texts:
Based on the OED, it looks like the term "dry spell" originally meant an extended period of time without rain, and has since been figuratively extended to mean a period of time without something substantive or relieving.

The earliest attestation provided is from 1887:

  Everybody found smoking on the streets..during the dry spell was liable to be arrested.

The Boston Journal

However, the definition in OED draws attention to a 1920 attestation in a note, suggesting that it may have relevance to the term's origin or early meaning.

  A Dry Spell is a period of fifteen or more consecutive days no one of which is a ‘Wet Day’.

British Rainfall 1919 · 1920.

Particularly because the OED drew attention to this citation in a note, I wonder if the term originally had a far more technical meaning than we use today, referring to "fifteen days" in particular.  Is this quote ascribing a unique and narrowly used meaning to the term "dry spell," or did it originally have such a technical meaning limited to "fifteen or more consecutive days?"

Bonus points if someone can enlighten me on the historical usages of "wet day" in their answer.


texts: "I need it to lift 2 tons this time." "I don't know if it *could* do." Why do some people use "do" like this?

texts:
Sometimes, instead of saying "could/can" or "would/will" (the two most common I've heard), some people say "could/can do" or "would/will do".
Instead of:

I don't know if it can.

I sometimes (but uncommonly) hear:

I don't know if it can do.

Say them with a mild emphasis on the italicized can and you'll be saying it as I hear it.
As this is a little hard to express to someone who has never come across it before, I hope someone who sees this knows what I mean.  Why is that extra "do" sometimes used?
Additional note: Here are three examples that in jwpat7's opinion may be similar to or represent what Daniel δ refers to:

I have never crossed the Himalayas, though I might have done. - Christopher Hughes, 2006
...when I could get a vote for Mr. Charlesworth, I did do. ... I made no regular canvass, [but] where I could get a vote, I did do. - Slade testimony, 13487-8, 1860
"... When needed I will turn myself in too. And if I can do, you can do too!" - Oblivion in Progress, 2011, pp. 67-68


texts: “Comment on something” or “comment something”?

texts:
Do I say “comment on something” or simply “comment something”?

For example:

Brian ?commented on this video.
Brian ?commented this video


texts: Is there any word or phrase for teeth chattering due to cold?


texts: When to use "multipliable" vs. "multiplicable"

texts:
I'm writing an application that allows users to select whether certain mathematical elements have certain properties. These properties are things such as "divisible", "addable", "subtractable" etc.

I was therefore wondering which of the words listed in the title I should use to describe the attribute where something can be multiplied. I'm not sure which one is the appropriate one to use when describing mathematical properties. The Oxford dictionary does not make a notice on which one is best suited for this purpose.

If they are the same, I would be interested in knowing which one would be the more popular option among native English speakers.


texts: Which one is better regarding the proper use of "respectively"?

texts:
Which one sounds better regarding the proper use of "respectively"?

a) The x and y are connected to g and h in the designed network respectively.

b) The x and y are connected to g and h respectively in the designed network.

c) The x and y are connected respectively to g and h in the designed network.


texts:
Which is the correct sentence between the following:

1) He deserves the same fate as you

2) He deserves the same fate like you.

From my knowledge and understanding, the second sentence is correct because "as" must be used before  a clause (basically a verb) and "like" must be used before a noun. Please correct me if I am mistaken.


texts: When can uncountable nouns be countable?

texts:
I have a question about uncountable nouns that are used as countable in certain situations.
When it comes to some uncountable nouns such as fruit, cake, coffee etc., I have found out that they can be countable if they indicate specific items.
Here's an example.

I love chocolate cake. → The term cake is treated as a singular noun because here, cake is a general term.

I need a cake please. → Here, a cake means one of the cakes displayed in the bakery where I am visiting. Here, cake means the ‘whole’ cake.

I need a piece of cake. (at a coffee shop) → Here, a piece of cake means a part of the whole cake.

Usually, if we say,

"I'd like some cakes"

it means I would like some pieces of cake, not the whole ones. In fact, my grammar book, Grammar In Use by Raymond Murphy, explains this.  It says: “When people say ‘some cakes’, it usually means ‘some pieces of cake’, not the whole ones.”
If this rule is correct, can I apply this rule to other uncountable nouns listed above?
Here are some other examples:

I love fruit as a dessert. (compared with sweets).
I sell fruit in the market. (compared with vegetables)
I am now eating some fruits. (some apples and bananas)

I like to drink coffee in the morning. (compared with tea)
May I have one coffee please?
I need one Americano. (at Starbucks)

I like fish. (compared with meat)
Look at those fishes in the fish bowl.
There are several gold fishes!
I need one salmon and two tunas.

However, some uncountable nouns are always uncountable as far as I can see.
For example,

I love to eat cheese when drinking wine.
I came here to buy some cheese. → in this case, even though I indicate some specific kinds of cheese or one kind of cheese, I still say ‘cheese’, right? I shouldn't say a cheese, or a few cheeses. Am I correct?

I love meat.
May I have some beef and pork?
Some pounds of beef, a pack of pork... → Here, I can't say “I need those beefs and porks”, can I?

I usually put milk in my coffee.
I need two cartons of milk. → I can't say “I need two milks” unlike “two coffees", can I?
I need one vanilla-flavored milk and one strawberry milk.--> In this case, though, I kind of feel that I can count them because it states a more specific kind of milk.


texts: I have been intrigued by the word o'clock since I learned English. Although there is an equivalent to this word in my native language (Spanish en punto meaning on point or on the dot) I want to know the origin of the term o'clock, especially why it has an apostrophe. Is it meant to contract on the clock or something similar?


texts: Could you help me remember a specific military-related verb having to do with movement?

texts:
What I know about the word is as follows:

—It is a verb.

—Its meaning relates to movement.

—The word is used in the context of the military/army/troops.

—It is between two and three syllables long.

—It may begin with a "k" (I am not certain on this point).

—I remember thinking that the word seemed foreign or somewhat unusual both in sound and spelling, when coming across it.

—It was used in one of the few military narrative segments of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

I have not been able to remember this word for over a year, so your help is very much appreciated!


texts:
I'm looking for an idiom that means the illusion is over or the illusion has dropped. Ironically, I wonder if either of these phrases is the idiom I'm looking for. The reason I doubt this is that there aren't a lot of google hits for these phrases. I can't seem to find it in an idioms dictionary. Any thoughts?

To clarify, what I would like to express by the idiom is, the illusion that we were under is now gone.


texts:
In Vietnamese, "the face turns pale or green or blue" means "anxiety"?
I remember, in English, "red" means "(of the face) bright red or pink, especially because you are angry, embarrassed or ashamed", Example "She went red as a beet."  Source
Ok, now here is a situation. There was a young girl who met an old guy on the online dating site. The young girl did not love him but just wanted to use him for money. When on the first date, the old man said to her "I met many girls only and 95% of them just wanted to use me for money". After listened to that, the girl felt anxious because someone said something that is somehow relating / touching to her bad intention. Note: the old man may not know she is a cheater at the first meeting.
2nd example, there was a bad young man who wanted to steal money from his grandmom. While having a conversation, the old lady said to her grandson "There are many people want to steal my money". After listened to that, the young man felt anxious because someone said something that is somehow relating / touching to his bad intention. The old lady may not know her grandson is a cheater at the conversation.
3rd example, a lazy student wanted to bring illegal print-out with him to the exam. At the examination room, the exam supervisor had a chat with him. The supervisor  said that there are some students were caught last year because the brought illegal print-out with them to the exam. After listened to that, the bad student felt anxious because someone said something that is somehow relating / touching to his bad intention.
In 3 above examples, the Vietnamese can say "the face turns pale / green / blue" to express the idea that a person feels anxious because someone said something that is somehow relating / touching to his/her bad intention.
So,
How to express the idea that a person feels "anxious" because someone said something that is somehow relating / touching to his/her bad intention?
We got "go red" but  what about "go pale / green / blue"?


texts: Congratulation vs. congratulations — which one to use? How/when?


texts:
The process of running a program (or evaluating a λ-term) can either yield a result / value, get stuck (waiting for input), yield an error, or go on forever. Those that yield a result / value are called ??? / valuable.

While this does not correspond to the usual meanings of the word valuable, the fact that the word already exists and that the -able suffix is often used to mean "capable of", using valuable to mean "capable of becoming a value" feels quite natural.

Unfortunately, in my context, the term value is already used for something else and I therefore need another word to express the same thing. I have been using result but resultable sounds really weird.

I am therefore searching for two words A and B such that:

an A is some sort of result (not including things that are stuck, but possibly including errors)
A and B are clearly related
B can be understood as "is capable of becoming an A" / "can become an A" / "can be evaluated to an A"

(A could also be an adjective, in which case "an A" should be replaced by "an A program" in the last item of the list)


texts:
What are the differences and relations between era, age, and epoch? For example, should I say one of these?

We are now in the digital era.
We are now in the digital age.
We are now in the digital epoch.
We are now in the Internet era.
We are now in the Internet age.
We are now in the Internet epoch.

Or should I use some other word?

I found this comparison, but it is all about geologic history.


texts:
When something someone says is 'too soon' or relating to a matter that shouldn't be talked about lightly (like joking about a recent terrorist attack or natural disaster), what is the offensive joke or phrase called?

I'm aware that this could simply be called an offensive joke, but I'd like something more specific, something would address this scenario in particular.


texts: Why do we sometimes format expressions in question form?

texts:
For example, from Some Like it Hot,

  Boy, would I love to borrow a cup of that Sugar.

why did he put it in a question format?


texts: Why are some English nouns referred by "she" but never by "he"?

texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  Is it a good practice to refer to countries, ships etc using the feminine form?
  When referring to a noun, when does the gender matter?

What is the origin of referring to some nouns by "she" but never by "he"?
Can I refer to Internet as "she"?


texts:
Read a news on BBC, I have some questions regarding a word scores in this context:

"A BBC team inside Syria filming for Panorama has witnessed the aftermath of a fresh horrific incident - an incendiary bomb dropped on to a school playground in the north of the country - which has left scores of children with napalm-like burns over their bodies.

