texts: What do you call a set of elements not including their ends?

texts:
I have a set of objects, an example would be this set of letters.

{A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I}

I need to call each part (or group of parts) with short single words.  Letter "A" is the Head; "I" is the Tail; Both Head and Tail are called Ends. each element is called a Segment.

So my question is, what do we call the middle segments B through H, in a short single word?

It can't be 'Middle/Center' because it could only refer to E.
It can't be 'Segment' because it includes the Head and Tail.
Basically the word needs to mean (w/o ambiguity) the segments not including the Head & Tail.
Doesn't need to be formal, like what I did w/ Head/Tail, which could've been just Start/End or First/Last.

Ironically, it's my homework on programming and naming function/methods, but this is more on language so I decided to post it here.  Thank you in advance.


texts: He makes a right turn to the corner vs. He makes a right turn at the corner

texts:
I wonder what's the difference between

  "make a right turn to the corner"

and

  "make a right turn at the corner."

My teachers could hardly explain why the former one is wrong, and I only found one match at Google

Does

  "He makes a turn to the corner"

really sound strange to native speakers?


texts: Literary technique from quote in Frankenstein

texts:
How much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the
  world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow

The above quote is taken from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and I read it described as an example of 'antithesis'. I don't quite agree that categorisation and was after a second opinion. Also, if it isn't antithesis what type of literary technique would it be classified as?


texts:
Could anyone guide me the meaning of government-run in below paragraph?

  Until the late 1980s, cannabis and opium were legal in India, sold in government-run shops and traded by the British East India Company.

I think it's mean government authorized or government owned. Any expert could guide me on this?


texts: Cannot understand the grammar used in the sentence "I'd love to have lived in the 19th century"

texts:
I came across this sentence in the one of the English knowledge tests, and it really confused me. It turned out that I cannot say "I'd love to live in the 19th century" because of some grammar rules related to the past tense.
I searched about this, but all I got were only more questions and misundestanding.
Some sources said that I can use the "I would have loved" construction, but I'm not sure whether I can use it in this case.
So, which of these examples are correct and what sense do they convey?

I would love to have lived in the 19th century
I would love to live in the 19th century
I would have loved to have lived in the 19th century
I would have loved to live in the 19th century

And what about continuous tense?

I would love to be living in the 19th century
I would love to have been living in the 19th century


texts:
Up until recently, I had believed there was a word "looksie" which meant "a quick/brief look", "a peek".

This seemed quite logical:
 - "a look" is a common noun.
 - "-sie" is a known diminutive suffix.

Thus, a look-sie would be a small look. On the contrary, results in dictionaries say the word is look-see, compounding the words "look" and "see". This construction does not make sense to me. Why would you combine "look" and "see"? You wouldn't have a "listen-hear".


texts: Meaning of 'what is this compared to her previous song'

texts:
'What is this compared to her previous song'.

Two people argued about whether a song was good or not, and one just responded with this.

What did they mean by that? I haven't found any satisfactory explanation yet, please help.


texts:
Does "one aside" here mean "I, as a participant, ..." or "apart from this, ..."?

  Later, tumbling down the main steps of Tate Britain as we head first
  for Lambeth Bridge, the city is awash with the wail of sirens and
  clacking of helicopter rotor blades.A state of emergency. Chaos,
  disruption and, above all, noise accompany us all the way. The artist
  can barely make himself heard at times. One aside I manage to catch as
  we set off: ‘everything you see and hear in the city is the
  consequence of a decision. Cities are made by humans, every bit’.


texts: Differences between "atomic bomb" and "nuclear weapon"

texts:
What differences are there between "atomic bomb" and "nuclear weapon"?

Is "atomic" only used when using talking about nuclear fission, whereas "nuclear" can mean either fission or fusion, as claimed by Wikipedia?

Is "bomb" only used when the device is dropped from a plane or otherwise placed manually, as opposed to being delivered by rockets?


texts: Singular or plural verb for compound subject?

texts: Which is correct?  "When quality and integrity matter..." or "When quality and integrity matters..."?


texts: Why is the pronunciation of "th" in "thread" different from "python"?

texts:
I checked the pronunciation of th in thread and python in Google Translate. The sound of the th in thread is similar to t, but in python it instead sounds like s.

However, in dictionaries (e.g. Longman), both have phonetics of /θ/. What is the difference? Why is th pronounced differently in thread and python?


texts: "Important for someone to do" vs. "important that someone does"

texts:
As I know, there is no difference in meaning between the following two sentences.

  It is not important for you to eat good food.
  It is not important that you eat good food.

But I believe that there is a little difference between the two sentences at least because
the letters in them are different.

Does anybody know the difference?


texts: Is it "room(s)" or "room/s" when referring to the possibility of more than one of something?

texts: When offering the possibility that there could be more than one of something, how should that be written?  Eg. You will be responsible for the cost of your room(s). Or should it be "room/s"?


texts: Are contractions of "I am" or "I would" rude?

texts:
I got edited on Stack Overflow because I used "I'm", "you're" and "I'd" instead of "I am" etc.

Is it considered rude to use contractions like that in informal conversations on the internet? I would not use them in papers but, I thought on Stack Overflow it was okay.


texts: Why do positive and negative variants of the same question elicit the same answer?

texts:
In common American English usage, these two questions elicit the same response:

Do you have a ticket?
Don't you have a ticket?

These are the usual answers (I was going to say "possible answers" but I can think of a whole host of situations where one could get other answers, e.g. wake up someone in the middle of the night and ask it, the answer might easily be "I don't know" or "maybe" or "hey, just let me sleep!"... but that's neither here nor there... :-)

Positive: "Yes" or "Yes, I do".
Negative "No" or "No, I do not".

But consider this: the questions are logically equivalent to:

You have a ticket, right?
You do not have a ticket, right?

Here I am not so sure that a "Yes, that's right" response means the same thing to each question. (One could still, however, use "Yes, I do" as @F'x answer in How to answer a negative question without ambiguity? illustrates, to remain valid and unambiguous.)

(As a side note, it is interesting to compare the same question in Chinese, where one literally asks
"Do you have/not have a ticket?" and the common answers are:

"[I] have"
"[I] not have"

...which also removes the ambiguity... while at the same time straying from my original question:-)

So why can I rewrite the questions so that they are essentially equivalent yet expect different answers?


texts: A problem about opening adjectival phrase

texts:
An editor revised a sentence in my essay as follows. I don't quite understand why he revised it this way. Originally "Distinctive from" was used as an opening adjectival phrase, but it was then amended to "As distinct from" that seems not grammatical as an opening adjectival phrase? (Because this kind of phrase should start with an adjective directly, instead of the word "as"?). Thanks!

Original sentence:
Distinctive from traditional deceptions, phishing is characterised by the following aspects.

Revised version:
As distinct from traditional deceptions, phishing is characterised by the following aspects.


texts: eg. Tropical climate not suited for huskies.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to capitalize pronouns referring to God

texts: In the bible, "he" and "his" are capitalized when they are used to refer to God. Is this grammatically correct? If so, what rule do we have that allows these words to be capitalized?


texts:
A recent CNN report reads:

  In an after-midnight session the U.S. Senate passed a bill Saturday ...

Google returns few results for after-midnight, other than references to a certain horror film, (another earlier film), a Clapton song, and things related to one or the other of these.

Q. Has after-midnight been used in this sense in popular writing? Will it be considered ungrammatical/ incorrect to do so?

CNN uses it again down the report "In a previous after-midnight vote, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution ..."


texts:
In an
  American case in 1937, Justice Clarkson said this before delivering his dissent:

    In those after years when this case, elevated to high authority by the cold finality
    of the printed page, is quoted with the customary ‘It has been said’ perchance
    another court will say, ‘Mayhaps the potter’s hand trembled at the wheel.’ Possibly
    when that moment comes these words may give the court a chance to say, ‘Yea,
    and a workman standing hard by saw the vase as it was cracked.’

