagel shop. Everyone is waiting in a line, and when the cashier is ready to help the next person, he/she asks, "Can I help who's next?" or "May I help who's next?" This seems wrong to me, shouldn't it be "Can I help whomever is next?" or "May I help whomever is next?"


texts:
I am describing a two-way process using "prefix" as a verb:

The first action is that of adding a prefix to something.
The second is the act of removing that same prefix.

If I am describing the first as:

"Prefix [noun]"

How do I describe the second in the same format, with a single replacement verb for "prefix":

"[Remove the prefix from] [noun]"


texts: Should one use "an" or an "a" before an acronym beginning with the letter H?

texts:
Consider the sentence:

  He offered to be an HSC.

vs:

  He offered to be a HSC.

In the example above, HSC stands for Health Service Consultant. If one were saying the sentence aloud, one would say an HSC because an obviously proceeds the spoken letter H, but the H actually represents the word Health, at which point the sentence should perhaps read a HSC because one would obviously say a Health Service Consultant. If one considers what the letter H actually stands for, in a strange way, both versions could perhaps appear to be incorrect depending on whether the acronym is viewed by the reader solely as a contraction or as its real meaning.

I would surmise that an HSC would be the more correct grammar, but I'd like opinion.


texts: What is another word for an "insult" when you want to joke or play?

texts:
I known that "insult" (v) is the way to offend someone.

But, when I only want to make some joke or play with my friends by saying some words that seem to insult them (I don't definitely want to insult them). For example:

A: That girl is very beautiful!!
B: That means all women in your family are ugly, right? You have to think about your new wife! Ha Ha

(B is trying to ..?.. A that A's wife is ugly.)

Which the word in verb is suitable to use?


texts: Is there any (etymological) link between "affection" and "affectation"?

texts:
Is there any link between affection and affectation, especially in terms of etymology?
I understand -fect means something like "make". Does "make" play any role in conveying their distinct meanings?


texts:
Another word of mysterious origins of jism, in the sense of spunk.  The OED mentions it is sometimes spelled jizz, and may even be the precursor word to jazz.

But neither the OED nor Etymonline gives any etymology for this word. The oldest citation is from 1847, and there are many citations from the 20th century.

So where do we get the word jism from?


texts: "To rain" is to "rainy", as "to ..." is to "sunny"?

texts:
Is there a verb that fits this analogy:

to rain is to rainy, as ___ is to sunny?

I know you can say that it is now raining, but can you say that it is now ___, meaning it is sunny? Is there a verb for this weather? ... "sunshining"? "sunlighting"? "sunshowing"?


texts: What's the difference between "important" and "matter"?

texts: Is there any difference between "You are important to me." and "You matter to me." ?


texts: Is "as little as one" grammatical or should it always be "as few as one" since 'one' implies the thing is countable?

texts: I've used the phrase "as few as one individual from the business has contact with the customer" in a paper and the more I look at it, the more wrong it looks! But "as little as one individual" doesn't seem any better. I can count 'individuals' i.e. people, so should it be 'as few as'? If anyone can rephrase this without using either less or fewer that would also solve the problem!


texts: "Bury vs. Berry" The Proper Pronunciation Edition

texts:
In America growing up in the Midwest, I've always heard people pronounce the word "bury" as if it were pronounced sounding the same as the word "berry".

Ever since I've noticed this many years back I've always pronounced the word "bury" as it's spelled and I think it should be pronounced but it seems no one else pronounces this word like I do.

If a man needs to bury some berries, it'd sound strange if you pronounce both words that sound the same with the "air" instead of "ur" sound.

Listen to this "bury" for the way I pronounce it

Question(s)

I apologize for the correlated sub-questions

I'm curious what the history is behind this word and it's pronunciation in America and why so many people pronounce it sounding a different way than I do based on its spelling?

Maybe pronouncing "bury" that sounds like someone is saying "berry" is appropriate or proper and I say it incorrectly assuming that's the correct way to pronounce it?


texts: Word for unconventional performance in playing instruments?

texts:
A whoa-dude performance performs by Salut Salon: Competitive Foursome:

It uses abnormal playing positions in the instruments, while keeping the high level of speed and accuracy of the music. It brings the joy to the audience.
What is this kind of performance called?


texts: Is it normal to use “do” as an intransitive verb for ‘change”?

texts:
I was interested in the expression, “Change does slow” in the following sentence of NPR’s article (January 3) titled “You can see it, but you’ll be a different person in 10 years:

  “But that doesn’t mean they fully understand what’s still to come.
  “Their estimates of how much they’ll change in the future are underestimates,” says Danie Gilber (psychology researcher at Harvard Univ.). “They are going to change more than they realize. Change does slow; it just doesn’t slow as much as we think it will.”