Eyewitnesses describe a fighter jet dropping the device, a low explosion, followed by columns of fire and smoke.

Ian Pannell and cameraman Darren Conway's report contains images viewers may find extremely distressing."

Question:

Does scores refer to very high amount?
How high is the amount for scores?
Could massive replace scores in this context?

Any clarity of ideas would be highly appreciated, thank you.


texts: These two sound quite different, and the second form even sounds more sophisticated, but is there any real difference?


texts: Why is "Samson had ten men's strength" non-idiomatic?

texts:
Per this NGram, the noun phrase ten men's strength has effectively no currency today compared to the strength of ten men.

But when a builder is estimating the price for your job, it's always That'll be ten hours' work, and never That'll be the work of ten hours.

Is this marked difference in preferred usage something to do with the fact that an "amount of work" is routinely and naturally "quantified" as a multiple of a contextually-appropriate time-span? The preference seems to still apply even when the "multiple" is one - it's always That's a weeks work and He's got the strength of an ox, never That's the work of a week or He's got an ox's strength.

I feel there must be some general principle here rather than just idiomatically established usage, but when considering the ELL question “The stubble of several nights” vs. “several nights' stubble” I realised that although there are many contexts where of and the Saxon genitive (possessive apostrophe) are equivalent and interchangeable, there are also many contexts where the preference for one or the other is very strong (we all know what we say, even if we can't say why).


texts: Why do I pronounce "horrible" so harrhibly?

texts:
With Friends Like These

A few months ago, a couple good friends brought up a topic they know I disdain, and kept prodding me for my opinion on it. They wouldn't let up, until finally I proclaimed "[It's] terrible!", to which they replied, scheming, "Don't you mean horrible?", and I said, "Yeah, horrible!". They both burst out laughing.

Apparently, I pronounce horrible weirdly, and these goofs just wanted to hear me say it¹.

I struggle with IPA, but my understanding is in General American the word is pronounced with a proper o sound, like whore-ible. On the other hand, I pronounce it with an ar sound, like in hard, HARH-ible.  They also told me I do the same with orange (arrnje)².

Comparing Oranges to Oranges

In the intervening months, I've polled a bunch of other people, and almost all of them pronounce the o like an o. And their oranges start with the sound in oar.

One issue I have with these comparisons is that I don't think they're truly oranges-for-oranges. I am a native-born New Yorker, and most of my adult relations live here, but were born elsewhere.

So let me give a little background on forces which may have influenced my idiolect:

I was born and raised in Manhattan, and have lived most of my adult life on the island (with a couple brief stints in neighboring Jersey City).
My father was a Bronx Jew, his parents immigrated from the (newly-formed) Soviet Union, and were bilingual.
My mother was raised in rural Connecticut, among working-class Italian immigrants. Her grandparents immigrated at the turn of the 20th century from (northern) Italy.  Her parents were quasi-bilingual.
My linguistic exposure during my formative years can be broadly characterized as "New York Jews", with a smattering of WASPy 5th Avenue aristocrats (kid I knew in 3rd grade could already trace his family back to the Mayflower).
Both my parents had college educations. I have a college education.
I speak ludicrously fast. I don't think this is part of my "dialect", per se, just a personal quirk, but I'm wondering if my pronunciations can be explained by subconscious tactics to streamline or re-shape certain words and thereby increase my bandwidth.

Or Is It Just Me?

So, is this a known feature of any particular, documented dialect, sociolect, etc? Has anyone studied its origins (i.e. when it diverged from General American), and what social or linguistic forces might account for it? Or is it really peculiar to me?

I do note that Wiktionary specifically breaks out New York City and Philadelphia in its pronunciation guide for horrible:

  (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈhɒɹɪbəl/
  (US) IPA: /ˈhɔɹəbəl/, /ˈhɒɹəbəl/, [-bəɫ]
  (NYC, Philadelphia) IPA: /ˈhɑɹɪbəl/

which seems like a hint that I may not be as crazy as I sound.

If this is a feature of a known lect, how else does that diverge from General American? What else am I likely to pronounce in a way others find surprising?

¹  Bonus points for anyone who can help me get back at one of them by diagnosing the illness which compels her to pronounce obsessed with all zs, obzezzed (if it helps, she immigrated from Kiev in early childhood and was raised in Northern California. The only other guy I know who does this is also from NoCal.)

² Note to editors: please feel free to update the question to use proper IPA or other formal phonetic transcription.


texts: Is it typical to say "How to get rich and don't go crazy"?

texts:
In my native language sometimes we use humorous titles of books, articles, tutorials, etc among the lines of:

  "How to get rich and don't go crazy?"

I thought that I meet with it once or twice in english too. But now I did search in google and Corpus Of Contemporary American English and all I found is only one page titled:

  How to Follow Your Interests and Don't Go Crazy or Broke

So it seems that it isn't nearly as popular in english as I thought.

Is such form used in English occasionally or I'm totally off-track? Is there any valid replacement for that?


texts: When can one omit "that" from a sentence?

texts:
In general, when can I omit that from a sentence?

Can I omit that (emphasized) in sentence (2) below?

  We say that such algorithms handle concept drift and can learn from time-changing data streams.
  When the statistical properties of the target variable change, we say that concept drift has occurred.
  She told me that some of her classmates failed.

To me, sentences (1) and (3) sound better without that. If I omit that from (2), it just doesn't sound right when I read it out loud. (I should point out I'm not a native speaker.)

How do you decide when to omit it? Is it just a matter of taste? (I know that is sometimes mandatory.)

Can you think of sentences that "sound better" with that? Can you think of sentences that "sound better" without that? Can you think of a few sentences where it is wrong to omit that?


texts: 'could have + past participle' to talk about possible events in the future

texts:
BACKGROUND
In this earlier thread, Edwin Ashworth approved a use of 'could have + past participle' for the future event that was precluded by context as in:

(1) Mary could have arrived tomorrow, had she managed to get that flight.

But he did not approve a use of 'could have + past participle' for possible events in the future as in:

(2) */?Mary could have arrived tomorrow.

Nor did he approve a use of 'may have + past participle' for possible events in the future as in:

(3) (?)Mary may have arrived by next week.
(4) *Mary may have arrived tomorrow.

I think that there is no reason to treat 'next week' and 'tomorrow' differently insofar as both refer to a future time. So the different treatment for the latter two examples is because of the existence of the preposition 'by'. That is, inserting 'by' would somehow increase the acceptability at least for the 'may have + past participle' construction.
QUESTION
My question is whether inserting 'by' would increase the acceptability of the 'could have + past participle' construction as in (2):

(2') Mary could have arrived by tomorrow.

Note that (2') is along the lines of (2) in that Mary's arriving tomorrow is a possible future event as opposed to a future event precluded by context as in (1).
ADDITIONAL EXAMPLE
An example of the 'could have + past participle' construction being used in a possible future event similar to (2') is found in this Harry Potter:

Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!

EDIT
I'll have to admit that it was not easy to find an example of the 'could have + past participle' construction being used in a possible future event. So maybe it's not that idiomatic to use the construction for a possible future event. Does that mean that (2') as well as the Harry Potter example is somehow unnatural?


texts: Difference between "touching", "about" and "concerning" as a preposition

texts:
The Macmillan Dictionary regard touching as a formal preposition, and other dictionaries nearly related the prepositions concerning, about, touching as synonyms. So is it fine to use all of three prepositions in written exams, as in:

They had discussed touching the beauty of that place.

They had discussed about the beauty of that place.

They had discussed concerning the beauty of that place.

I don't have an idea which one is more preferable in written exams or other formal speaking occasions?
And the following usage of touching as a preposition lead me towards the confusion, as it looks like present progressive tense:

It is touching them.

In this case, shouldn't it be like this:

It is about them.


texts:
from the news report

xx will likely have cut yy jobs by end of fiscal 2012, the company has said.

why use will have cut here?  I think "will cut" will be ok.


texts: Word for someone who only likes familiar things?

texts: A "xenophobe" is someone who is uncomfortable with things or people that are different or unfamiliar. Is there a word for the other side of the coin, someone who is most comfortable with things that are familiar and similar to his or herself?


texts: Is there a single word for copy paste errors? Just like "typo"


texts: What is the established antonym for "confluent"?

texts:
I am not sure if I can use "diffluent" as it sounds incorrect to me even though it has a dictionary reference.

Edit:
Is the following sentence correct?

  Consecutive droughts led to the diffluence of natives to other regions in search of greener pastures.


texts:
The Wikipedia page for destiny states:

  Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin fatum – destiny), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.

Both destiny and fate are usually used in a more religious or superstitious senses.

Originally, I thought of words like coincidental or happenstance but they kind of lack the absurdness of the situation.

For interpersonal relationships birds of a feather flock together is pretty spot-on, but also quite a mouthful.

Any ideas?


texts: Why do English speakers say "penny LANE" (emphasis on LANE) but would say "PENNY street" (emphasis on PENNY)?


texts:
Which fits better:
The candidate is open to work with business clients and build good relations with them.
OR
The candidate is open to work with business clients and build good relationship with them.


texts:
I am trying to research common reporting practice, but somehow fail to find the right keywords for Google.

Essentially when a large retailer compares their reports from last year to this year the year on year changes are frequently smaller than the investment in new business. There's a phrase that is commonly used for that which I cannot find. It's something like:

'outlet corrected sales' or 'outlet adjusted sales' does anyone know the correct terms for this?


texts:
I am searching for terms to replace “a grieving mother,” or “a childless mother.”

Is one also considered a grieving mother if she has no other children, in other words, her only child died?