Is cold here related to Definition 2? I'm guessing that Justice Clarkson's bemoaning that his dissent has been relegated to the printed page only, and can't change anything at that instant?

Source: P96, How the Law Works, Gary Slapper


texts: A person unaware his confidence exceeds his talent

texts:
So, yesterday, I got this text message from my own mother:

Now, after laughing for a good 5 minutes and then racking my brain for half a day, I still don't know how to help my mom insult this guy.

So, what's a good word or pithy phrase which describes:

  An adult whose confidence exceeds his talent, but doesn't seem to recognize that.

?

And before you question the wisdom of helping her find such a word ... hey, the lady brought me into this world.  I owe her.


texts: Learn about their business or learn their business? Comma usage in a list of verbs

texts:
Tribal Fusion is an online advertising provider that helps brands learn about, reach and better engage their audiences.

OR

Tribal Fusion is an online advertising provider that helps brands learn, reach and better engage their audiences.


texts: "As far as I know" and "As far as I'm concerned"

texts: Can we use "As far as I'm concerned" in place of "As far as I know"?   Or, are there some specific scenarios where in we do not have to use one in place of the other phrase?


texts: Are dialogue tags after a question capitalized?

texts:
When writing dialogue and dialogue tags, I have always asked myself if the tag is a complete sentence. If so, I use a comma and lower case such as:

She said, "Bob."
"Bob," she said.

"She said" isn't a full sentence on its own (in this context), so I use a comma instead of a period. I know this is correct. However, when it has either an ! or a ?, such as:

"How are you doing?" she asked.

I use lower case for "she." Is this correct? Or should it be capitalized, since "How are you doing" ends with punctuation that is not a comma?


texts: What does "stocktaking analysis" means in this sentence?

texts:
"Without GEF support, Iran will not be able to execute the priority actions identified in its stocktaking
analysis, capacity enhancement and consolidation of institutions will be slow or may not occur"


texts: Is there a word to describe the organisation of cells?

texts:
For example whether an organism is unicellular or multicellular would be its _.

There is a word 'cellularity', though I don't think that is quite the word I am looking for.


texts: What is the difference in meaning and usage between "gather" and "collect"?

texts: I was wondering what the actual difference between these two expressions is, since I recently read about "collecting mushrooms" but also about "gathering berries". Is there even any?


texts: How to use "if you will" in third person

texts:
How would one say "if you will" in third person POV?

I'm constantly finding myself wanting to type this phrase in papers but I usually refrain from it since "you" is second person and my teachers are exceptionally strict when it comes to POV in research papers.

Normally, I just replace "you" with "one" but that doesn't sound very... smooth, if you will.


texts:
Here is the situation:

A: We love ourselves even after we make so many mistakes, so why do we hate others for one or two mistakes they've made? (sad emotion)

Mary: everyone makes mistakes but what is important is knowing to make changes. Can one forgive someone who continues to fault and causes harm to someone else? If one still have trust then one should keep that to be stronger. Always be yourself and don't worry about the results. As long as you are yourself and live your life for you then that is what will give you happiness.

B : What Mary said ! Lucky girl get so many flowers.


texts: What would you call this kind of prepositional phrase?

texts:
What would you call a sentence that goes something like

  The foreman sent a worker to find me with a hammer.

The sentence is ambiguous, and could mean either:

The foreman sent a worker to find me holding a hammer; or
The foreman sent a worker holding a hammer to find me.

I am looking for a description other than "ambiguous" to explain why the prepositional phrase "with a hammer" is causing ambiguity.


texts: What is a good way to describe someone falling and feeling the strong wind pushing them down?

texts: I screamed. My whole body was falling down in complete darkness. I could feel the strong wind pushing me down. I had my eyes opened for a while but closed them, feeling no use in having them opened since I couldn’t see anything.


texts: "Carbine" rifle | is there pronunciation demographic data?

texts:
Let me count the ways:

Car-bine  (like: dine, refine, canine.)
Car-bean  (like: green bean, ravine, serpentine.)
CAR-buhn  (like: ..like the right and proper way to pronounce the scotch 'Oban'.)

As I understand it, the British all but universally use the first pronunciation.

The second is supported partially in the U.S. by not only countless old Western movies that 'document' our historic ways and dialects, but also the more astute fact that the word originated as the French “carabine” (pronounced: Cara-bean).

I'd love to see a graphic of North American pronunciation; as I suppose most everywhere else English speaking commonwealth people predominately inherit the Anglicized British form.


texts: Is “her” a possessive or an objective pronoun in “A mother takes care of her children”?

texts:
I had a sort of debate with my teacher to whether the her in the sentence

  A mother takes care of her children.

is a possessive or an objective pronoun.

I told my teacher that it was a possessive pronoun, as the mother had ownership of her children, but she told me it was an objective pronoun as it had preceded a preposition, making it an object of the preposition.

Which one should be correct, or, should both be considered?


texts: To my untrained eye, the words quean and queen look suspiciously similar, although they are quite different in meaning; so how did it come to be like that? Is this a coincidence, or are they etymologically related? And, if so, how are they related?


texts:
What's the meaning of "tree" in the following sentence?

  Pappus showed how both analysis and synthesis are used to solve
  problems by working in both directions to find a solution path (a
  tree or sequence of causes leading to the desired effect) that fully links a solution to known causes.


texts: Did everyday Americans really speak like they did on the radio?

texts:
When you listen to old radio broadcasts such as the War of the World or this Dick Tracy radio feature, you can hear Americans having the kind of fast talking and inflections you associate with old-time radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wPQjTyMNpw

Did people really talk like that? On the Honeymooners, you can see similar things when Norton speaks. It's not always as fast, but the focus of the topics, the way they interrupt each other, etc. is very different from today. Did everyday people speak like this?

In your answers, if you could link to some youtube videos or soundcloud recordings of how regular Americans used to speak in the past, and comment on the differences between that, radio and current speech patterns, that would be great.


texts: How do we call items taking part in undirect relation?

texts: When I have a directed relation I call one of the items taking part a subject and other an object. Is there a corresponding term for a bidirectional relation? I know I can call both items a relation objects, but I would like some other term to distinguish from directed relation.


texts:
If I wanted to analyse a piece of art "contextually" I would be using information that isn't actually part of the piece of art to analyse it.
What is the word for what is actually inside the piece of art?


texts: Meaning of "you don't need no memory" and its grammar or rhetoric

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “We don't need no education”

  You don't need no memory.

Just don't know what it means.


texts:
Is it correct to say compete with or compete against? I think compete against is the proper way, but compete with is extremely popular these days. Here's an example: It should be

  Apple MacOS competes against Windows 7...

but I have seen the other way.


texts: Word for be in sync with or matching with?

texts:
A thermostat set-point change that is _____ with the saved schedule has no effect because, the set-point would have been changed anyway.

(The set-points are changed precisely at the same time and to the same value as the saved schedule).


texts: What is the best way to name the program text before displaying it: "listing", "text" or "code"? I am inclined to believe that the word "listing" is the most official, the word "code" is slang, and the word "text" is neutral. But is it? Which word is best used on the web (in particular on the stackoverflow)? Thanks in advance!


texts:
does a noun phrase followed by a 'which' or 'where' clause form another noun phrase?

example 1:

  *The fast car which fly's

In this case, does  'The fast car which fly's'  form a noun phase?

My intuition tells me 'yes', because it can be followed by a main verb

example 2:

  nice houses where constructed


texts: Were "devil" and "damned" really offensive words in Victorian times?

texts:
I've been reading Trollope's The Way We Live Now, and have noticed a little stylistic quirk; that the words devil and damned appear blanked out, as d----- and d------. They appear in sentences like...

  The d---- you do!

and

  It's all d----- nonsense.

The Victorians have an unenviable reputation for prudery, but surely those words can't have been so taboo as to need blanking out, could they? Or is Trollope rendering them this way for comic effect (it certainly makes me smile)?


texts: What does ‘Nevada Sen. John Ensign may be toast’ mean?

texts:
I came across a headline of an article in the Washington Post (Feb. 2nd) reading ‘Why John Ensign may be toast,’ which is followed by the following sentence;

  Embattled Nevada Sen. John Ensign continues to move forward with plans to run for reelection in 2012 despite anemic fundraising and a looming Senate ethics investigation.