Though I understand the meaning, I don’t think I’ve heard “Change does slow (fast)” very often. I thought Change occurs, happens, takes place, progresses, accelerates, goes on, but didn’t think of Change does (slow / fast).

Is the use of ‘does’ in “Change does slow (fast)” a normal way of wording to mean the slowness / rapidness of the process of change?


texts:
I've heard of this joke in the TV show "Friends" several times, and I don't understand why it's funny.

Could someone give me a hint?

It's hard to get Chandler's joke for non-English speakers.


texts:
My instinct is that when it means "to have as an inescapable consequence", entail must be followed by a noun. In all the grammatical examples I have come across this is how it is used — without it being specifically remarked upon. For example:

  This responsibility entails hard work.
  The new job entails regular travel.
  Motherhood entails sacrifice.

But some people use it in sentences like

  When I blush it does not entail that I am embarrassed.
  My lisp does not entail that I cannot be a good singer.
  I am old, but that does not entail that I am also hard of hearing.

Is the usage "... entail that..." grammatically correct?


texts: A saying describing plans being still born or failing before they've begun...?

texts:
I am trying to find the words to describe a situation in which plans fail or are destined to fail because of circumstance rather than a lack of merit.  More specifically, the imagery I'm working towards is meant to evoke growth, development, potential, and life.  By contrast and absence I would make perceptible what the non-development, non-growth, still-born outcome would be.  I'd prefer to stay clear of the dead baby imagery in favour of imagery of a passive or weak state from which the failure originates.  I believe I've heard something the British have to describe this.
Thanks!

edited: clarification


texts: What do you call someone who says that they are not doing something then turn around and do exactly what they say they would not do.


texts: Why is there no comma after "no" in "thanks, but no thanks"?

texts:
I understand that colloquially there's no comma before the second thanks in the phrase

  Thanks, but no thanks.

But, strictly logically, this would mean:

  Thanks, but I have no thanks for you;
  Thanks, but I'm not thankful for the offer.

Both sounds rather rude, but I understand it's not the meaning. If however one uses a second comma:

  Thanks, but no, thanks,

the correct implementation is revealed:

  Thanks, but no, I refuse the offer; thank you once again.

Indeed, without the first "thanks", there is formally a comma in "No, thanks" or "no, thank you".

Why exactly is the comma omitted here? What grammar rule is applied, or is it an exception? Are there any other common examples where a logically required comma can be omitted? Does the same apply in formal writing, or is this a strictly informal punctuation?


texts:
The question I have is about conditional construction "were to have + past participle".
Let's take an example:
"If she were to have failed the final test, she would have cried."

My understanding of this sentence is that: She didn't fail the test and it was extremely unlikely for her to fail.
Is that correct?

So, instead of using Third Conditional (Past Unreal Conditional) we can use "were to have + past participle" construction, for situations that were extremely unlikely, right?

If she had failed the final test, she would have cried.
(She didn't fail)
If she were to have failed the final test, she would have cried.
(She didn't fail and it was extremely unlikely to fail the test)


texts: According to Wiktionary, permittee is the one who receives a permit. May I call the one who permit something as permitter?


texts: A question on grammar in relation to pronouns

texts:
But he insisted on going, him being a tenacious problem solver.

I can intuit that "him" sounds more natural here than "he".
I want to know why this is so.


texts: use of "everything" or "anything" in positive and negative sentences?

texts:
As a non-native speaker, when I read the books about grammar, I learn that usually the word "everything" is used in a positive sentence and that the word "anything"is used in a negative or interrogative sentence. But I often see sentences in some magazines and articles like:

We'll do almost anything for our beloved animals.

What's the difference between them, and is it changing the meaning in sentence?


texts: Why do we call cinema The Seventh Art? Why not sixth or fifth?


texts: Term for every individual / company in contact with me

texts:
I am creating a application which collects every person that i have been in contact with or have worked with. So if i had an interaction with some one or some company, i want to collect details about that person / company.But the term that i am looking for describes everyone collectively that maybe a bank, a friend, a company, a customer , etc ... . I was wondering what is the actual term for calling them collectively ?