This is from a story in which a mother, who lost a child saves a stranded girl, which reminds her of her daughter whose death the mother caused. However, the mother is unaware the girl is on the run from her father whose space fleet is on its way toward our solar system.


texts: Is the sentence "I’ll remind you when that happened" correct?

texts:
I’m not a native speaker, so I’m utterly confused: in my language, which is Spanish, we’d say “Te recordaré cuando eso pasó”, but the one I’m asking about just sounds weird to me...
The context is basically a situation where one wants to bring back to another’s memory an event that, obviously, occurred in the past.
If it is not, feel free to provide the correct one.
Thank you in advance!


texts:
What is wrong with the following question in relation to subject verb object word order?

  Me, I dont like traveling by bus


texts: A word to describe the color of hair that is nearly jet-black, but slightly brown?

texts:
What is a word to describe the color of a person's hair whose hair is nearly jet-black, but slightly brown?

For what it's worth, the person whose hair I have in mind is female with long, straight hair.


texts: Use of "averaged" and "integrated" in a sentence

texts:
I need to write the following two sentences in one sentence.

A is averaged with the values at level 2,3, and 4.
B is integrated/summed with the values at level 2,3, and 4.

Can I write: A and B are averaged and integrated respectively with the values at level 2,3, and 4? Would you please help me how to write such type of sentences?


texts: Is there an adjective equivalent for "more succinct"?

texts:
Generally speaking, I want to say that x is equivalent to y but one is more succinct than the other, in a single word if possible (because ironically "more succinct" is not very succinct).

E.g: 4 is more succinct than 1+1+1+1.


texts: Does "cheating" have to imply a moral or ethical failure of some sort?

texts:
This question may not be germane to EL&U, but I imagine it is almost certainly too simple for another Stack Exchange site such as Philosophy. (Is there one for the ethical aspects of communication?!)

Here's the back story which triggered my question (and I apologize for its length):

Having entered a book and record store for the first time, I gravitated quite naturally to the used record section and began to select a few records to purchase. Of the handful of records I chose, only one was priced; the others had no pricing sticker on them.

When I went to pay for the records, the owner of the store went immediately to his PC and began typing-in some information. Having been in this situation before at another used-merchandise store, I immediately recognized what he was doing. He was looking up what my chosen items were selling for on the internet (perhaps eBay, Discogs, or Amazon, for example) and then pricing them accordingly.

Prior to giving him my yes or no on the merchandise, I perhaps made the mistake of suggesting that what he just did in making me wait while he researched how much he should charge me for my items was cheating.

Now I assure you, by the way I used the word cheating I did not mean to imply he was doing something immoral or unethical. I guess you could say my demeanor and tone of voice were more playful than deadly serious (like the card player in a classic western film who accuses the dealer of cheating and in so doing triggers a gun fight).

Given the standard dictionary definitions of cheating, about the only one which is at least kind of apt is "to elude or to escape." In that sense, the store owner was eluding/escaping having to sell the items I'd chosen for much less than the internet indicated they are worth. Was my use of the word cheating apt in this situation?

The store owner certainly took umbrage at my use of the word cheating. Being an orthodox Jew, he may have reacted as any faithful adherent to Judaism might react, but I certainly didn't intend to say he was guilty of a moral or ethical lapse. Such is the power of language, I guess, to evoke such reactions when a word touches a "hot button."

Nevertheless, I am still wondering how I could have phrased my comment better, or how I might have explained in what sense I was using the word cheating.(**)

In short, what expression or word may have been more apt in this situation and may have served not to offend?

_______

** The sense in which I used the word cheating was the same way in which I might use the word--playfully--if a friend and I are shooting pool, and just before I take my next crucial shot in the game he coughs or clears his throat in order to rattle me. There was no moral or ethical lapse on his part, just some good-natured jagging (a Pittsburghism for yanking my chain).

In retrospect, I think maybe what I should have said--and I'm unsure on this, which is why I'm asking my question--is something along the lines of, "I see what you're doing on the computer. It's pretty transparent to me that you're keeping me waiting in order to find out what you should charge me for my records. Doesn't that strike you as being a little unfair to me? You're doing what you should have done already prior to my entering the store."


texts:
Which of the following sentences sound natural?
I think the second sentence sounds a lot more natural and I suppose the first sentence would be a bit odd. Am I correct?

Which country does pasta belong to?

What country does paste originate from /come from?

Thanks for reading.


texts: Why is it "loggable" rather than "logable"?

texts:
I am using 'loggable' in the name of an interface written in a .NET programming language. It is among the many words that make sense in a programming context but aren't (yet) listed in English Dictionaries, as are serializable, deserialization, and multiton. Loggable seems like the correct spelling to me, but I can't pinpoint the reason. Similar words such as floggable and taggable have double 'g', but Google search also returns usage of their single 'g' counterparts, albeit the single 'g' seems to be less widespread.

Does anyone know a reason my brain likes "loggable" as opposed to "logable" for the correct spelling? A concrete rule would be great.


texts:
A.

  Please follow the instructions below for a sample of what the
  profile looks like on their official website.
  Please follow the instructions below for a sample of the profile as
  displayed on their official website.

B.

  A short biography that can be easily rearranged into the desired
  format which can be accessed to by following the steps below:
  A short biography that can be easily rearranged into the desired
  format as laid out by following the steps below:

Please SEPARATELY comment on the structure/syntax/style of the two sets of statements above. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Capitalization and hyphenation for prefixed adjectives derived from proper names in mathematics

texts:
In mathematics, it often occurs that the last names of famous mathematicians are used as adjectives with mathematical meaning. Most of these adjectives are written with a capital letter. Then, prefixes may be added to these adjectives to denote derived mathematical properties.

How do capitalization and hyphenation appear in these adjectives. For example, we could derive from "Boolean" the adjective

  *semiboolean/*semi-Boolean/*Semiboolean

Other examples (not necessarily in use yet) could be

  *coriemannian/*co-Riemannian/Coriemannian

I am aware of "pre-Hilbert" as an adjective that is actually established, but as a general rule this spelling looks peculiar to me.


texts:
I'm a pretty bad fellow myself,' the stranger remarked, 'but Macfarlane is the boy - Toddy Macfarlane I call him. Toddy, order your friend another glass.' Or it might be, 'Toddy, you jump up and shut the door.' 'Toddy hates me,' he said again. 'Oh yes, Toddy, you do!'

The extract is taken from the Body Snatcher by Robert L. Stevenson.

Toddy seems to be just a name, but this word may insinuate another meaning in the above situations.

And Macfarlane is the boy, which means he is 'worse' than the speaker?


texts: What is difference between implicit and explicit?

texts:
I have seen these words all the time in IT/Computer programming.

Examples: "How to explicitly render a template" and "do not implicitly assign to the local variable".

I am dyslexic and hard time to interpret the meaning of both words.


texts: Word or expression for an opinionated and easily offended person

texts: Is there a word or expression for someone who uses a lot of opinions to judge himself and/or things around him (such as other people) (e.g. to "defend" himself from receiving judgement), however who is easily offended by someone else based on trivial things they say?


texts:
For e.g this phrase: "each of the at least one three-dimensional bonded fiber fluid transmissive component cross-sections"

How can we understand 'each of the at least'?

Thanks, i did search but no one ever told how to understand it.


texts: Comma Rules: Conflicting Rules Concerning the Setting Off of Commas

texts:
I've got a sentence where the independent clause is in the front, a contrasting phrase follows, and then a simile is made to modify or elaborate the contrasting phrase.  I am wondering where commas should go in this sentence.  One rule is to set off the contrasting phrase/ clause from the rest of the sentence. The other is setting off dependent clauses.  The sentence is:

  a) Roman sat, quietly, in his seat, not giggling and chit-chatting, like the other kids from his school.

I believe that the commas setting off quietly are appropriate or not and depend on the meaning I am trying to convey.  I am also quite sure that the comma before not is appropriate.  If the sentence becomes:

  b) Roman sat, quietly, in his seat, like the other kids from his school.

Then you lose the meaning of the sentence because the other kids were not sitting quietly.  If you look at most examples of contrasting phrases that get set off by commas, you will notice that the meaning is not lost:

  c) She will go to to school in New York, not Chicago, to study law.

Excise the contrasting phrase, and:

  d) She will go to school in New York to study law.

Similarly,

  e) It was her money, not her charm or personality, that first attracted him.

Excise the contrasting phrase, and:

  f) It was her money that first attracted him.

So, what do I do here?


texts: What is recasting in a sentence?? how do you recast a sentence cannot move forward in access course until I get past this?

texts:
I have failed this section of my course three times and just cant get it into my head, I thought it was rearranging a sentence, or adding context always wrong!!

Please could a kind person write me a clear example of recasting text

This is the actual question alongside text I was provided with to use. You are required to write two examples of each of the following using the text in the article provided (see assessor guidance section below to download the article).
•   Paraphrase
•   Re-sequencing / Re-casting
•   Quotation

You must ensure that the meaning of the original text is conveyed when paraphrasing or re-sequencing.

Quotations and re-sequencing examples must be presented in the appropriate manner.

editI was not told how to recast the sentence, just to 're-cast' it. Which I agree is confusing.The only feedback I get is that I am quoting and that the re-cast needs to be in speech marks, which again, I am not able to relate to after researching online. Here is my example.

Original - Education encompasses our lives; it is the foundation of our society.

Recast - Education is the foundation of our society it encompasses our lives. –

My second attempt was this - Original Text
Those who have amassed enough education, steer the path of development and progress for their country. It is these individuals who go ahead and become teachers, scientists, inventors, welfare activists, soldiers, and politicians who work together to form the very backbone of the society.

Recast Text
An individual is able to steer a path of career development when they have progressed far enough academically. They create the backbone of the society by becoming teachers, scientists, inventors, welfare activists, soldiers, and politicians.

I am able to paraphrase very well, I just do not understand the particular requirements of recasting.


texts: Abbreviations for nouns / noun phrases used as non-nouns

texts:
In an answer to another question, steven_desu argued that it was “technically incorrect” to use the word “e-mail” or “email” as a verb because it stands for “electronic mail.”