  Between an ethics investigation and poor fundraising, the Republican senator's reelection campaign might not stand a chance. Ensign is right about it being ugly, but whether or not it's a battle he can win remains a matter of considerable debate.

From the context of the above copy, my take of ‘Be toast’ is ‘On examination (or under criticism).’ in an analogy with bread being toasted. But dictionaries at hands don’t give anything like that definition. In addition, why ‘Toast’ is used as an adjective, not in past participle form in this phrase? Though the phrase is self-explanatory to native English speakers, but not to a late-started English learner like me. Can somebody explain me about its exact meaning?


texts:
The word pussy is often used to mean "coward".

  This guy is a pussy.

and I am wondering why. How are woman's genitals related to being a "coward"?


texts: Equivalent for "enunciate" for handwriting?

texts:
I was scribbling a grocery list last night and my wife, with her master's in English education and service as a middle school teacher, kept asking me what every other word was. I thought I was being clear with my writing (she was looking at the list upside-down), and I said, "I'm sorry I'm not enunciating my writing enough."

But then I said, "Not enunciate, but whatever the equivalent is for enunciation with handwriting. So what is that then, huh?" And we were both stumped.

My thoughts were:

Clarity, but I would interpret "writing clearly" to mean something more like writing concisely, or
Penmanship, but the definitions I found online for that were, "the art or skill of writing by hand." That's not exactly right either, as I think a lot of calligraphy (calligraphy, not cursive) is actually hard to read because the lettering flair obscures the shape of the letter.
Legible, this seems to be the closest to what I'm looking for, but legible means, "clear enough to read," where what I'm looking for isn't necessarily to make it clear enough to read, but rather just to make the letters more distinct, like enunciating a word might make the sounds more distinct.

So, is there any word that conveys this? Enunciate makes the sounds in a word more clear when spoken, ____ makes the letters in a word more clear when written.


texts: Is there an umbrella term for syntax elements that open and close, like parentheses?

texts:
I think we're all familiar with the concept of syntactic elements that are opened and closed, and can be nested in some cases.

Examples:

(), [], {}, <> et. al.
Parenthetic clauses, such as this one, which fall within a sentence
Quotation marks: "a direct quote" and 'another'

Programmers will also be familiar with examples from formal languages such as HTML tags: <p> This is a paragraph element </p>. Indentation often also often manifests this concept in programming languages.

There are also more abstract examples such as adverts on television that are split into two parts, and "frame" a portion of content (for example part 1 asks a question, part 2 answers it later).

Is there a name for this? "Parenthesis" covers a lot of it, but it doesn't really include quotation marks, nested formal language constructs (like HTML tags), or totally abstract examples like TV ads. Also, the "parenthesis" in a parenthetic clause refers to the contained element ("such as this one"), not the containing element ("Parenthetic clauses ... which fall within a sentence").


texts:
I first noticed it during an interview a journalist was doing with a presidential candidate. The journalist asked questions. Each time the candidate started his answer with the word "so". Now I am hearing this strange usage everywhere. It is as though the word "so" is replacing "um" and "uh" or something. I'm no linguist. My punctuation and sentence structure is probably pedestrian at best. However, this use of "so" is getting out of hand.

"What did you do today?"

"So, I walked the dog."

Also starting to see, "Okay, so..." and "sure" thrown in too.

Is "so" the elite form of "like"?


texts: What is the etymology of the word "snooker"

texts:
I have heard that the word "snooker" originally meant "beginner" and was coined at the time when the game was first invented.

Is there any truth in this theory?


texts: Why can I use 'guys' in the plural but not in the singular vocatively

texts:
We went to a pizza restaurant the other evening and the waiter insisted on referring to us as 'guys'.

I responded by calling him 'guy'. 'What kind of beer have you got, guy?'

My wife said she thought this seemed offensive. So why does it supposedly work in the plural, but not in the singular?


texts: Does the word 'clique' have a negative connotation?

texts:
Say I am offering a sharing service where people can exchange ideas and information through a simple interface. Users can start a group conversation and add their friends to interact with. Is the word clique too pejorative to describe such a group of people?

Being a mathematician, I particularly find the word clique a very good choice, but my colleagues are afraid it might evoke restrictiveness and exclusion based on the typical "high school cliques".


texts: How to describe buying a drink with a cheaper price when buying a meal set

texts:
I'm a HongKonger and my mother language is Cantonese (A kind of Chinese?).
I just wonder the sentence that I read on the restaurant menu is correct.
"Upon Purchase Of Above Set, Can Enjoy Premium To Purchase Set Drink"
It is quite hard for me to understand the meaning of the above mentioned sentence if I did not read its Chinese version. Is it the right way to present its true meaning?
I'd like to translate it as below:
"Enjoy favorable price for set drink on purchasing any of above meal sets."
Can you understand form my translation?
Or is there any better way to present?


texts: What to call a relation/ship that is based on interest and benefit?

texts:
Some relation/ships are based on care and responsibility, others are not but are based on benefits and interest. What this second kind is called.

It does not need to be an interpersonal relation; for example, it can be relation an organization has with a person.

It also does not need to be a mutual interest relationship. So A might start a relationship with a particular group because she see a benefit in such a relationship.

I prefer single words and I am already aware of such words as benefit-based or interest-based, I want other words with the same meaning.


texts: What is the double opposite of Schadenfreude?

texts: If schadenfreude means "pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune", is there a word to call someone who can't feel happy when something good/exciting happens to a relative/friend/someone close?


texts: what does "Not Hannah Samuel more" mean?

texts:
I'm reading A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde. Below is from Mrs. Arbuthnot to her son, Gerald:

[...] Gerald, when you were naked I clothed you, when you were hungry I gave you food. Night and day all that long winter I tended you. No office is too mean, no care too lowly for the thing we women love- and oh! how I loved you. Not Hannah Samuel more. And you needed love, for you were weakly, and only love could have kept you alive. Only love can keep any one alive. [...]

Really, I couldn't understand "Not Hannah Samuel more", from a grammar point of view. What does it mean actually?
Are some parts omitted? What is the complete form of this sentence?
Background
I suppose Hannah and Samuel are from Bible, below is quoted from Wikipedia:

In the biblical narrative, Hannah is one of two wives of Elkanah; the other, Peninnah, who bore children to Elkanah, but Hannah remained childless.
Nevertheless, Elkanah preferred Hannah. Every year Elkanah would offer a sacrifice at the Shiloh sanctuary, and give Penninah and her children a portion but he gave Hannah a double portion "because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb" (NIV). One day Hannah went up to the temple, and prayed with great weeping (I Samuel 1:10), while Eli the High Priest was sitting on a chair near the doorpost. In her prayer she asked God for a son and in return she vowed to give the son back to God for the service of the Shiloh priests. She promised he would remain a Nazarite all the days of his life.
Eli thought she was drunk and questioned her. When she explained herself, he sent her away and effectively said that her prayer would be heard and her desire granted. As promised, she conceived and bore a son. She called his name Samuel, "since she had asked the Lord for him" (1 Samuel 1:20 NAB). She raised him until he was weaned and brought him to the temple along with a sacrifice. The first 10 verses of 1 Samuel 2 record her song of praise to the Lord for answering her petition. Eli announced another blessing on Hannah, and she conceived 3 more sons and 2 daughters, making six in total.


texts:
When you want to say "starting a thread to discuss something", is it more correct saying "kick a discussion" or "kick off a discussion"?
Thank you.


texts:
I have two groups of sentences. In each group, do the two sentences have the same meaning? Is the first sentence in each group less common?

1A. Hardly had I arrived when it started to rain.

1B. I had just arrived when it started to rain.

2A. Hardly had I reached the station when the train came.

2B. I had just reached the station when the train came.