Is it Persona ? Entity ? Person ?


texts: "Please leave the tomatoes at home" - meaning

texts:
I found this phrase "Please leave the tomatoes at home" in an email. On searching online I found it used in several places which are related to inviting people for an event.

What exactly does this phrase mean? I am guessing it's meaning to be like "come without any things which can be a distraction for the event happening"


texts: What is the origin of the phrase 'touch wood'?

texts:
The Internet says 'Touch wood is an example of a superstition: something that we do in order to have good luck. It is not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, but is connected with old ideas about magic and the supernatural'
I am from India and I have heard urban Indians say it whenever they make a favorable observation. I am pretty sure the origin is not Indian. What is the story behind this phrase?


texts: Should "words" be plural in "The Words Hunters"?

texts:
I'm creating an educational game that teaches English words and I wanted to call it: "The Word Hunter". But there's a famous book named Word Hunters and I don't want to have any copyright problem so I decided to go with "The Words Hunters" (yeah, my brain hurts XD).

Is the use of the plural "words" correct in this title?


texts: When parsing the noun phrase...which is modifying which?

texts:
Closest feeling to death is pain.

The noun phrase is "closest feeling to death". But I don't know how to parse this sentence...there seem to be two ways to parse this sentence.

  A. {Closest [feeling to death]} is pain.

This parsing does not make much sense to me. It is saying that feeling toward death that is closest is pain, which is nonsensical. Closest modifies feeling to death.

  B. {[Closest feeling] to death} is pain.

This makes much more sense to me, as "to death" modifies "closest feeling", making it mean that the feeling that is closest to death is the pain. However, I am still unsure about it , since it feels like adjective "closest" should be right next to preposition "to" as below.

  Feeling closest to death is pain.

So after some logics, it seems that sentence 1 is not grammatically correct. Is sentence 1 grammatically correct or not? And if yes, which parsing of mine is correct? And if not, why is that?


texts: Please, explain the joke about a walkie talkie

texts:
Q. What do you get when you cross a parrot and a caterpillar?
  A. A walkie talkie.

What feature of caterpillars was chosen to create this joke?

As far as I know a walkie talkie is a device with headphones for listening to music. And a caterpillar is a stage of a butterfly development.
I agree, a parrot talks, but does a caterpillar walk?

@oerkelens corrected me, a walkie-talkie is some kind of radio, but what does it have similar to caterpillars?


texts:
It's a condition in which one suffers the inability to remember to the word he or she wants to use and then becomes obsessed with trying to remember it.

What is this interesting word's root? Could someone tell me?


texts:
I'm watching this pool game, and the commentator keeps saying "this does not have to go" whenever a shot is hard.

Not being a native english speaker I wonder if

https://youtu.be/U_a2zMFGMQE?t=5242


texts: In non-spatial contexts, when should I use "this" versus "that"?

texts:
I'm always quite confused to choose which word should I put in the sentence like this/that :)

That/This is not a problem at all.
To be or not to be, this/that is the question.

I know which one I should choose in terms of positioning. But still I don't have that/this feeling for not an object.


texts: 'It was his goal to become a great writer'. <-- What's the subject of this sentence?

texts:
I wish to find the subject in the sentence below, but am unable.

It was his goal to become a great writer.

Also, do provide me with reasons.


texts: Is demonstratee a legitimate word? None of the usual sources think so, but it seems like -ee should be a productive suffix. If it isn't, is there another word that can be used in reference to the object of a demonstration?


texts: What is the name for someone who offers help, then complains about it?

texts:
Is there a name for someone who offers help or resources, then complains about it, usually to a third party, but sometimes also to the person who was given the help.

Example: Mary offers to buy Judith a picture frame, for Judith's Children. Mary is then overheard sometime later complaining that it cost $xx to Barbara - Yet she made the offer.

  Mary is such a _____.


texts: Analysing this sentence: "I have received further confirmation that India and France will attend the debate."

texts:
I would like to confirm my breakdown of this sentence:

"I have received further confirmation that India and France will attend the debate."

It is a complex sentence

Dependent clause = "I have received confirmation"

I = Subject
have = Auxillary verb
received = verb
further = adverb
confirmation = noun

Independent clause = "India and France will attend the debate"

India and France = subject
attend = verb
debate = noun

I feel like there is something wrong with my analysis here and some correction would be appreciated.


texts: Article before "two" with intervening adjective?