I do not argue whether he is right or not because I am not interested in whether the word is “technically correct” or not.  As far as I am concerned, it is enough to know that the use of “e-mail” as a verb is widely accepted.

However, his answer has certainly pointed out an interesting fact: when people use “e-mail” as a verb, they no longer care about the fact that the word was originally an abbreviation for “electronic mail,” which is a noun phrase.  “Please e-mail me” is fine, but “please electronic mail me” is simply wrong.  Although “please electronically mail me” may be ok, I do not think that people consider “please e-mail me” as a short form for “please electronically mail me.”

So my question is: what are other examples of words like this:

The word is originally an abbreviation for a noun or a noun phrase, and
It can be used as a verb (or, even better, another part of speech!) in a way that the original word/phrase cannot substitute for the abbreviation.


texts:
Which one is correct:

  10% off regular-priced items or 10% off regularly-priced items?

I see a number of American advertisements with the sentence.


texts: Does anyone have a term for hard to measure?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word or even idiom that means hard to give a tangible measurement, as in:

  The company's growth due to such as such improvement was hard to measure or "insert term or idiom here"


texts: What is it called when someone does an action they don't fully understand?

texts: For example, someone speaking and writing the English language, but not actually knowing how to use it properly.


texts:
In The Oracle of the Dog story by G. K. Chesterton, the author was talking about Donald whose killed father was annoyed from his reckless actions, so he transferred his wealth and property to his sister, but after his death, the sister insisted on restoring the property to her brother.

The author saying: "I discovered with some astonishment she really had insisted on restoring the property to poor Donald; so I hope he’s had a healthy shock and will treat it sensibly. There was never much really the matter with him; he was very young and his father was not very wise"

Does"There was never much really the matter with him" mean "he hadn't any problem with transferring the wealth to his sister from the beginning"?


texts:
Her Ladyship's Guide to the Queen's English by Caroline Taggart

suggests that all the forms in regard be informal

Are you in accord with her ? I use it in my future article and wish to be formal.


texts: "She's like a cockroach what turned into a butterfly."

texts:
This is a line from Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

She's like a cockroach what turned into a butterfly.

Apparently in "standard English grammar" this should be

She's like a cockroach that/which/who turned into a butterfly.

Presumably this usage of "what" in place of "that" is dialectal. What kind of dialect has this grammar phenomenon? What is this grammar phenomenon called in linguistics? I recall seeing a comment by MetaEd hinting at this, but they didn't specify. The movie is an American movie and I believe MetaEd is an AmE speaker as well. This Q&A seems to suggest this occurs in BrE but I am also curious about its currency in AmE.

I guess you have no acquaintances what speak dialect. – MetaEd Mar 13 '13 at 3:30


texts:
In TV and movies (and presumably real life), people will often start advice to boys by saying "hey son..." But I've never once heard any advice to girls start with "hey daughter..." In fact, usually the usage of "daughter" is in some indirect phrase ("that's my daughter" or similar).
Why is "hey daughter" not used? And why does it sound so weird to use it this way when they should be equivalent?


texts:
I was confused by a company slogan I saw, and that made me wonder: Is it correct to write "a dream come true"?

If I was the one writing it I would use "a dream comes true" but is the initial form wrong?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should I use “shall” versus “will”?

I have learnt in school we should use shall with I, you and we. But I often see people saying I will, you will or we will. Is this correct?


texts:
For example, in Latin America the full name would be like:

Ana María Gómez Sánchez

In that case, "Gómez" is her dad's last name, and "Sánchez" is her mum's single last name.

Let's pretend Ana María's dad's name is Gabriel Gómez Pérez. And her mum's name is Jessica Sánchez Flores. That way, Ana María gets both of those first last names.

What I want to know is what's the name of every part of the name?
What's the last name, the middle name, the surname, and if there's more, haha.

Sorry if it's confusing, and thank you in advance!


texts:
I know to use 'is' for singular and 'are' for plurals.

I was recently listening to a song and it reminded me of a 'rule' a teacher once told me about.

The chorus repeats:
Line 1: BIG GIRLS CRY WHEN THEIR HEARTS ARE BREAKING.

Normally, this is what i would write because it is talking about multiple gorls and it is not a collective noun (i dont think it is?). But then the song continues with....

Line 2: BIG GIRLS CRY WHEN THEIR HEART IS BREAKING.

This is what a teacher had once told me would also be correct and his justification was, although there is more than one girl, it would be incorrect to say 'hearts' as you are describing more than one girl who each has only one heart. So in other words, if we are talking about a group of people and describing for example a body part that there is only one of, it would be correct to word it the same way as Line 2.

Now my boyfriends mother who is also very good at grammar seems to disagree so i am right back to being confused again! Can anyone clarify please?? Thanks in advance.


texts:
What does 'gave her an academic air' mean in the following sentence:

  He opened the door without knocking, and there she was alone at her desk,
  absorbed, serious, with the new eyeglasses that gave her an academic air.


texts:
Skeptics argue that these kinds of initiatives are doomed to remain
  perennially peripheral and ineffectual.

Intuitively,  changing ineffectual to ineffective in the sentence above seems to leave the meaning unchanged. Is there any difference between the two options?

Here is the original source of the sentence.


texts:
Imagine a web page (A) which contains some repackaged content from another website (B).

A depends on B.

If B were to keep a list of web pages, like A, that depend on it, what could we call that list?

I came up with dependants, but I'm finding people confusing it with dependencies (i.e. the opposite relationship).

I also came up with referents, but I'm worried that it may be just as confusing. Is there a better word?

By the way, I rejected the word children as I think it is also confusing in this situation.


texts: Word, Idiom or phrase for "trying" or "considering to do something"?

texts:
Please look at following statements.

Solution to the problem was so big or complicated that, I didn't even
____(tried or considered trying) it.

That area is so dangerous that, I wouldn't even _____ to go there.

So, are there any idioms/ words/ phrases that fit in the sentences above? as opposed to simple "try" word?


texts: What is the difference between "which" and "that? What should I use in the sentence?

texts:
What is the difference between which and that? For example, I have a sentence,

They describe different methods, which their company usually practices.

Which is better to use here — which or that?


texts: What is it when an author starts the book with a future event, goes on for maybe a paragraph or a page, then stops and returns to the present?


texts: What is the basic difference between being “wise” and being “sensible”?

texts:
Today’s (March 18) New York Times carries an article under the title, “No, Not Trump, Not Ever” written by its co-ed columnist, David Brooks.  It starts with the following passage:

  “The voters have spoken. In convincing fashion, Republican voters seem to be selecting Donald
  Trump as their nominee. And in a democracy, victory has legitimacy to
  it. Voters are rarely wise but are usually sensible. They understand
  their own problems. And so deference is generally paid to the
  candidate who wins.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/opinion/no-not-trump-not-ever.html?action=

I am drawn to the phrase, “Voters are rarely wise but are usually sensible. To me, being wise seemed to be synonymous with being sensible.

So I checked Oxford Advanced English Learners Dictionary -2000. It defines “wise” as:

(1) able to make sensible decisions and give good advice because of the experience and knowledge that you have.

(2) (of actions and behavior) sensible.

It also defines “sensible” as:

(1) able to make good judgements based on reason and experience rather than emotion.

To me both definitions of “wise” and “Sensible” appear as if saying almost same thing.

What is the basic difference of being “wise” from being “sensible”?


texts:
Why can't we use helping verbs in positive sentences of present simple tense and past simple tense?

Such as:

  She makes tea.
  They went to the park.

If we convert them into negative or interrogative sentences, we use helping verb; but in case of other tenses we use helping verb in all formats of sentences i.e. positive, negative, and interrogative.


texts: Is there any difference between Loan and Credit?

texts:
We are drafting a formal document. I saw somebody replace all occurrences of the word credit to loan. There is no specific meaning assigned to either of these words within the document.

Is there any difference between these? I was using them interchangeably.

EDIT: (Some examples due to massive downvote)

The interest rate to be applied to the loans/credits shall be
determined.
For credits/loans disbursed in any foreign currency...
In the event the Client uses the loan/credit from the Bank's branches outside Germany...


texts: "A total of 0.0606 moles of NaOH was" or "were"?

texts:
I've been trying to work out which of the following make best grammatical sense but have been looking at them for so long now that my mind has turned to mush and they both seem wrong.

Which is better form:

  A total of 0.0605 moles (3 s.f.) of NaOH was originally added to the aspirin

Or:

  A total of 0.0605 moles (3 s.f.) of NaOH were originally added to the aspirin

I know that moles is plural but personally I think was is the better of the two.  I would appreciate some opinions on which reads better to people.


texts:
What is a term for a (fantastical) creature that consumes feelings and emotions for nourishment?

(Google searches amusingly turn up only discussions about "emotional eating" in the sense of people that over-eat when they're depressed.)


texts: Is ‘suit-wearing’ an adjective sui generis?

texts:
I was interested to find the term, “Occupy Wall Street’s suit-wearing cousin” appearing in a May 31 New York Times article titled Facing down the Bankers.

It begins with the following line:

  Dennis Kelleher runs Better Markets, a nonprofit that pushes for tighter regulation of American banks, something like Occupy Wall Street’s suit-wearing cousin.

We have exactly the same wording as “suit-wearing” in Japanese – Sebiro-wo-kita X - 背広を着たX. But it is always used in a denigrating way, such as describing a vicious politician and a lawyer as a ‘suit-wearing hooligan (or yakuza), and greedy bankers as 'suit-wearing man-eaters.’ In fact a famous political pundit recently published a book in Japan under the title, “Suit-wearing hooligan, XX,” denouncing a boss of a faction of the ruling Democratic Party by name.

I checked Cambridge, Oxford, and Merriam Webster on line dictionaries to confirm exact usage of this word, but none of them has suit-wearing as a headword.

There is no incidence of the word, suit-wearing in Google NGram either.