Thank you very much.


texts: British English for possessive 's when a names ends with "s"

texts:
My son has a teacher that he wishes to give a gift to, Mrs. Coomes.

What is the correct way to use what would normally be 's when the name ends with es? Another answer states adding es on the end however "Mrs. Coomeses buscuit tin" "feels" wrong.


texts: Is there an English expression for a day off for bridging the gap to the weekend?

texts:
Coming Thursday (Ascension day) will be a holiday, and I'd like to take the day off on Friday. Like this I'd like to bridge the gap towards the weekend.

In Dutch, this is called "making the bridge", is there an English word/expression for (taking) such a day off?


texts:
I'm writing a document in which I need to state that my work is unsupervised instead of supervised. I have thought in these two sentences, but don't know whether they are correct, or whether is there a better one to explain this situation.

"from an unsupervised decision making point of view"

"with an unsupervised decision making approach"

also, what's the correct way, "decision making" or "decision-making"?


texts: Is there a word for "colors in the order of the rainbow"?

texts: I was just wondering if there is a word for having the colors in the same order as the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)?  (Like when words are in the order of the alphabet we say they are alphabetical.) Rainbelical?!


texts:
When is it appropriate to use "was" (or the singular form of a verb) when two subjects are grouped? Would the usage of the singular imply the subject is "the relationship of those two subjects"

E.g. Key and Peele was/were funny. (An established group)

E.g. Jim and Pam was/were the best part of The Office. (a specific pairing often used together)

E.g. Chewbecca and the Porgs was/were entertaining in The Last Jedi. (In this case does was have a different meaning than were?)

E.g. Jack and Jill was/were running.

My "intuition" is that was is appropriate in the first three cases, while it's obviously not appropriate in the last one, but I can't determine why it would be appropriate in the middle two.


texts:
I want coffee.

vs.

  I want some coffee.

Does these two sentences completely identical?

In general, is it possible to delete the word "some" from every instance of "some coffee", and to keep the same meaning?

Thank you!


texts: What's a word or phrase for someone who has worked hard all their life

texts: Someone who has been worn down by a harsh working-life?


texts:
If I'm off to catch forty winks, how long will I be asleep?

I'm interested to know if there is a specific amount of time associated with a 'wink', or if there's no actual amount of time behind it?


texts: The correct usage of past tense with just

texts:
I understand that phrase:

  "I have just bought a house".

is correct.

But I also saw, that sometimes people could say:

  "I just bought a house."

Is it correct?


texts: Suggest a collective term for the "shadow people"

texts:
In politics, the term controlled opposition describes people who appear to be leaders but who are actually working for the dark side (e.g. corrupt governments or corporate interests).

However, there are also lots of low-profile enemy agents, including undercover cops and attorneys and spies who pose as ordinary citizens.

I loosely refer to these people collectively as shadow people, but I'd like to know if there is a better term. If not, can you suggest one?

P.S. When I say "working for the dark side," I don't necessarily mean people who are literally government employees. Rather, they are people who do the establishment's dirty work, presumably compensated in ways we may never know. Think of JFK's famous "Secret Societies" speech in envisioning a shadowy network of spies, people who cheer for the cameras even when they know they're listening to lies, etc.

Note: This is the first use of a new tag I just created, coin-a-term.


texts: Position of "yet" in a causative sentence

texts:
If I have to write a causative sentence in Present Perfect, where should I put yet, at the end of the question or right after the negation?

  She hasn't had her doors mended by the carpenter yet.
  She hasn't had her doors mended yet by the carpenter.
  Has she had her doors mended yet?

Could I say this:

  She hasn't had yet her doors mended.
  Has she had yet her doors mended?

Which is the right order, or are both acceptable?


texts: Difference between "Activity" and "Activeness"

texts: I've just seen the word "activeness" used do describe the degree of active involvement of somebody in a certain task. Should that be "activity" instead? Are both valid but there is a difference?


texts:
What is the meaning of sniped in? Can I use it in the following sentence to replace bought?

  John has bought/sniped in a  new BMW.


texts: Is a predicative adjunct part of a noun, or is it part of the sentence?

texts:
I just recently learned about predicative adjunct which is present in the following sentence by the "ready to race" adjectival phrase. I wonder whether the phrase that functions as a predicative adjunct is actually part of the predicand, or the sentence?

  John, ready to race, started the car.

I'm asking whether "ready to race" should be considered part of the subject "John" or whether it's a phrase that interrupts the flow of the sentence.

I'm comparing this with the following sentence, which has a relative clause:

  John, who was ready to race, started the car.

which, as far as I know, considers the relative clause "who was ready to race" as part of the noun "John".

More technically, if we're discussing in Penn Treebank parse tree format, would it be parsed as the following first option or the second?

(S
  (NP (NNP John)
    (, ,)
    (ADJP (JJ ready)
      (S
        (VP (TO to)
          (VB race))))
    (, ,))
  (VP (VBD started)
    (NP (DT the) (NN car)))
  (. .))

(S
  (NP (NNP John))
  (, ,)
  (ADJP (JJ ready)
    (S
      (VP (TO to)
        (VB race))))
  (, ,)
  (VP (VBD started)
    (NP (DT the) (NN car)))
  (. .))


texts: Is "doubly in the bubbly" equivalent of "the devil is in the details"

texts: Is doubly in the bubbly equivalent of the devil is in the details? How? What is the cultural background?


texts: What's the part of speech of the noun after 'twice'?

texts:
He could earn twice his present salary at the new job.

Twice two is four.

Merriam-Webster says ‘twice’ followed by a noun is an adverb. In this case, is the noun still called a noun or something else?


texts: I found this expression in a US book, it refers to kitchen work. Does it mean that people work very close to each other? Or something else?


texts: can anyone help with this please? Is there a single word that can be used to refer to someone who is always there for you, like a father or a mother who does every little thing for you? Like s/he is like sticking up for you, embracing and covering you up by doing everything for you? Thanks.


texts: Why is it called a semi-truck? Doesn’t “semi” mean “part”?

texts: I was wondering why semi-trucks are called that. Doesn’t semi mean “part of”? A semi-truck is a whole truck if I ever saw one!


texts: Incorrect "There's" with plurals--am I missing something?

texts:
More and more lately I've been noticing--what I think of as--mistakes with plurals. I've seen this a lot in spoken English, but it's also popped up a few times in the articles and books I read. The majority of the time, this seems to be with sentences that start with "There's [...]." ie:

There's three of them on the table over there.
If there's more of them in your pocket, why are you asking me?
There's other ways this can go, just talk to me!

All these cases look improper to me. It should be "There are" or I guess "There're" if the speaker/writer wanted to keep the contraction.
And yet, I've started seeing this multiple times on a daily basis. I've begun to question whether I'm in the wrong.
Did I miss some change to the word "There's?" Can it be used for plurals despite being the contraction for "There is?"
I've added the american-english tag in case this is a solely American quirk.


texts:
Which would be correct in the following context?

  They had done this, though, while neglecting one of the most important aspects of our Father’s love, which is freedom.

  They had done this, however, while neglecting one of the most important aspects of our Father’s love, which is freedom.

Thanks!


texts: Word representing the "giving up" or "relinquishing" of control for part of a process

texts:
Is there a word that defines the act of giving up control of part of a process to a separate entity.

For example, in a website you can often use Google or Facebook to log in.  Or a website might use PayPal to manage the financial checkout process.

The word that springs to mind is 'syndicate', is this correct use of the word?

e.g. "You can use Paypal to syndicate payment processing"


texts:
What is the female version of "phallic"?

  phal·lic/ˈfalik/Adjective

  Of, relating to, or resembling a phallus or erect penis.

It would have a definition as:

  Of, relating to, or resembling a vagina.


texts: 'that has' or 'that is' yet to be built?

texts:
Is this statement grammatically correct?