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  (1) The project will include Alice, Bob, and an expected two new hires.

This sounds correct to me; it means we are expecting to hire two new people and will put them on the project together with Alice and Bob.  But logically, it seems bizarre to have a singular article "an" together with a number "two"; in most cases a noun quantified by a number word doesn't also get an article:

  (2) The project will include Alice, Bob, and two people from marketing.

But removing the "an" from sentence (1) sounds definitely wrong to me:

  (3*) The project will include Alice, Bob, and expected two new hires.

Although it could be fixed by inverting the word order:

  (4) The project will include Alice, Bob, and two expected new hires.

What is the rule that makes (1) grammatical?


texts: What’s the right inflection for the bracketed verb in “He asked what time the train [was/will/be] leaving”?

texts:
I was conducting a language assessment test when I was asked to fill out a clause:

He asked what time the train [ was / will / be] leaving.

I would have chosen be to form a subjunctive clause, had the sentence been in the present tense. But now that it is in the past form, I had a hard time deciding. Can be be used, too, here? Or does one have to use was, which would have been my hasty answer in the first place, but forfeiting the possibility to distinguish a subjunctive?

Looking forward to a informative discussion!


texts: Noun form of "affected", meaning things that are affected by X

texts:
Take the following simplified sentence:

  A,B and C are commonly affected by X.

If I want to formulate a sentence, where the message is to highlight A,B and C; so something like

  A, B and C are important because they are the common affectees of process X.

The word affectee does not exist in OED or any other dictionary I look at (although it seems to be used in literature very rarely). Is there a better word for this purpose?

I am OK with using a synonym, so the word does not need to  stem from affect.


texts: "Is watermelon a fruit" - why is there no article before watermelon?

texts:
Is watermelon a fruit?

I tried to find a rule for that, and the closest one was saying that there should be no article when we talk about objects in general. That makes sense - this is a generic watermelon not some exact one. But we still say "a fruit" in the same sentence.


texts: "I wish I didn't do" vs. "I wish I hadn't done"

texts:
Now I feel sick. I wish I [didn't eat/hadn't eaten] pork with cheese for dinner.

I would use "hadn't eaten" as it was my dinner but "now I feel sick" confuses me.


texts: Subject /verb order in a question with implied answer or surprise

texts:
When you are surprised by a piece of information you have just learned, is it OK to ask the question without changing the subject or verb order?

Example:

  You really think Argentina has the best team in the world. But then you learn that it has scored fewer points than a few other teams, Brazil won more cups, etc. After learning the facts, would be OK to write / ask:

In response:

  So, Argentina is not the best team in the world?

It is not a rhetorical question, and it doesn't really imply an answer. The facts are created from the above sentence.


texts: A word or phrase to describe citizens of a country who are naturally inclined to defend the underdog

texts:
Is there a word or phrase that can be used to define the citizens of a country who are naturally inclined to defend people from another country,race, religion etc simply because they are the underdog or they are being oppressed ?

Example

The citizens of Country A, comes to the rescue of Country B, because Country B is facing the threat of a military invasion from another country and Country B is ill equipped militarily to defend themselves from the invading country.

So, based on the above example what word or phrase can be used to define  the people of a Country A, who have sided with the underdog, Country B?

I looked up for a few words and came across the words defender , altruistic and guardian. However, I'm not sure if these words can be used to define citizens of any country who will always side with the underdog or oppressed.


texts: In "That patient merit of th'unworthy takes", what does merit mean exactly?

texts:
In the famous Hamlet's soliloquy, I am not quite clear on the role/meaning of merit in the following:

  The insolence of office, and the spurns
  That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,

My understanding of the line "The spurns that patient merit of th'unworthy takes", is "The insults that a forbearing/diligent person receives from the unworthy". Here I treat 'of' as 'from', but I just conveniently replace 'merit' with 'person'. The word 'merit' as a noun, however, means good quality/virtue, as in: The argument has no merit. The convoluted way I have always made sense of this to myself is to think of it as "the person whose merit is patience". Is that more or less it? If so, please give me some other similar examples from literature if possible. Thank you!


texts:
Is there a simple expression to mean "in the opposite direction to me"?