Is suit-wearing a word that stands alone as a full-fledged adjective, or is it just a simple combination of two words? Is it neutral by implication, unlike the derogatory Japanese usage?


texts: What determines whether a numerical prefix is allowable for a unit?

texts:
The prefix centi- means 10-2.
But while centimetre is common, I have never heard of a centiwatt or a centisecond.
The prefix Mega- means 106. Hence Megabytes exist. So why do we not have Megametres?


texts: We offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with concentrations in Graphic Design, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, or Crafts and a Digital Media Arts degree with concentrations in Video or Animation.


texts:
I am searching for a word that expresses the "opposite" of a date range.

My ideas so far are the following:

Timestamp
Moment

But neither of them really satisfies me. I need the word for a programming task, and therefore it would be nice, if the word would be as similar as possible to "date range", so that the wording alone already implies the same topic.

Do you have other suggestions?

EDIT:

With opposite or counterpart to "date range" I mean a word (or short phrase), that expresses one specific day/date instead of a range of days. The range spans in contrast to that specific day multiple days and the range has a start and an end date.

My ideas do not satisfy me because they do not imply the same topic or any relation to "date range". Timestamp or Moment is hard to be said to be the direct opposite of date range. As an example "timestamp" can be easily identified as the counterpart to a "time range".


texts:
In some languages, there are false diminutives, by which I mean words which have diminutive suffixes but don't express either small size or affectionately emotive meanings.

For example, in Italian, -ina is a feminine diminutive suffix; for example, strada is a road, and a stradina is a narrow road. But cantina (cellar) is not a diminutive of canto (song). Similarly, in Dutch, tussendoortje (snack) is not a diminutive of tussendoor (in between), though it has the -je diminutive ending. And in German, there is the Verselbständigte Diminutive, so the -chen is not (or no longer) diminutive in words like drachen (dragon) or mätzchen (foolish antics).

Does English have false diminutives as well?


texts:
In Russian, there's an aphorism that says roughly this:

  No matter how many times you repeat the word "sweet", you won't feel sweeter in your mouth

Meaning that attempt to deceive oneself into believing (typically positive things, typically about oneself) if unsupported by reality will fail regardless of amount of effort one applies.

What would be an analogous English aphorism or an idiomatic way to convey the same idea?


texts:
Searching on Google shows both forms:

We will do our best to accommodate you.
They accommodate to you and are very encouraging.

Sometimes they appear together in one sentence, thus makes me think that they actually have different meanings. I'm not sure though.


texts: Using "now" to start about every other part of your speech

texts:
When I was watching the Apple keynote presentation it occured to me that all the speakers have this habit of starting about every other new part of their speeches with the word "now". This usage of "now" seems to me like a filler word without any meaning.

Of course once I've noticed it, I couldn't unhear it for the rest of the presentation. Such things can become very dominant.

Since I'm not a native English speaker I was wondering:

Is this habit common among certain groups of people (maybe tech people)?
Is it bad style or is it just regular English talking?

You can hear an example at https://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2019/ if you listen to the short section from 00:41:15 bis 00:41:35 for example. He is saying it twice in those 20 seconds.

Example transcribed:

[...] You just tap it and you are authenticated with Face ID on your device, logged in with a new account without revealing any new personal information. (Applause) Now some apps may want your name, and maybe even an email to send you information when you are outside the app. Now we do allow them to request this information, [...]


texts: "Ten and several minutes": Any more natural expression?

texts:
Heat the mixture for ten and several minutes.

What is a more natural way to express this “ten and several” wording, which is literally translated from Japanese?

  A.    for between ten and 20 minutes

  B.    for 15 minutes or so

  C. something else?


texts: Is it possible to use "as" with the same meaning as "so"or "that"?

texts:
Is it possible to use "as" with the same meaning as "so","that" etc.

Examples:

You didn’t need to withdraw €500 from ATM. That smartphone doesn’t cost as much.

(...doesn’t cost so much/that much; ...doesn’t cost as much as you think.)

If we had reached Moscow without any problems, it wouldn’t have been as interesting.

(...as interesting as it actually was.)

Is it idiomatic?


texts:
Is the use of "wore at" vs "wore out" the same?

Few Google examples:

"She was tired of apologizing for the intractability of the land, its people, for the distances that wore at him, the endless driving."

"He said he still enjoys training and competing, but living on the road wore at him more as he got older."

"The thought of never seeing his mother and father again wore at him."


texts: Is there a noun that means the piece of cloth that some women wear around their waist when they are in bikini?


texts: Can I "shout someone out", or only "give a shout out to" someone (to recognize them)?

texts:
I was listening to NPR's The Politics Hour when I noticed the unusual construction

  They refurbished eight of our libraries, eight brand-new libraries in D.C. Public Schools, and I want to shout Target out.

I'm familiar with the phrase give a shout out to, which is something like hat tip to, a type of name-dropping expressing kudos. I thought the shout [name/noun] out construction might just be a slip of the tongue, because I've never seen it with this meaning with "shout" and "out" separated, but the speaker, DCPS chancellor Kaya Henderson (originally from NYC; this could originate there?) didn't seem hesitant.

Most of the instances of this kind of shout out in COCA are about giving a shout out (noun) to someone, like these:

  I just wanted to give a shout out to my doctor...
  I gotta give my shout out to them...
  I would like to put a shout out for a whole profession of nutritionists...

the instances where shout out is a verb (that aren't about literally shouting) are rarer; I found just a few:

  And we shout out to all of you here this morning.
  Our hearts shout out to all of the bereaved families...

and I found no results for shout [noun/pronoun] out. There are a few, when searching Google for phrases like shout you out, but it seems uncommon, except for the unrelated meaning of removing stains (shout it out).

So, does it make sense to replace to give a shout out to [name] or to shout out to [name] with to shout [name] out? (If so, is this limited to American English? Particular dialects?)


texts:
I'm working for a museum and do some programming and 3D.

The description of the exhibit I'm making reads:
"Programming and 3D processing: < My Name >"

I thought that 3d processing is what GPU does. Is it correct synonym to 3D modelling?


texts: What is the optimal word for "either a person, company or other entity"?

texts:
I'm making a bookkeeping database table for my personal finances as well as a potential business venture.
I need to name a column which refers to which company or person the transaction is done with. I currently call it "entity" in order to be able to work for "John Doe" as well as "Microsoft", and also the special value "abstract", which I used for the initial record in my table, which simply "sets the bar" of how much money I have in the bank account right now, which means it wasn't really an "income" but something that already exists.
However, "entity" does sound a little too abstract, perhaps. Is there a better/more standardized term for this?


texts: How hard would it be to create a truly free dictionary?

texts:
How many words would be required for a comprehensive English learners dictionary and what level of effort would be required to create such a dictionary from scratch?
"Comprehensive" means it has enough of the most commonly used words to support someone who uses it until they reach native-level fluency.
"Level of effort" means the approximate person hours for creation of the dictionary content (headwords, pronunciations, meanings) but excluding anything technical like creation of the database/system used to do the work.
"From scratch" means, it could be done in a way that the resulting dictionary would have no legal obligations to any other party, i.e. definitions get created from the creators' own knowledge and research and not from other copyrighted dictionaries.
For example, one might answer "12,000 words and 10,000 person hours."
EDIT 3/2/2021: The original question, left as background above, was closed as "opinion-based" and because questions must be "answered with facts and citations" so I'd like to clarify the question in a way that can be answered with facts and citations: Are there any published dictionary works that have published the number of entries contained in the work as well as the level of effort that was required to create them? I actually found one for which I can provide an answer if this question is opened back up, and perhaps there would be more examples from others with the question posed in this way.
The Motivation:
As a software developer who has created multiple language-related websites, I have frequently found myself in a position of needing programmatic access to a free dictionary. There are tons of web-based dictionaries that say they are free but they are not really free... especially if you want to use them for a commercial project, such as an English language learning website.  Even for academic research, non-profit use, or similar projects, many dictionary providers will require you to pay them, sometimes for each word you want to look up programmatically, and of course there are all kinds of restrictions on how you use their material (like you can't make copies of anything to be stored on your computer), as well as things you have to do (copyright notices, links to their site, etc).  I've even found some that are free, but they're illegally giving access to another party's copyrighted material.
I wish there was a dictionary out there that was so free the creator would literally put a link on their homepage to download their database, including all dictionary content, with no login required and no strings attached.  Literally anyone could download it and do whatever they wanted with it for free and with no obligations.
I don't think such a dictionary exists.  If it does I'd be happy to know where to find it.  Otherwise, I'm thinking of trying to get one created.  I've got the technical ability to create such a database and make it available online, but I have zero ability to actually create the content.  So, I'm trying to figure out the level of effort.  If I'm told 10,000 hours would do it, it doesn't seem impossible that I could find 100 qualified people to donate 100 hours each (over the course of a year or two) to do the work...  I'd donate my time to do the tech work, to publish it in real time as it is being built, and to support the type of truly free access described above.


texts: Is "the computers" in "here are the computers that you requested" a subject or object?

texts:
I'm a little confused which is the subject and the object in this sentence:

  Here are the computers that you requested.

My guess is that "the computers" is the object and "you" is the subject.

Is that correct?


texts: What is the origin of idiom wrap someone in cotton wool?

texts:
I am curious to know the exact origin of the idiom "wrap someone in cotton wool."  I couldn't find much, except

Origin: The expression originated in the mid-1800s.