  The best Ferrari ever is the one that has yet to be built.
  -- Enzo Ferrari

Photo location: Museo Ferrari Maranello

Should it be 'that is yet to be built' instead?


texts: Word for a combination of video / visuals / perhaps other media

texts:
I believe it was about one year ago that I listened to a song (title is “Hún Jörð” by the band Sigur Rós) on YouTube accompanied by video. I believe the video was taken from a film about Jesus and Christianity. The author used a term for this kind of combination of audio and  visual, but I can’t remember it. Could anybody help me out?

Edit: When I looked up the word back then, I believe one of the definitions was something along the lines of “two things moving together” or “two things playing in harmony”.


texts: It was I or it is I (or both since it is just a matter of perspectives)

texts:
This confusion has been haunting me since I was fifteen. Please consider the following:
A. It was I who killed your mom.
B. It is I who killed your mom.

Question: As far as I know, we can apply two points of view here; the one of the past and that of the present, so we may use either was or is as long as I is still alive. Am I right?


texts:
A user quoted one my posts on another forum, and said I should have used the word "very" instead of "super". He also said I am corrupting the English language by doing so.

Sentence:

  I have a AlphaRacks VPS on QN. It's been super stable so far. I've
  only had it for around a month though.

I am not an English major at all, and so I'm curious if this is true and should I stay away from combining the words super and stable?

Thanks in advance


texts: Is "lessor" used for more than property?

texts:
Does the term "lessor" refer to only parties that lease property?

All of the definitions I have been researching (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lessor, https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=define%3A%20lessor, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lease) have only regarded property leasing.

Is it accurate (in casual use, rather than legal use) to use the term "lessor" to refer to someone leasing, say, building equipment? e.g.

  Lorem Supplies Ltd were the lessors of the cement mixer we used when we made that path.


texts: Verb or noun for - when I am not short of words but unable to speak lucidly

texts:
A situation when I am not short of words but confused by the setting.
the situation does not let me speak properly/lucidly. I kind of trip over my words.

  I don't know what to do. The silence was deafening. I finally
  ___________ out. Sir, Can I meet you.


texts: Is there an English equivalent to the Chinese saying, 君子之交淡如水 ...？

texts: The original expression, from the famous Chinese book 'Zhuangzi'  continues: "君子之交淡如水，小人之交甘若醴 ..." and its author is expressing that true friendships are like water, but that some relationships, in spite of looking good like wine, are not true friendships.


texts:
I am editing for a writer that consistently uses a form that I'm not sure is correct or not. What is this style of sentence structure, is it good or bad, and how do I make it better?

1) "She felt her eyes creak open as consciousness seeped into her, producing a soft gasp from her tired lungs."

2) "She stumbled back in horror, shielding her crying child."

3) "She leaned in close, her face as kind as ever."

Etc.


texts: Difference between "evade X" and "sidestep X"?

texts:
Please consider the following sentences

  In the journalist meeting, the politician evaded the questions about riots.
  in the journalist meeting, the politician sidestepped the questions about riots.

Do those sentences have the same meaning?

As fundamental rule, no two words would have same meaning at all times. I expect some differences between evade and sidestep, which is why I am asking this question.

The "Dictionary" software which I am using shows these definitions:

  Evade = escape or avoid, esp. by cleverness or trickery
  Sidestep = avoid (someone or something) by stepping sideways

I am unable to make out the differences between those two definitions.


texts: "I love bike riders." v. "I love the bike riders" Does this sentence need an article?

texts:
I love bike riders.

Does this sentence need an article? If it doesn't, why? I'm confused because for generalization we need The. However I feel like in this particular sentence The can't be used.


texts:
It seems to me that "transparency" can be considered to be an antonym of "privacy".  This isn't symmetric.  Because few people would think of "privacy" as an antonym of "transparency".  So where does the symmetry break down?

Edit:  since the question is attracting some answers which address the title of the question, but are skipping the content of the question, I'll add an emphasis.

Emphasis:  I am specifically asking "why does the symmetry break down?" Transparency is an antonym of privacy while privacy is not an antonym of transparency.

I freely admit that both terms have a lot of controversial uses attached to them.  Most of the controversy is around where the boundaries of the terms lie and where they "should" lie.  But in their basic usage, the lack of symmetry remains.


texts: What is the correct subject-verb agreement for chemical quantities expressed in moles?

texts:
I'm currently editing some chemistry test questions, and I have several sentences like the following:

What is the total number of moles of HCl produced when 3 moles of hydrogen is completely consumed?
How many moles of hydrogen are consumed in this reaction?

I originally flagged "are" in the latter sentence to be changed to "is" in order to be consistent, but intuition is leading me to doubt this. Does the "How many..." construction of the sentence make "moles" dictate agreement in this case?

I suspect that "How many..." contextually sets the expectation that the subject is a count noun ("moles" in this case), whereas in cases like the first sentence, there is no clear contextual indication whether the subject is a count or mass noun. Does anyone know if there is a clear rule for cases like this?  If not, would you stick with "are" in the second sentence or change it to "is"?


texts: Is "He told me not to argue but just agree." grammatically correct?

texts:
He told me not to argue but just agree.

I think the sentence above is grammatically correct, but I'm not sure.

In fact, I have a hard time choosing between the following sentences:

  He told me not to argue and just agree.

  He told me not to argue but to just agree.

  He told me not to argue and to just agree.

I seem completely lost and have been playing the guessing game. Someone help me?


texts:
I have a few silly questions about the use of the pronoun which:

In the sentence "A statistical model is a family of probability distributions of a random variable which is smoothly parametrized by a finite number of real parameters" is the pronoun which referring to the noun "statistical model" or the noun "variable"?

How could I rewrite the sentence above to make the pronoun which refer to the noun "statistical model"?


texts: What do you call the words obtained by inversing the order of the sounds?

texts:
I'm trying to find out the name for a word that was obtained by inversing the sound in another word. Is there a word for it?

Although cheat and teach would seem an easy example of such a pair, it is only close. When we don't restrain ourself to English word, we have the pair Made/Maid with the Latin word diem, which could be argued as being used in English, notably in the idiom "carpe diem".


texts: The American Heritage Dictionary states that the origins of "sheeny," a pejorative slang word for a Jew, are unknown.  As a Jew, I am interested in finding out where and when this word developed.  Any clues?


texts: What is the word for the mistake of placing an event or object in the wrong age or decade, such as a film star in a movie about Roman times wearing a robe made of nylon?


texts: Is there a word for overly friendly speech from someone who insults you behind your back?

texts: Is there a verb or adverb to describe the overly friendly speech or tone of someone who has said something bad about you behind your back but doesn't know that you know?


texts:
There are many terms describing a person who has a sexual preference for members of the same gender. The most clinical of these is homosexual. Other terms include queer and gay, but all of these terms are applied to both men and women indiscriminately.

Lesbian, as far as I can tell, is the only term that is used to describe a person of a gender having a sexual preference for a member of the same gender used exclusively for the female gender.

I have searched around and the closest I have come to an answer is “male gay” or “gay man,” neither of which is sufficient in my mind.

Is there a male equivalent word describing having a same-gender sexual preference, such as lesbian is for women?


texts:
Is there any word for the strap of the bra that is visible on shoulder.?

Mostly it is addressed as strap which is obviously a common word not specific to bra or any inner-wear.


texts: Can the element in a phrasal verb have a syntactic purpose?

texts:
I am trying to create a system for teaching ESL students phrasal verbs based on the concepts contributed by the element.  (For example, "up" frequently contributes the idea of finality or completion).

I was wondering if there are any phrasal verb theories that suggest there are elements that do something non-conceptual, or, to say it another way, something other than contributing a meaning.

Some phrasal verbs have obviously developed from others rather than being built on strictly conceptual bases.  "Coffee up" is word play on idioms like "drink up", for example.

But others like "hold up" I don't know.  I started speculating that, in common usage, "hold up" is used more often in the passive voice, like

  Our train is being held up by an accident.

rather than

  An accident is holding up our train.

However, the verb "to hold" is transitive, so that our ear wants a direct object after it.  "Up" is not a direct object, but perhaps it developed as a DO placeholder?