For example, how can I describe a person that comes in the direction opposite to me? I would like an expression that doesn't mean that the person is heading straight for me (e.g. to greet me) but only in the direction opposite to me.

For example, "yesterday I saw a man running to me/towards me/at me/in the opposite direction to me on the pavement, I wondered if he was a thief escaping"?

Similarly, how can I describe the wind that blows against me/into my face? I simply want to mean that the wind blows in the direction opposite  to me making it difficult for me to move forwards.


texts: Another word for "understated sexuality"?

texts:
I am trying to find a proper word for describing a visual concept.

At the moment the closest description is "understated sexuality", but maybe there is another word to describe a woman that is beautiful, attractive, sexy, confident and at the same time modest?

"Majestic or glorious" (Eilia 2015) "are too lavish, I need something different." (maxlaks 2015)


texts: What does 'let off the hook' mean in football (soccer)?

texts:
What does let off the hook mean in football (soccer)? It appears in a Daily Telegraph article as follows:

  Wales had been let off the hook by Suarez in the first period, but Uruguay finally made them pay when the second half resumed. A long ball escaped the red defence and Cristian Rodriguez found Cavani inside the six-yard box to give him the simplest of finishes.


texts:
I'm a software developer, and making a peer code review, I've encountered with the word unsetup used in the context to uninitialize some stuff. I was wondering if this is an actual word in English, or it is just an invention.

Thanks.


texts: Parenthetical plurals of nouns with stems that are written differently in singular and plural

texts:
Related Question that I don't like the answer to because it conflicts with my industry's standards (see bottom of post).

Edit: I asked a new question because I'm looking for an answer, not an alternative (the prior question will likely be forgotten because the original question wasn't addressed), even if that answer is "there is no correct way".

If I have a grocery list that tells me to buy meat and fruit, but I don't know whether I'm buying 1 or more types of each, I may write something along the lines of:

Buy:
-meat(s)
-fruit(s)

How do I pluralize a word in this fashion that requires a suffix change to become plural?

candy -> candies

It doesn't seem right to use any of the following:

candy(s)
candy(ies)
cand(y)(ies)
cand(y/ies)

Background: I write software, and this type of notation seems common, but I've never run into this type of problem: usually "(s)" after the word works without any problem.

For example: from Microsoft Word:


texts:
Which is correct:

Her pride and joy are ...
Her pride and joy is ...

Or does the use of 'are' or 'is' in this case depend on whether the object of the sentence is singular or plural?


texts: Is there a term or short description for an accent you "can't place"?

texts:
Some examples of this might be Standard American English (though this may still be tied to geography) or, more likely, Received Pronunciation. The speaker's language doesn't have to be English, of course.

Basically, the speaker's accent isn't discernible or particular to some region. It may be that the speaker has a unique way of talking or a blend of accents such that a listener can't place the speaker's origins. I don't think "accent-less" would be valid, since technically there's no such thing as having no accent. I'm also trying to describe the (artificial? synthetic?) accent of some text-to-speech programs.1

1: Can a TTS program truly have an accent in the first place? (I know you can assign an American or Australian "accent" in some cases, but I'm referring to the crude, "robotic"-sounding speech typical of early TTS.)


texts:
Here's a passage about kidney stones, taken from here:

  About 1 in 11 people in the United States have had kidney stones,
  according to a 2012 report in the journal European Urology. These small bits of solid matter form in the kidneys when normal kidney substances, such as calcium, and phosphorous, become highly concentrated. Kidney stones range in size and shape. The smallest stones may travel down your urinary tract and pass out of your body without causing any symptoms. However, larger stones (they can grow to the size of golf balls) and those with jagged edges are more likely to get stuck in your urinary tract and block the flow of urine, causing painful symptoms. The pain often becomes sharp, severe, and colicky (comes in waves), as the muscles of the ureter (the urine tube connecting the kidneys and bladder) contract and relax around the stone. The pain may move to the groin area or testicles as the kidney stone migrates through the urinary tract.

Reading the last few sentences of this, I feel a sense of horror and disgust. But more to the point, its an especially visceral feeling. Like I'm imagining relatively fragile tissue getting torn and damaged by these stones in or around the genital area, and I just wind up with this horror/yuk feeling "in" my body.

  Question. What do we call the especially visceral feelings of horror or disgust that are triggered by thoughts of bodily damage?


texts: Hypernyms for "reactants" and "products"?

texts:
I’m looking for a hypernym of both reactant and product.