[The Idioms]
and
Google Ngrams


texts:
When you want to tell someone that you understand something, you might say, "I get/got/'ve got it." But
Q) Do we say "I've gotten it" or "I have it" in place of the above?
I ask this because, in "I get it", clearly, the main verb is "to get", and here, it means "to understand" (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/...ry/british/get), definition #7, but what about the rest? I mean, what is the main verb in "I've got it" or simply "I got it"? Is it "to get", as above, or is it "to have", as in "I have/'ve got/got a car?" (I know that "I got a car" is informal English, and mainly used in the US)


texts: Is it correct to use a term 'forever' to emphasize how long a situation was taking place?

texts:
I would like to write something like:

  We were talking about our cultural similarities and differences forever

to indicate that we were doing it for a very long period of time. Is that correct? Can it be used in a formal letter? And can Past Simple be used or is only the Past Continuous correct?


texts: English Idiom for "the squirrel feeds itself arduously"

texts:
I am looking for an English equivalent to the German idiom Mühsam ernährt sich das Eichhörnchen. Which literally translates to the squirrel feeds itself arduously. It's used to describe any arduous or cumbersome task that has a lot of minuscule steps and ultimately reaches the target. Exactly as the squirrel that gathers hundreds of nuts and hides them in dozens of places for months to prepare for the winter.
It is mainly used as (self-)motivation or justification after reaching seemingly no progress.

"I worked all day and I feel like I didn't make any progress."
"Well, (Mühsam ernährt sich das Eichhörnchen.)

I found slowly but surely, but I am looking for something more visual.


texts: What does "Seventy-two only" mean in this line from Dracula?

texts:
In chapter 25 of Dracula by Bram Stoker, Van Helsing says to Mina Harker,

  ”Good, good! Oh, you so clever lady!" said Van Helsing, enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand. A moment later he said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick room consultation, "Seventy-two only, and in all this excitement. I have hope."

What does "Seventy-two only" mean here?


texts: "Oldest Surviving" or "Earliest Surviving"

texts: When describing an object, should you use "oldest surviving" or "earliest surviving"?


texts: What's this? What is it? but not What's it? - Why?

texts:
Can anyone give a cogent, simply described explanation of why the verb BE in:

What is it?

... doesn't seem to be able to be contracted with the subject:

What's it? *

Compare the sentences above with:

What's this?
What's that?

These are perfectly fine. In fact, the contractions here should be expected in almost all examples of spoken English.
Answers with references to authoritative vetted sources would be greatly appreciated.


texts:
I was writing a market research report the other day and listed the challenges my company faced in the market in question, then I created a new section header for the... uhh... easy bits?

That's when I realized I could think of no reasonable antonym for challenge in the noun form. I can certainly describe it -- characteristics of the market that will be of benefit to our entry

"Advantages" is close to the mark but doesn't quite capture the idea because I feel that is in reference to our company, rather than in reference to the market itself.

To give an example:

Challenges
  > customer purchasing power is low
  > public perception of our manufacturing location is negative

(Easy Bits / Cakewalks / Happy Things / etc.)
  > no competitive product on the market
  > strong transportation network with low logistical costs

"Incentives" also seems close, but not quite there.

Any ideas?


texts: What is the term when fixing one issue positively impacts other issues?

texts: An example of what I am trying to ask is - The head of household for a family is undocumented, earning a little under minimum wage and renting a room.  However, if he is able to get his green card he will be able to earn more than minimum wage allowing him to be able to afford his own apartment.  Getting his own apartment will then lead to his children staying in school, etc.


texts: Is there a word similar to "reddening" for the color blue?

texts:
In planetary astronomy often the "color" of an object is described by relative
amount of reflected light in the blue versus the red part of the spectrum.  If
something reflects light equally at all wavelengths it is "grey", if it reflects
more light at red wavelengths then it is redder than a grey object, and if it reflects
more light at blue wavelengths it is bluer.  We often see surfaces change color. A common
term used is reddening.  This is also used for light from space which appears redder than expected because dust preferentially absorbs blue light.

My students and colleagues have started to use "blueing" or "bluening" in papers to refer
to a color change that causes more reflected light in the blue (or less in the red).  This really bothers me as it is not a real word to my knowledge and sounds awkward.  I keep changing things to "becoming less reddened" - but that becomes awkward after awhile.


texts: Can a single participle (not a participle clause) act as an adverb/adverbial?

texts:
I have students who are analyzing of H.G Wells' 'War of the Worlds'.
They have been commenting on the following sentence:
"I stood petrified and staring."

Some have said petrified acts as an adjective, modifying "I".
Others have said it is an adverb, modifying the verb "stood".

Who is correct? Or are both/neither correct? Is it something completely different that I have never heard of?

many thanks!


texts: Is there a name for this literary device?

texts:
Is there a term that describes the act of giving tangible qualities to an intangible noun?

  I stumbled over a metaphor

or

  I felt sadness condense on my skin

The first one might just be "figure of speech", but perhaps there is a more specific name.


texts: Word for rungs in a rope ladder or on shipboard rigging

texts: I'm writing something where characters climb a large rope grid, like what you'd see on old-timey pirate ships or on a playground. Functionally, this construction is similar to a ladder but calling the individual ropes where people can stand on "rungs" feels wrong. Is there a specific word for this or a specific nautical term?


texts: Another term for ' having sex with non-living things'

texts: Is there a single term for who have sex with non-living things?


texts: What is the difference between a 'rocket' and a 'missile'

texts:
Someone pointed out on the BBC News that the Malaysian plane was hit not by a 'rocket' but by a 'missile'. From the dictionary definitions I have looked up I cannot tell the difference.

Missile An object which is forcibly propelled at a target, either by hand or from a mechanical weapon.

Rocket a cylindrical projectile that can be propelled to a great height or distance by the combustion of its contents...

Oxford Dictionary of English

Is it therefore the case that a rocket is always a missile, but that a missile is not necessarily a rocket? A cricket ball can be regarded as a missile but is clearly not a rocket. But why could the type of weapon which it is believed brought down Flight MH17 not be described as a 'rocket'?


texts:
I'm not sure which to use of these to use:

The art of extracting onion from salad.

The art of extracting onion from a salad.

The art of extracting onions from salad.

The art of extracting onions from a salad.


texts: What is the syntactic analysis of the sentence "Nor do I want you to believe that."

texts: I have a task to analyze syntactically the sentence "Nor do I want you to do that." but I'm struggling with doing that. Can you help me?


texts:
What's the meaning of "our family gatherings are pretty chaotic" in this context?

  Teacher: Tell me about your family.
  Student: Well, my immediate family is relatively small, just my parents, my two brothers and me. But both of my parents come from very large families so my extended family is very large - I have 25 cousins! Our family gatherings are pretty chaotic, but fun. We’re a very close-knit family. Even though we don’t live together any more, the family ties are still very strong. When we were little there wasn’t very much sibling rivalry between us. I think it’s because we had a very stable upbringing. Both of my parents played a very active role in our school life, and our home life, and they taught us to resolve our conflicts in a very fair way. I consider myself very lucky.

Does it mean gatherings in which there are quarrel or something?


texts: Can "concerning" ever be used to mean "worthy of concern"?

texts: My daughter said "These photographs are concerning".  Her intention was to convey that they were disconcerting, or alarming in some way.  My impulse was to correct her, but then I doubted myself and thought that perhaps this is a legitimate use of the word.  The two online dictionaries I looked in don't have secondary definition that fits the bill, so, I'm now once again reasonably certain that my impulse was correct, but I'd be curious what you folks think.


texts:
The definition of the Informal word "Sketchy" is as follows:

Sketchy [skech-ee]
Adjective Informal.

unreliable or unsafe:

That street looks pretty sketchy.

disreputable or shady:

I'd stay away from him; he's got a sketchy past.

What is the Origin of this Usage? How does it relate to the word Sketch?

Sketch [skech]
Noun

a simply or hastily executed drawing or painting, especially a preliminary one, giving the essential features without the details.

a brief or hasty outline of facts, occurrences, etc.:

a sketch of his life.
3.a short, usually descriptive, essay, history, or story.
4.a short play or slight dramatic performance, as one forming part of a vaudeville program.

Etymonline only has the Origin of the Formal "Sketchy" describing an unfinished work.


texts: What do you call someone who makes a famous saying?

texts:
I've heard somebody call the person who says something which becomes well known as the author but it doesn't sound right to me.
Is it correct or is there a better word?
It should be appropriate in the sentence

The famous saying “Every problem is an opportunity in disguise” is attributed to both John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. If I had to bet on one of them, I would go with Benjamin Franklin as the _______.

And preferably in

Yes, both of them are ________.


texts: In North American English, a suburban area, or suburb, is a town or community located near a city which is mainly comprised of the homes of people who work in the city. My question is: what would the city's relationship to the suburb be called? Is there even a word for that?


texts: Using a word for something other than its literal definition

texts:
Is there a term for using a word but not meaning its actual definition?

For example:

  I need to run to my room quickly.

In that example, I do not literally mean "run"; instead, I am sort of using run as a metaphor.


texts: Verb for transforming a sphere into a plane

texts:
I'm designing tools for a 3D modeling software. I've programmed two tools – one which turns a cylinder into a straight plane (and back), and another one which turns a sphere into a plane and vice versa. Now I need to know how to call those tools.

The act of transforming a cylinder into a plane can be called unwrapping or unrolling.

  » Click to unwrap the cylinder «

But is there any verb to describe the transformation from a sphere into a plane?

  » Click to (?) the sphere «


texts: Word to create a generic tool from a specific tool. Used in programming (and perhaps elsewhere)

texts:
I've heard this before, where someone has made something for a specific project and then they verb it to make it more generally available.
The example I can think of is Ruby on Rails:

  It was originally created by David Heinemeier Hansson for Basecamp and
  then he ________________ it to make it into a framework that was
  useful for more than just Basecamp.

My mind wants to think it's an abstraction but for some reason it doesn't seem like the word I'm looking for.


texts: “Author Registration by 20 Oct 2014” --- does it include 20 Oct. 2014?

texts: I am registering for a conference as an author. The deadline  information says "Author Registration by 20 Oct 2014". Can I register it tomorrow, which is 20 Oct. 2014?


texts: "Make of that what you will" – meaning of "will"

texts:
Make of that what you will or Do what you will

What is the meaning of 'will' in these expressions?