I am not promoting this theory.  This is just an example of the type of theory I am talking about.  My question is whether theories like this exist and where I can find them. Thanks.


texts:
My question is: Can the word plethorically be used in situations in which it would describe characteristics or qualities one would apply to biotic entities (humans)?

Is it acceptable to use plethorically in the following fragment?

  plethorically obnoxious

To add context I have constructed the following sentence:

  My fellow classmates are plethorically obnoxious, as they loquaciously spew ludicrously nonsensical drivel.

I have found that if I were to base my conclusion to my question on the definition, it would seem it cannot be used in such a way. I have contemplated over it, however, and I say that it isn't unrealistic to say that it is fine to use plethorically in such a way. The way I mean that is this: plethorically means an excessive or overabundant amount of something; one can have excessive obnoxiousness - obnoxiousness is something someone can have (bear); therefore, it stands to reason that one can be plethorically obnoxious.

If it is grammatically incorrect to use plethorically in such a way, I must find            a word to replace it. I'm thinking I could use eminently; however, I feel that plethorically simply has a particular feel to it that few others, if any, that can be used in such situations could satisfy. In the case that I cannot use plethorically, perhaps someone could suggest a situational alternative.

Thank you in advance.


texts:
I'm working on a claim (slogan) for a website and was wondering whether

"open to offers we can't refuse" or
"open for offers we can't refuse" would be more appropiate.

And, yes, I know about the context, it's a play on words / quotes.


texts: "Writing things down" vs. "writing things up"

texts: Is there any difference in the usage of "writing things down" vs. "writing things up"? Are they both correct?


texts:
Is there a prefix meaning "at most" or "capped at"? I'd like to describe a spherical cap (Wikipedia, Wolfram) that is at most a hemisphere. The blue solid in the diagram below shows the type of cap I'm comfortable referring to as a subhemispherical cap (a term I just made up to differentiate from the red solid, which is also a spherical cap,) however 'sub-' is strictly less than, whereas I mean to say less than or equal to. I thought of subhemispherical cap or hemisphere, which depicts nicely that a hemispherical cap is in fact a hemisphere, but it does sound somewhat cleaner to call it a subhemi- or hemispherical cap (although the oddity of calling a hemisphere a hemispherical cap makes me prefer the former.) I list hemi- second both times as it is the edge case.

Still, what I really want is to combine the two into one term, i.e. [prefix]hemispherical cap. This would avoid the awkwardness of those phrasings and would be an easily repeatable phrase in a paper.

By the way I do find unfortunate that the word cap here does not fit with the common English usage, synonymous with lid, if it did I could just call it a spherical cap.

Also this has to be easy to understand, if the prefix is too niche I can't use it (although I'd still be curious to hear it.)

EDITED: For extra clarity on what I want, what I came up with, and added an image.


texts: Is there a word that functions the same as "is facilitated by" in a cleaner way?

texts:
Is there a word that functions the same as “is facilitated by” in a cleaner way?

My writing currently contains the following question: “Do reading and writing require contrasting skill sets?”

What I am trying to state in a simple way is “does a skill set that supports writing make reading more difficult because the skills that facilitate writing directly contrast with the skills that facilitate reading?”

I think “require” is not appropriate because it is too strong. Really, reading is facilitated by a particular skill set, it does not require that specific skill set.

However “Are reading and writing facilitated by contrasting skill sets” feels clunky.

Here are some word replacements I’m considering:

Do reading and writing draw on contrasting skill sets?
Do reading and writing leverage contrasting skill sets?
Are reading and writing compatible with contrasting skill sets?


texts: Why hasn't the pronunciation of w been shortened?

texts: "Double u" is a rather long pronunciation for a letter. Why do we not yet have a shortened pronunciation yet? Is the letter simply too young, or are there other reasons?


texts: Infer is to "bear/bring in (a conclusion)" — where/why in?

texts:
I'm trying to envision when the word "infer" was used in this meaning of bringing in a conclusion, why it is "in" and to where it is meant. I would find "out" more fitting. As in what is "brought out" as a result. Should it be viewed as in "bear into the discussion"? Is the in-direction meaningfully relative to "in" in "introduce"? That we introduce someone on stage for our viewing? So we infer (bring forward) a conclusion for further evaluation? Compare with "induce" which shares the "duce" root with "introduce" and again, the "in" direction. Induce seems semantically related to infer at least in the context of logic.
Maybe the direction confuses me because this is meaningfully similar to "derive", where the direction is also "out" as in "runs out of the source". But then as mentioned we have "deduce" and also "induce". Here, however, the direction difference also makes a semantic difference at least in the context of logic (deductive vs. inductive reasoning)
Etymology links for convenience:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/infer
https://www.etymonline.com/word/infer#etymonline_v_6434


texts:
I'm trying to come up with gender-neutral / androgynous forms of idiomatic phrases like "son of a gun", "son of a bitch", etc., substituting the "son" in each case for a neutral word that does not specify the gender of the person in question.

Alternatives I have considered: child, spawn, kid, offspring

None of them sound natural. Haven't been able to find much on this either on this site or the wider Internet, in the latter case possibly because there is simply so much noise from usage.


texts: What is the word for somebody who does action/is action owner

texts:
In my web application inside code I must find a word for somebody to whom certain Action belongs to(he/she did it).

How to call such person? Contributor? Action owner? Participant?

Context: I log all actions registered users made in my application. For instance clicked certain button. Then I hold info: who did it, when it happenned and what happenned.


texts: Describing a requirement for patient autonomy in medical treatment

texts:
I am listing a set of desirable characteristics of a medical treatment in a certain setting -- essentially criteria for acceptability. Each section starts with a single word that identifies the section, followed by a number of parts and sub-parts that define and qualify it it in my current context.
The first three were easy:

Effective
Affordable
Safe

But the fourth one has me stymied. I am looking for a single word, or at most a two-word phrase, that means something like "preserves autonomy" or "allows the patient control over their own fate."
Two comments here:
The medical profession is virtually unique in the extent to which it is allowed to make decisions for mentally competent adults, based on their own good, without their consent. This is perhaps most obvious with respect to the prescription system, but it really pervades medicine.There are reasons for this of course, but there are also reasons to limit these powers, and a great deal of evidence that maintaining an individual's belief that they control their own life itself has medical benefit.
The second problem in parallelism is that the first three terms are all descriptions of the treatment, not the person. However, there is an implicit requirement, which is made explicit in  subpoints of each, that the treatment must have that characteristic with respect to the individual to which it is applied: Effective for you. Affordable by you.
All the things I have been able to come up with after combing several thesauruses either suffer from peculiar failures of parallelism (e.g. "Autonomy") or are long and awkward ("Preserves self-determination")> The latter also makes me uncomfortable for an additional reason, though I may be willing to live with it. It implies that the person has self-determination unless the treatment takes it away. But in the absence of treatment, this may just be the freedom to die. Ultimately, the longer document of which my current document is merely a summary or an elaborated table of contents will want to argue under this point the right to be fully informed consent, the right to be free of unwanted treatment, and in some cases, the right to treatment even over medical objection, as when a drug known to be effective and approved by many other countries has not yet been approved by the FDA.   I would ideally like a term that walks the line between these two extremes, as, e.g. "Preconditioned by informed consent," which avoids either extreme but is nonetheless horrible.
Yet for all these complications, I have a strong intuition that there is a right word that is just eluding me. And it is driving me crazy. Help?
andrewH


texts: Correct usage of date format in a sentence

texts:
I have an example here.

  Payment of $45 from 20 Aug 16 to 20 Sep 16 has been made successfully.

Is is right to frame a date this way for the user to read it easily or is there any other way to format a date in sentences like above?


texts: Hypernym for "to increase" and "to decrease"

texts:
I'm writing a walkthrough for a video game I really enjoy and I came to a point where there is a system that you can change the "power level" of monsters. It goes up and down, 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - ect...

In my guide I wrote:

  Increase/Decrease monster power level. I will explain more later in the guide (...)