That is, I want to be able to say that both reactants and products are <unknown term>, but I don’t know what term applies to both.


texts: negative infinitive: 'not to do something' versus 'to not do something'

texts:
Found in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English under the entry 'to skip something':

[transitive] not do something informal to not do something that you usually do or that you should do [= miss]

not deal with something [intransitive and transitive] to not read, mention or deal with something that would normally come or
happen next

(My bold characters.) How common is this form of the negative infinitive, 'to not do something'?


texts: Usage of "see" in English 1800s, stereotype or real?

texts:
When people are jokingly imitating how those in the 1800's USA are speaking they often use "see" at the end of a sentence instead of at the beginning like we might do so now.
An example would perhaps be
"See, now I'll take the apple."
vs
"Now I'll take the apple, see"
I'm wondering if this is historically accurate or just for comedic effect.


texts:
The famous (or infamous) expression "read my lips" is often associated with  a phrase spoken by then American presidential candidate George H. W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention  who said "Read my lips: no new taxes".

According to Ngram the usage of the expression is from the early decades of the 20th century but its usage increased considerably from the early 80's .It apppears that the future President  just used  a saying which was  already  common at that time.

Questions:

1) What actually made the expression popular before George H.W. Bush used it?

2) Is there a specific origin, (the world of the  deaf  for instance) , from which the expression was derived?


texts: What is the meaning of the phrasal verb "get for" in this sentence?

texts:
When I was watching a YouTube video about the historic Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, I noticed a comment that says

  Not a big fan of trump, but he gets for this one, nice job!

Is this expression correct? If so, what does it mean ? and Is it very common?


texts:
Suppose a math problem like this:

A car travels one hour at 100 miles per hour. What is the travelled distance?

Suppose I am later talking about the problem.

In Portuguese I can say "De acordo com o enunciado do problema" that would translate to "According to the problem __________"

The word here is "enunciado" in Portuguese which can be directly translated to "enunciate".

Is it correct to say "according to the problem enunciate" or is the better to say... "according to the problem definition"...
?


texts:
In the sentence:

  Many of us are even unable to remember our own phone number

Assuming each person only has one phone number, which is grammatically correct: phone number or phone numbers?


texts:
I get the sense that the word "Admining", like the word "Admin" from which it derives, is used to refer to computer administration, while "Administrating", like "Administrator", is used more when it is finance or buisness being admin'd.  I would like to know what other people think, though, if that is indeed so, or if my perception is wrong.

Also, as a side note, what about "admined" vs "admin'd".


texts:
I'm not sure if I'm misreading the part in bold. Is it saying that "Jane Austen, who was recommended to"? Is recommended a reduced relative clause here?
Jane Austen was an early favorite of male critics, recommended,
like a priggish elder sister, to unruly siblings and apprentices. G. H. Lewes recommended Austen to Charlotte Bronte in 1848, but Bronte rejected her as being elegantand confined, "a carefully fenced, highly cultivated
garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers."
Source


texts: Does 'turn off (a person)' always have a sexual connotation?

texts:
I want to say something like "I hope saying xyz will not turn the interviewer off (from hiring me)" or "I don't want to turn off your interest in the project" but I am unsure if it is an awkward way to use "turn off" as I have only heard it in a sexual context.  If yes, what would be a generally applicable term equivalent to it that can be used in the context I am in?

Thanks


texts: Word for something that is both famous and infamous

texts:
I'm wondering if there is a word for something that is both famous and infamous, depending on context.

An example, hopefully appropriate, is the Australian food Vegemite...

In Australia, everyone knows what Vegemite is, almost everyone has tasted it, and the majority of people eat it regularly. It's very famous within Australia.

By contrast, outside of Australia (particularly in the USA?), Vegemite has somewhat the opposite effect - it is somewhat well known as an Australian food, but almost no-one would eat it or look upon it favorably as they don't eat it as Australians eat it, and thus it tastes absolutely horrible. It's certainly well known enough to feature on TV shows like The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where even after being shown how to eat it correctly, Jimmy still didn't like it.

I would therefore loosely classify Vegemite as being both famous (to Australians) and infamous (to other countries). Is there a word for such an object?


texts: Are there any better (perhaps business-oriented) alternatives to "pitting against" for this situation?

texts:
Recently a colleague demonstrated a shared Microsoft OneNote notebook in which he and other members of his team posted their weekly accomplishments in sort of bulleted lists. The idea was that they could monitor one another's bandwidth so they could assist one another. I saw it differently however: to me it seemed that it sort of pitted them against one another to see who could have more bullets on their list of accomplishments.