Here's some examples:

  I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by way of mistakes and surprises. Often I have received better than I deserved. Often my fairest hopes have rested on bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led - make of that what you will.
  (Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow)

  Do What You Will (Collected works of Aldous Huxley)

  Wiccan morality is largely
  expressed in the Wiccan Rede:  An [if] it harm none, do what you will.
  ... is usually interpreted as a declaration of the freedom to act, along with
  the necessity of taking responsibility for what follows from one's
  actions.

Here are two definitions of 'will':

  v.tr.
  1. To decide on; choose.
  2. To yearn for; desire: "She makes you will your own destruction" (George Bernard Shaw).
  3. To decree, dictate, or order.
  4. To resolve with a forceful will; determine.
  5. To induce or try to induce by sheer force of will: We willed the sun to come out.
  6. To grant in a legal will; bequeath.
   v.intr.
  1. To exercise the will.
  2. To make a choice; choose.

and:

  aux.v.
  1. Used to indicate simple futurity: They will appear later.
  2. Used to indicate likelihood or certainty: You will regret this.
  3. Used to indicate willingness: Will you help me with this package?
  4. Used to indicate requirement or command: You will report to me afterward.
  5. Used to indicate intention: I will too if I feel like it.
  6. Used to indicate customary or habitual action: People will talk.
  7. Used to indicate capacity or ability: This metal will not crack under heavy pressure.
  8. Used to indicate probability or expectation: That will be the messenger ringing.
  tr. & intr.v.
  To wish; desire: Do what you will. Sit here if you will.

Which of these 'will's is meant? Is it short for Make or that what you will [make of it]? Or is it Make of that what you determine/resolve/induce my the force of your will?

Can it be used in other tenses? eg

  They made of that what they would They made of that what they
  willed


texts: What is the proper contraction for “should not have”

texts: I’ve been struggling with this one for a while, and it’s something I’ve tried typing/ writing on numerous occasions but it never looks correct in my mind. When speaking, I tend to say “should not have” as if it was one word (I.e I should not have had that donair last night) and when I picture the contraction for this word it looks like it would be “shouldn’t’ve“. Is this proper English in the first place?


texts:
India is close to being a superpower.

Is 'close to' a verbal phrase?


texts: Number disagreement between subject and verb in Shakespeare?

texts:
I guess this is a quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth:

  Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

I'm confused about the subject-verb agreement in both sentences.

AFAIK in the first sentence "what come may" (or "what may come") is the subject, and the first word "come" is the verb. But does the verb have to be singular if the subject is a clause?
In the second sentence the subject is of the form "A and B", but why is the verb singular instead of plural here?

Sorry if the question sounds silly; I'm not a native speaker of English.


texts: Term/expression to describe a user's license (account) is allowed to be used?

texts:
I have a software that manages user accounts at a given service.

The administrator creates the account, the user validates e-mail and other data and then the account is considered to be valid/good for use.

I have a list/table that lists all accounts and I want a term/expression to fill a column of my table describing the situation of an account if it passed all the requirements.

For now, we are using:

  License Released

But this seems wrong to me, it looks as if the word Released tells me the license was deactivated, removed from the system. Preferably, I would like a adjective instead of Released that could perfectly describe the situation that it is now free for use and activated.

  License ______?

Any suggestions?


texts: What is the opposite of pollutant, in the sense of "victim" or "casualty"

texts:
I am busy writing a report where I need a word which would mean "the recipient of pollution".

Specifically I want to mention domestic sewerage which has been polluted by industrial sewerage.

The reason I don't want to describe it is because the word I am looking for should be the header in the column of a table.

thank you all for the help around here!


texts: How to use a catch-phrase for a validated result when presented before an examining committee?

texts:
Imagine, that someone is preparing for a PhD defense. The thesis that he is going to defend is by far against the norm. That is, it uncovers deep-seated beliefs that led to 30 years of malpractice. So he knew in advance that if he will not be well prepared for that this would label his thesis a heresy. Therefore, he did his best to analyze the data at hand very carefully, doing everything possible to validate the results and justify his approach why this method and not that sort of thing. He adopted a very hard and long path just to be well prepared for the day of defense. In addition, he knew in advance that the examiners will be not that easy to convince unless a really solid proof is presented before their eyes.

I want to describe the results of the PhD student using a catch-phrase:
One phrase came to my mind, but I am not sure how suitable it is here:

  The results concluded form the analysis were irrefutable.

Please, can you help me with better phrases or iterations of the same theme, e.g., using the committee-[something], I heard of one phrase but I lost the site where I read it, it was like: jury-[something]. Now looking for it like searching for a straw in a haystack.


texts: How can I more aptly describe acceptable laziness?

texts:
A lot of words for laziness (thesaurus: apathy, lethargy, negligence, indolence, sloth) carry some serious negative connotations. However, some forms of laziness are not necessarily that bad: for example if you have the money for it, eating out for dinner when you don't feel like cooking is not some mortal sin; it's relatively neutral. In fact in my chosen profession of programming, some forms of laziness are downright meritorious; "I quickly pasted a couple of things together that will let a computer solve this problem over the next week, rather than spending two days slaving over getting it Done Right" shows an excellent frugality-of-time.
What is a good emotive conjugation for the adjective "lazy" so that I can better deal with the "I" and "you" cases (positive, neutral) when we all know how to deal with the "he/she" case (negative)?
More examples:

"I'm going to buy a new shirt from the clothing store across the way because I spilled some tea on this one; it's [neutrally-lazy] and ideally I'd go home and change, but I have an important meeting in a few hours and I don't want to spend time stressing about being in too many different places at once."
"Yeah, those search phrases you put in the system overnight generated lots of garbage."
"Can you run it again by hand with these phrases?"
"Well, I'm trying to be [positively-lazy], so why don't I just set that client to run on Wednesdays rather than Tuesdays, and it will just run like usual tonight? It's not urgent, right?"

Ideally I would like an answer to take the form of an emotive conjugation, so that it's clear that the denotation is remaining the same (some answers like smart seem to be straying a bit from laziness per se), such as the examples "I am well-traveled; you are a sightseer; he is a tourist" or "I'm intelligent; you're intellectual; she is a smarty-pants." So I'm looking for something like "I am [positively-lazy]; you are [neutrally-lazy]; she is downright lazy."


texts: What's the sailing ship equivalent for "Full speed ahead!"?

texts:
It was "full steam ahead" in the time of steamers. One of the last sophisticated sailing ships was the clipper. They were capable of crossing the Atlantic in something like 11 days. Had crews of up to 30 people. Pretty sophisticated stuff.

The storm is over, the rain has slackened. Time to pick up speed. The captain spreads his shoulders and says ... what, exactly?


texts: Is it "Forty centuries was a long time" or "Forty centuries were a long time"?

texts: I need to know if the verb form should be singular or plural in such sentences.


texts: "-ic versus -ical" what's the difference in meaning between adjectives ending in -ic or -ical?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why is it “geometric” but “theoretical”?
  “Ironic” vs. “ironical”
  “Comic” vs. “comical”
  “Historic” vs. “historical”

What's the difference for instance between ironic/ironical, rhythmic/rhythmical, historic/historical, comic/comical, economic/economical? If these adjectives are identical in meaning why the need for the different endings?


texts:
I posted this question on stackoverlow today and a couple of people have taken me to task over the use of the word "oblivious" in this sentence:

  I have deliberately omitted @ referencing the author of the comment,
  but his standing in this community is not oblivious to me

I am trying to say that I am aware of his standing in the community.

It may be clunky, but is it wrong?


texts:
If A is a role model to B.

B is what to A?

I assume there is something more focused than fan or follower.


texts: Where does the term "tuck shop" come from?

texts:
We used to a have a tuck shop at school that sold sausage rolls, pens and pencils etc.

Where does the word come from?


texts: Informal way of saying 'to be on the list'

texts:
Did you check out your ingore list? If I am on the list, cross my name off there.

Are there any informal phrases in English that mean the same as in the example above? As I mean the ignore list as part of a user account on the website, the verb cross off is used figuratively here, and is supposed to be synonymous with 'remove from'. I hope to find colloquialisms that convey the said sense.

Thanks.


texts:
Googling amongst the world's online dictionaries produces conflicting results, but on the whole indicates that the answer is "no". However, it feels so natural to say:

  The conversants conversed.

Whereas: "the conversationalists conversed" is a bit long.


texts: What does "come away" mean here, in reference to a memorial?

texts:
Does come away here mean "you come away from home"?
From a CNN article:

Robert Henry, a former U.S. appeals judge whose office was across the street from the federal building, says the memorial tells the story of a community that pulls together—and a country that does not forget its people.
"You come away seeing the greatness of a federal republic at its best," said Henry, now president of Oklahoma City University. "At the bombing, we came together."


texts: What's the difference between "I see nothing" and "I don't see anything"? In what condition each of them is more appropriate?


texts: For example, is the phrase "a gibberish language" grammatically correct? Since gibberish is a noun, is there a best way to tell if it is able to modify another noun?


texts:
One of the question given in the text book starts with 'Definitely how many students are there?'

Does this mean "the exact number of students" or 'The minimum number of students'?

May be a silly question, but I am confused, probably because I am thinking in own native language


texts: What does "China’s Confidence Rises in Its Military" mean?

texts:
I'm wondering what is the meaning of the WSJ's title "China’s Confidence Rises in Its Military" (https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-confidence-rises-in-its-military-u-s-says-11547597775).

Is it exactly the same as "China’s Confidence in Its Military Rises" or something different?

What confuses me is that the word order in the original title seems rather unusual to me if the meaning is as I described above, and that makes me think what if I'm missing something completely and it means, for example, 'China’s Confidence Rises because of Its Military'?


texts: What meaning would you ascribe to "to spy a parable"?

texts:
What meaning would you ascribe to: "to spy a parable"?