I want (don't need to) put it into 1 word. It might be really simple and I just need some rest to get my mind functioning. If you could help, That'd be nice!


texts: What does the writer mean by "green fatigues"?

texts:
I already know the expression green envy or a green hand, but this is the first time I heard of green fatigues:

  Everyone stares at him briefly, at his congealed Wheatenea-and-lint carcass, but no one breaks stride; and who knows how long it will be before finally two policemen have to come in and hold their breath and scrape him out of the gloom and into the bosom of the law, from which he will emerge with a set of green fatigues, at least, and an honorable seat at night on the subway bench.

(from the Kandy-Kolored-Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, by Thomas K. Wolfe)


texts: Word meaning a small but significant risk

texts:
Is there a word referring to a risk which has low probability but high impact? I'm thinking of something that is dangerous but easily overlooked.

Sample sentence: The emerging field of AI ethics has not yet addressed the ___ risk of creation of a sentient AI.


texts: Which part of the given sentence has an error and why?

texts:
Below is the sentence divided into four parts, indicated as (a), (b), (c), (d):

  (a) Another baffling change    (b)that I notice in him    (c) nowadays
  is that he    (d) avoids to speak to me.


texts: what did Mr. Tester mean by saying to Dennis Muilenberg that you are 'pivoting' in the Congressional testimony of 737 Max?

texts:
I was looking at a video of Congressional testimony about the Boeing 737 MAX airplane, and if you jump to 1 hour 47 minutes in the Q&A with Mr. Muilenberg (the CEO of Boeing), Senator Tester accuses Mr. Muilenberg of 'pivoting'. Here is a transcript of the dialogue between Tester and Muilenberg leading up to Tester's comments about pivoting:

Senator Tester: ...And so the question is the one that Senator Udall brought up—that you didn’t answer, and I think other people on this committee also brought it up—and that is, What do we do? What do you do?
So, I’ll be a little more specific. I do believe there’s a cozy relationship [between U.S. airplane manufacturers and the Federal Aviation Administration], and I don’t believe that, quite frankly, time and money are no object because there’s also plenty of examples—for example, in 2014, FAA made regulatory changes to safety standards that would have required changes to the [737] MAX to add new crew alerts. Boeing appealed it to the FAA to seek an exemption, arguing that it would cost too much money—$10 billion, which is a lot of money. But the truth is, is that it [the 737 MAX crashes] wouldn’t have happened if FAA would have been doing their job, and it also wouldn’t have happened if you would have known what the hell was going on.
So my question is, is that—and I know there was a push a number of decades ago about privatization of federal government, and I think that’s how we got here, is privatization of government. But why don’t we just turn over the certification [process] back to the FAA and let them do it, and then they would be the ones setting at this desk today and not you. Why not do that?
Mr. Muilenburg: Well, senator, we share, we share your focus on safety, and I can, I can confidently say that, that is our number one priority.
Senator Tester: Okay, cool, but we failed in this case, and there’s a whole bunch of people back there that are going through incredible anguish, that are going through incredible anguish because we failed.
Mr. Muilenburg: Senator, I agree, and, and we, we feel terrible about that—
Senator Tester: So let’s, let’s get to the question. And, and look, there’s—I can pivot with the best of ’em. I know how to pivot, I know when people are pivoting, and you’re pivoting. Tell me if you would support having the FAA do the certification.

From the sound of it or tone it seems that Mr. Muilenberg is doing something deceitful or something. Could somebody tell what it means and perhaps might share some more examples to better explain the meaning of the word. Maybe give examples where the usage of 'pivoting' would be correct and where not ?


texts: Could anybody say me how to write periods of time in English. For example, I know how to say in case of years: from one year to another year. But how to deal with hours. Is it the same? from 5 am to 6 pm or till 6 pm?


texts:
Please take a look at the bolded sentence in this text:

  Full-stack developer with 2 years of experience combined with 7 years of studying and practising pharmacy and bio-informatics. Thus I have a wider skill set that required for every developer. As a developer, I have developed, designed and deployed apps, websites, and online shops, mainly using Javascript (Node) and PHP.

Is this sentence correct:
"Thus I have a wider skill set that required for every developer"?
Do I need to use "Thus"?
Do I need to use "That"?


texts: I am listening to an audio; the speaker is not native. He says, "this ideology is more averting more against the cause of freedom".I checked the dictionary but I am still confused. Is this sentence correct or is that a different word because the sound is not very clear. I might have not heard correctly.


texts: What is the figurative meaning of "cold pizza"?

texts:
I've always thought that "cold pizza" was an expression used mainly to refer to a boring, uninteresting person or an unexciting event whose images call to mind that of   an unappetising cold pizza.

According to Ngram "cold pizza" has been used increasingly from the early 70's.

The is no clear reference  on this expression (just UD mentions it) and its figurative usage may lend itself to different interpretations at times, but I've noticed that it is often used referring to breakfast:

From The Amazing Adventures of a Marginally Successful Musician

  If you haven't had cold pizza for breakfast, you're not a musician and therefore, I'll refund your money for this book.

From The Crossroads: A Haunted Mystery:

  You know, in law school, we used to eat cold pizza for breakfast...

It is also the name of a TV sports morning talk show  in the U.S.

Questions:

1) Is the expression actually used to refer to a boring, uninteresting person?

2) What are the other (if there are)  figurative usages of "cold pizza"?

3) Is it mainly, as it appears, an AmE expression?

EDIT: I know that the expression comes from some  eating habits of American people, my question is about the figurative usage of what a piece of cold pizza may suggest.


texts: With vs In. Which one is the appropriate for the following situation?

texts:
Which one of the following is grammatically correct?
There is a failure in / with the sensor.


texts: Does 'rhythm' have one or two syllables?

texts:
Does the word 'rhythm' have one or two syllables?

I'm wondering if there are any reasons for or against a sound-based argument vs a written-based argument.


texts:
The following is taken from a book:

  As a result, hosting in IIS 5/6 is notorious for instability and the frequent need to reset the server or IIS 5/6.

In the context above, why doesn't "instability" have an article, while "frequent need" does?


texts: I would like to know some Aussie slang terms for well... diarrhoea!

texts:
Only two terms in Strine I had come across for diarrhoea: one is 'A bad case of the trots'. Another is, 'To have an attack of the flying axe handles'. Really! Are these the only two terms in both Aussie and Kiwi slang for the 'runny shits'?

Ta!


texts: How to use possessive form for proper nouns that already have an apostrophe

texts:
How would one write a possessive form for a proper noun that already has an apostrophe-s in it? For example, I want to use the possessive form of "McDonald's" maybe in the sentence "The Market Street McDonald's' employees are friendly."

I realize the possessive form may not be entirely necessary there, but in a case where it is, what is correct?


texts: Why is it said that "messages are sent to methods"?

texts:
In object-oriented programming, it is said that messages are sent to methods. In this context, why is the word "method" used instead of "procedure" or "function"?

In other words, why was the word "method" introduced to programming?


texts:
I wrote in my manuscript that;
"Additional 17 human samples not preserved in formaldehyde were provided for age dating."

But my English proofreader corrected that
"An additional 17 human samples not preserved in formaldehyde were provided for age dating."

She explained the reason as "I added an 'An' here because you are starting a sentence with this information (and the article here can help in emphasizing the action that is going on in this sentence). "

I need further explanation.


texts: What is the English equivalent of the Russian saying "my ears are curling into tubes"?

texts:
Background:
Russians use this saying to describe extreme heat conditions in "Banya" when it is becoming almost unbearable.

Russian Мои уши в трубочку сворачиваются?

English literal translation My ears are curling into tubes

Question:
What is English idiom that could be used in sauna or steam room to describe that it has gotten so hot, that it feels like your ears are curling into a tube?


texts: What is the opposite of a metaphorical barrier?

texts:
I am trying to find a noun that describes a person that enables others to be more productive. The opposite of that is a roadblock or barrier.
My first thought was a sail, since the addition of another sail in the correct place allows a ship to reach its destination faster. But this strikes as too obscure.
Is there a shared metaphor/simile that would capture this idea and satisfies these conditions

noun that can be applied to a person (Bill is a ... )
not obscure
helps others achieve their goals better (rather than his own goals)


texts:
I don't quite understand how one should use the expression "exported from somewhere". What does it mean when an item is exported from a given place?