Is there any better term than "pitted against" to describe this method of trying to motivate someone by guilt or by always trying not to seem the team's weakest link? It isn't quite the stick, but it definitely isn't the carrot.


texts: Is it correct to say ‘Skyping’ in a sentence

texts: Is it correct to say to my boss ‘ I will be Skyping with you from there’


texts:
Here is my story. 10 years ago today, my dad said to me, "I want you to become a better person." before he passed away.

I was a bad boy hanging around with bad boys damaging things and fighting with others, which brought plenty of sadness to him. He always thought I would commit a crime.

However, after I heard his last words, I realized how bad I was and I have tried to change myself to follow what he said.

His words "try to be a good person" means the same as "try to become a human" as bad people are referred to as a brute in my country.

What would be a good English word or idiom to describe my change?


texts:
I was reading a grammar book the other day, it was mentioned to omit articles "before names of substances and abstract nouns (i.e uncountable nouns)."
The nouns splurge and howler are abstract nouns I believe. However in the following sentences we have to use articles before the above mentioned nouns in order to convey the actual meaning.

Spending 1.5 Lakhs on a computer is a splurge.
How did he fail to score from that position? That was a howler!

Are the given nouns abstract nouns in the first place? If yes then what is the rule for using articles before them ?


texts: In the old days, kings and wealthy people used to hire fanners to make them feel cooler. Is there an English synonym for the word fanner?


texts: Is there a word for the arrow/pointer of a speech bubble

texts: A speech bubble points to the person articulating the speech. The bubble itself is a square, but what is the arrow that points to the speaker called?


texts:
My English tutor told me that only people can be the subject of "inform", but I have seen in many cases that inform is used with the subject as "evidence", "studies", "practice", and so on. Shall I consider these ways of using "inform" incorrect and avoid doing so?

Here's the original sentence:

  Research on shame has informed us that...

And my teacher suggested:

  Research on shame has determined/established that...

I feel hesitant to use the words she suggested, because "determine/establish" means something is settled and agreed upon, which is different from what "inform" means.


texts: Why is the word "work" spelled with an "o"?  I can't find the answer anywhere.  I know it comes from Old English "weorc" but I can not find how it came to be spelled "work" instead of "werk".


texts: Word for the ability to solve issues with the most fitting solution

texts:
Professionaly someone, when facing a challenge, an issue, a job that needs to be done, has different ways to face it.

What word could define the ability to pick the best approach for a given problem?


texts: What occasion should use the word "affection"

texts:
Hi this is my first post !! Salute to y'all nice people!!

I am not a native English speaker so sometimes I concerned about if I picked up the correct word.

The word today is "affection". I try to describe a guy holds a little boy and like it as much as his own son, so I use He shows him(the boy) much affection like to his own son.

I am not sure that's the correct phrase, the reason I use this word is the guy is not the real father to the kid so love sounds too much and like sounds dull. But I am not sure if affection make the guys sounds perverted, from a man to a kid. Because nowadays people need to be careful to show fondness to kids...and my native language does not has a equivalence as this word, we generally use "like" all the time :)

Also I am always confused about this word, it sounds like a little more than like but less than love but with some "love". So what is the normal occasion to use this word? Only to kids? a thing?

Thanks in advance.


texts: "The pool of children"—What's the meaning of "the pool" here?

texts:
(Children are the greatest agents of cultural change....(blah blah))
The pool of children can be thought of as the engine room of cultural evolution. Once adults leave the pool, they adhere to the values they learned in childhood.

Q.1. Is the meaning of 'pool' above same as 'group'? I've looked at the Oxford Dictionaries definition of pool ("A group of people available for work when required or considered as a resource"), but I still don't understand.
Q.2. The "they" in the second sentence refers to adults who leave the pool?
Q.3. I don't quite understand what the two sentences are saying. Can anyone explain, please?
Thank you in advance.


texts:
Such as here

  With a degree in humanities, you can "examply" be a museum curator,
  librarian, or teacher.