Here is the context:

"It is tempting to ponder these two NASA stories, and to spy a parable about much that is wrong with the America of 2014."

from:

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21610336-revealing-new-history-apollo-moon-landings-holds-lessons-today-america-and

I found this phrase to be quite unique - in fact this article is the only one which shows up with the phrase: "spy a parable" in online searches.


texts:
He escaped several times but was finally caught.
If the sentence has to be started with 'In spite of', which of the following will be correct?
1. In spite of his escaping several times, he has finally been caught.
Or,
2. In spite of escaping several times, he was finally caught.

Similarly, which is grammatically more correct? 'In spite of his being poor, he was happy.' or 'In spite of being poor, he was happy.'


texts:
Here is a part of original transcription:

  Like, a lot of people would like make jewelry and sell it.  A lot of people
  would sell, uh, clothes that they made, um....  Another, uh, favorite amongst
  people was to, uh, just, uh, sell beer or to make food.  And that’s what I actually did a lot of the times.  I’d make sandwiches or I’d sell beer in order to help, y’know, defray the cost of the tickets

I am wondering about the last sentence with the contraction "I'd". The person in this text is saying that it sold beer and made food but at the end we have the contraction "I'd" which indicates on would usage (then I think it sounds quite unlogical). What does "I'd" mean in this case?

Thank you for your answer!


texts: What is the meaning of "on" in this sentence?

texts:
I saw this sentence "I go on a picnic."
What is the meaning of "on" in this sentence.


texts: Comma Splice? "I'm curious, what is the time?"

texts:
I asked a question earlier regarding alternative ways of structuring indirect questions
(please refer to this link).

Forgive me if I'm over analyzing this, but I never write sentences like this so I am not sure about the punctuation.

  "I am curious, what is the time?"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the definition of a comma splice when you join two independent clauses without a conjunction?  Both "I am curious" and "What is the time" are complete sentences.  Normally if I were to say this statement, I would put a pause between the two clauses.  If i said it faster, I would say it as an indirect question such as, "I am curious what the time is" or "I'm curious about the time".

The responses in my previous post said to use either a comma, colon, or a dash.  Would a comma really be okay, or would this be a comma splice?

Second question is this: Since you start with the statement, "I am curious" wouldn't you have to end the sentence with a period?

By the way, the context of my question would be for formal emails with a conversational tone, and I would be writing in the 1st person.


texts: Does anyone have an idea? Close friends? I usually see this term in stories where the friends were best friends and then they fight for some reason.


texts:
People felt that he had "gone mad" or that he harbored some "secret sin," while others felt it was "an eccentric whim."  (Is the comma necessary after the word "sin"?)

He called it "but a mortal veil," one that he had vowed to wear in this present life, but could be removed forever in heavenly eternity.  (Should there be a comma after "life"?)


texts: Superlative version or synonym of "Versatile"

texts:
I'm looking for comparative/superlative versions of versatile - synonyms which should mean "more versatile" and "extremely versatile"

Here's the background:

Over on meta.so, I've proposed a new 3-tiered badge for users who have high rep across multiple SE sites.

At bronze I'd call it Versatile.
Can't think of titles for Silver and Gold.

I only have "Multifaceted" and "All-rounder" right now.
Any other suggestions?


texts: Is there a word that can describe a student who goes out of his own way to help other students succeed?

texts:
What's a word to describe a student who goes out of his own way to help others succeed? I'm trying to describe someone who often helps others with their work before doing his own and patiently explains concepts to someone who is confused during a lecture, just to give some examples.

I'm not looking for general words like team player, helpful, or kind; I'm trying to find more specific terms like didactic or cooperative. But I need a word that has much more of a positive connotation than cooperative.


texts: is there a name for the concept of repetitive writing to improve handwriting?

texts:
When I was younger, some of the homework I had consisted in writing sentences several times to improve handwriting. In Spanish, I know this concept or action as "hacer planas".

To give an idea. "Hacer planas" is the same action Bart Simpson does everyday at detention. Filling a blackboard with a sentence as punishment. In my case, the blackboard is a notebook. "The punishment" is in reality the intention to improve handwriting.

do this action has a name in English?


texts: Is there a difference in meaning between "dedicated solely" and "solely dedicated"?

texts:
Rock Creek Conservancy is the only organization solely dedicated to Rock Creek Park.

Rock Creek Conservancy is the only organization dedicated solely to Rock Creek Park.

Do these statements mean the same thing?

Does one version suggest exclusivity whereas the other version suggests focus?


texts: What is the noun for either a file or folder?

texts: We have files, we have directories; what is the noun that we could use to generically describe either of these? For instance, an apple or a pear can generically be described as fruit. Is there such a word?


texts: Logical meaning of "within 30 days" compared to "in 30 or fewer days" or "fewer than 30 days"

texts:
As I understand it, the phrase "within 30 days"
is the same as "in 30 or fewer days"
not "fewer than 30 days."  Is this correct?

(I've chosen fewer instead of less because days are a quantity that I can count individually, as opposed to having less time or energy for example.)


texts: What is the etymology of the saying "tables are meant for glasses not arses"?

texts:
What is the etymology of the saying:

  Tables are meant for glasses not arses

It is a saying my gran used to use and I have not heard it recently.


texts:
Today when I was thinking these sentences came to my mind. I want to know whether these are gramatically correct or not.

The mechanic can make it be of no use.
John can make this book be like an encyclopedia.

Any help is appreciated.


texts:
Could 'Yes' be the answer for 'You know what?'
I mean:

A: 'You know what?'
B: 'Yes.'
C: 'I won the first prize.'

I'm not sure if I bother to write 'Yes' between A's words.


texts: What does "Potato Cat" mean when you point this to a person?

texts: I saw this phrase many times on Twitter. But, I don't know the exact usage or meaning this phrase portrays. Can anyone please enlighten me with the definition you think is accurate! Thanks in advance!


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Unregister” vs “Deregister”

I'm just wondering what the consensus would be on the antonym of register. The intended use of the word is for a website. Users can register for the site, and should they desire, they can also "unregister".

Can you list a set of words that would fit the problem domain?


texts: Why do we not include a possessive in "thank you for coming", and include one in "thank you for *your* kindness"?

texts: Why is it more correct to say "thank you for coming" than "thank you for your coming," but it's okay to say "thank you for your kindness," rather than "thank you for kindness"?


texts: What is the meaning of "assisted interaction"?

texts:
Searching Google didn't help much and in the context below, it was related closely to "face-to-face interaction".

  Citizens may also simply prefer face-to-face or assisted interaction when applying for benefits, permits or otherwise engaging with institutions on personal matters.


texts: Rhetoric word for answering a question with another answer implying the first

texts:
During a discussion on AI, it was asserted that AI is not yet handling very well cases where an indirect, but quite adequate (unless prevaricatory) answer is given.

Examples:

  Person A:  Are you going to do that history homework?
  Person B:  I've just switched on my computer!

  Person A: Are we leaving soon?
  Person B: I'm putting on my shoes as we speak.

Both questions are answered yes, but without being explicit. I know there is a single word describing this. I just don't remember it. The word is similar to synecdoche or *-onym.


texts: If I say "car pulled up way too much into the road" what do you understand?

texts:
I am trying to explain someone this situation. There was a car stopped at intersection but its head was sticking out of the cross walk and into other incoming traffic like this picture.

And I am trying to cross it in front of the car indicated by red arrow. So I was explaining the situation to someone and I said this.

"The car was pulled up too much into the road. If I had to go in front of the car I would have been on the way of other cars."

Are the words in bold font correct to use in this situation? If not how I could have said this more naturally?


texts:
If the classic authorities could be wrong about so many things, why would should they be trusted about anything?

It is from the article in Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/progress-isnt-natural-mokyr/507740/

Is it grammatically correct? Does it seem weird to the native speaker?


texts: Referring to something belonging to a goblin: is it "its" thing or "his" thing?

texts: I'm writing tutorial for fantasy game with said goblin acting as an example. Now, I need to relate to the thing belonging to that goblin, let's say it's an apple. Is it his apple or its apple? Shall I treat mythological creature as a human or as an animal?


texts: What is the counterpart English word to Japanese word, “Match-pump”?

texts:
When I was posting a question about the difference between “Strike a match” and “Strike the match” today, I recalled a made-in-Japan English compound, “Match-pump,” which means a person who instigates others to do something, e.g., to call a strike, or make a fuss, and scurries about to stop or quell the subsequent movement / commotion when the matter gets serious. Pump in this compound means water-pump.

In other words, it means the person who strikes a match to burn something (in a fun more often than not) and tries to extinguish a fire when it flames up.

I wonder if there is the English word that purports the same meaning in a single word.


texts: Equivalent of "Excuse me" for "you're not in my way"? Pedestrian bump avoidance

texts:
Is there a quick phrase, like "excuse me", that means "You're not in my way; please don't change this fact"?

I mean in the context of e.g. passing someone who's on the grass between the sidewalk and the road, looking away from me, and is liable to back up into the sidewalk.


texts: Is it normal in English to talk about oneself in the third person in these cases?

texts:
A Japanese person said that it is often normal to talk about oneself in the third person in English. This is what he wrote:

  For example, when you write a CV or an introduction of yourself, the
  formal way is to refer to yourself in third person. The same is in
  academic paper.

Do you think this is true?


texts:
What does "wound up" mean in this case? And is it treated as adjective?
In The Magician's Nephew from C.S. Lewis's Narnia series:

"Alright, I have then," said Digory in a much louder voice, like a boy who was so miserable that he didn't care who knew he had been crying. "And so would you," he went on, "if you'd lived all your life in the country and had a pony, and a river at the bottom of the garden, and then been brought to live in a beastly Hole like this."
"London isn't a Hole," said Polly indignantly. But the boy was too wound up to take any notice of her, and he went on "And if your father was away in India - and you had to come and live with an Aunt and an Uncle who's mad (who would like that?) - and if the reason was that they were looking after your Mother - and if your Mother was ill and was going to - going to - die." Then his face went the wrong sort of shape as it does if you're trying to keep back your tears.