You have to assume those are the only choices listed, but not the only ones available. They are just example jobs.  So what is an adverb I can use where the quotation marks are?  (since examply isn't a word)


texts: What was a century called before it was called "century"?

texts:
The term century in the more common connotation that refers to a period of 100 years is relatively recent:

The Modern English meaning is attested from 1650s, short for century of years (1620s). (Etymonline)

From Middle English centuria
(a) A division of the Roman army: a century; (b) a Roman land measure. (Middle English Dictionary)

It appears that the Middle English term was used only to refer  to  a Roman army company  consisting of approximately 100 men and to a land measure, and  I can find no evidence it was used to refer to a cycle of 100 years.
What term or expression was used to refer to a period of 100 years or to a specific century, the 11th or the 12th for instance in Middle English and/or in   Shakespeare's  times?


texts: "Ladies and Gentlemen" beyond binary gender classification

texts:
Hearing the usual greeting on a train, I started wondering if there is already an established alternative to "Ladies and Gentlemen" that is applicable beyond the male/female classification. (For example, job adverts now often include m/w/x to take the third gender into account. Apologies if I used any of the gender related terms not perfectly correctly.)

PS: in response to a comment, let me perhaps restrict the scope to a term that can be used in formal settings.


texts: the present progressive vs the present perfect progressive

texts:
A bad storm is heading your way. It's already hitting us here.

Already means something has happened before now or before another point in time
So, I think it's compatible with the present perfect or the present perfect progressive.

But It's with the present progressive now. It's not awkward?
So, Is there a big difference between when using "already" with the present perfect progressive and when using it with the present progressive?

In the situation above, the adverb "Already" made us consider the storm hitting us to start from the past and to go on even now.

When what starts From the indefinite past affects the present and doesn't finish yet, you use the present perfect progressive. Is that right? So I think the present progressive should be turned into the present perfect progressive, how about you?


texts:
Would we use a question mark or quotations in the following sentence?

  My mom asked if we were going to carve it for Halloween and I told her
   no we would use it for Thanksgiving.


texts: When "any" (whatever) is followed by a countable noun, does the noun need to be plural?

texts:
This is an extract from a formal certificate written by a non-native English speaker.

  This certification is issued to the bearer for any possible uses.

Is it correct? Personally, I think it should be "use". (I also appreciate a rephrase that can convey this message better and clearer.)


texts:
In our projects we first send our clients a report with issues to fix on their website.

How to title the second stage in our projects, when we re-check the website to see if the client indeed fixed the issues in the report?

Is it: "counter-checks" - "re-check" - "repeated test" - "re-testing" -"re-evaluation check"....?


texts: "I told him I am 20" vs. "I told him I was 20"

texts:
Suppose I am 20 years old.  Which the following is correct?

Someone asked me how old I am.  I told him I am 20.
Someone asked me how old I was.  I told him I was 20.


texts: What adjective would subtly state that an argument is cheap, weak or insignificant?

texts:
I am writing to director operations of my company and want to state his secretary’s argument did not have a lot of weight. It, to us (a team of auditors), was insignificant.
I am looking for an adjective/noun that does not say loudly that the
argument was thin  (and yet indicates that it was weak)

Thin,  insignificant, unimportant, weak - are the words that came to my mind but I will not call them "a good find".

A thin argument ?, a weak argument ?, a  _________ argument? ??


texts:
How to write 0.1 (ordinal) percentile? E.g. for 1 it would be "first percentile".
Would it be "0.1st percentile"?


texts: What's the idiomatic word for something that keeps you sane/grounded?

texts:
There's a word for something, that when remembered--or a person that when spoken to--brings you back to reality and the knowledge that you're not insane.  I keep wanting to say "touchstone", but I don't think that's it.  "Cornerstone" kind of works (and is probably why "touchstone" comes to mind), but is more about a foundation you build yourself upon, rather than something you come back to.

I think I'm looking for a synonym for reality check.  It's also the opposite of something that gaslights you.


texts: Person who consumes in a restaurant or bar

texts:
What's the word that refers to the person that consumes dishes and/or cocktails in a bar or restaurant?

In Spanish, it would be "Comensal". Google translate suggests me "diner", which might cause confusion on my project. Is there a better word for it?


texts: What is the word for feeling fake when you pretend to know something that you don't?

texts: What is the word for when you feel like a fake? You are not trying to cheat anybody, but know that you are simply out of your depth / out of your class about something. This especially happens in technical conferences. There is a word for it but I don't remember what it is.