So far I've always seen the verb export used like this:

  The UK exports veal to many European countries.

I've also seen the verb import being used like this:

  The UK imports asparagus from Bolivia.

But I don't understand what exported from means. For example:

  Wheat is exported from the UK.


texts:
I'm trying to translate a phrase from Spanish ("Hasta el final de los tiempos") and I was thinking of using one of these phrases:

Until the end of time
Until the end of the times
Until the end of times

I googled all these three and all show up in examples so I'm wondering. Should time be singular or plural? Should I use "the"? Personally I like 3) but I'm not sure if this would be valid or the most appropriate.


texts: Usage of "in" and "on" in these examples

texts:
Why is it always "in" a movie and "on" television?
You never hear or read anything like:

He was in that TV show, "Columbo".
He was on that movie, "Scarface".

It's always the other way around.  Why is that?


texts: Is "cookie" a recent addition to Australian English?

texts:
Wiktionary's entry for cookie says a "cookie" is

  (England and Wales) A specifically American-style biscuit.

and Wikipedia's entry for biscuit says

  Although in Commonwealth Nations, the term "cookie" may be synonymous
  with "biscuit", a cookie is generally a softer baked product.

I don't really recall "cookie" being used this way 10 or 20 years ago in Australia. Am I imagining it, or has usage of the word increased over time?


texts:
I have seen it both ways:

He is a veritable font of information.
He is a veritable fount of information.

The first is referenced by M-W's definition and seems to match the pronunciation I'm used to:

source, fountain (a font of information)

The second seems equally sensible given that 'fount' can be an abbreviation for 'fountain'.
An NGram shows that 'fount' outpaces 'font' in written usage (seemingly in contradiction with the dictionary), but both seem to be pretty widespread.
Are there any reasons to use one over the other, or are they really wholly interchangeable?


texts: How to refer to a previous word in a sentence?

texts:
I've just written the following sentence for my academic essay:

  Some educators believe that it is more advantageous for students to learn theories rather than facts, since theories help explain both past and future events.

Because I don't want to sound repetitive, I've decided to change the word theories for something that refers back to it, as shown bellow:

  Some educators believe that it is more advantageous for students to learn theories rather than facts, since the first ones help explain both past and future events.

Is the second sentence correct? Is there a more formal way to convey the same idea?

I did search for explanation on the internet, but could not find any.

Thanks in advance.


texts: Does "Reducing/ Minimizing your cost" make sense?

texts:
At my company, I and my co-workers are working on a brochure for our products.
As one of the benefits our products could provide, we are trying to emphasize the fact that our customers (mostly companies and businesses in telecom industry) can reduce their operating cost using our equipment and products and we are trying to come up with a phrase for that.

In this case, will "Minimizing YOUR cost" work? One of my co-workers suggested this and I am not sure if "Your" is good. When you actually think about it, it's not YOUR cost until you pay for products at the end. How about just "operating cost"? or any other suggestions?


texts: What do you call an idea that one person thinks is smart, but everyone else knows is stupid?

texts:
I need a word or phrase that refers to an idea that was meticulously crafted, but which was, in reality, an obviously stupid idea.  Not because the person was unaware of some key facts, but because they simply didn't think the idea through.

I need it to sum up incidents like this in a story I am writing:

A company I used to work for decided to "go green" by implementing some energy-saving measures. All employees were told to turn in their old power strips in exchange for "smart" ones that had a motion sensor attachment.  They even made a big event out of it, calling it watt-stomping or some such nonsense.  They probably got a bulk discount on the 1,000 of them they ordered, but I'm sure they were pretty expensive despite.

The problem with these things is that the motion sensor turns the whole strip off when it doesn't detect movement after some length of time.  Sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?

But if you stop and think about it for even a few moments, it's obvious that this is stupid for an office environment. What exactly are you supposed to plug into this thing?  You can't plug your computer into it -- unless pulling the power plug is your screen saver.  Monitors would be OK, but they shut off on their own anyway.  Laser printers actually cost more energy to be constantly power cycled than it does to just leave them on all the time.  Space heaters can't be plugged into power strips because it's a fire code thing.  What's left?  Little radios and desk lamps are all I can think of.  Way to save power there.

The idea was quickly (and rightfully) abandoned after peoples' computers began shutting off without saving their data. Regular power strips started showing up in the office again, but coming across a spare was like finding gold for a while there.


texts: What does "Tree someone's or their game" means?

texts:
As contextually hinted here in the sentence "1838 – "Instead of having treed their game....", the meaning of possibly rarely-known phrase "tree his/her/someone's/their game" has some positive meaning like "mastering the game", which if not realized, it suggests futile and ignorant efforts or course of action(barking up wrong tree).
Now this usage of the word "tree", I haven't come across even after much efforted searching of it's phrases' list or origins.
Can someone confirm whether the contextually hinted meaning is correct and accurate and also explain when and by what origin, the word "tree" was used to suggest positive meaning hinting "mastered/well-understood their game" ?


texts: First, is "pro" an abbreviated form of "professional"? If yes, does "Pro American" mean "Professional American"?


texts: How to semi-formally address a senior academic?

texts:
What is a proper way to address a person with the title of a Professor in a way which is less formal than "Dear Professor", but still conveys some respect?

For example, suppose I am talking to Professor John Smith. At first, I would address him as "Professor" or "Professor Smith", but after some time he gets tired of it, and suggests that I call him by first name. Because Professor Smith is very accomplished and respectable (and partly because of my Easter European upbringing), I feel reluctant just to call him "John". Do phrases like "Professor John" or "Mr John" sound natural and respectful? Is there a better alternative?

I'd be most interested in answers concerning British English, but would also be grateful for insight about other dialects.


texts: Is there a word for 'a person who can't differentiate between right and wrong'?

texts:
What would we call a person who cannot differentiate between right and wrong?

I want to use this in my prose in a context as:

  IMO, people who think Kim Jong Un is a great leader are [don't want to say stupid or unintelligent].

What can be used here?


texts: What is the difference between the adjectives novel and new?

texts:
The coronavirus is "novel", which made this adjective more common. I interpret it as a synonym of new, but is there any difference between the two?
AHD, for instance, does not make a great distinction:

novel 2  [adj]:
Strikingly new, unusual, or different.


texts: Positive way of saying emotional appeal?

texts: Is there a positive way of saying argumentum ad passiones?


texts: An anonymous referee of a paper I wrote requires me to change all sentences of the form "If X, Y" to "If X, then Y".  The paper is on theoretical computer science and contains many sentences like "If P is a triple, Gamma(P) equals zero."  He requires me to change that into "If P is a triple, then Gamma(P) equals zero."  Is he right?


texts: What is the origin of the term "in forever"?

texts:
Is it acceptable to use the term "in forever" when referring to a length of time, even though it is illogical? For example, "Ohmigosh, I haven't seen you in forever!"

Or is this term one that we should strike from the annals of history?


texts: Is it correct to use the infinitive to in the next sentences with give and spit?

texts:
Greetings to all of you I have the next question

I have these two sentences:
My life was safe with the love you gave to me

and

you now feel free to spit your sins to me

Is the use of the infinitive "to" correct or should I use: Gave me and spit me?


texts: Is there a term for an infographic appearing to give numeric information but not doing so?

texts:
In an infographic at http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-11/fact-check-negative-gearing-kelly-odwyer/7401096, there's a display of what proportion of various professions use negative gearing. At first I assumed the height of each individual indicated how much negative gearing they do, but their height increases by a regular amount instead. Is there a term for that, so you could say

  That infographic was a bit of a ____


texts: Is "between" always used for two things?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “between” vs “among”

I know the word "between" is used when we are concerned with two things. But can it be used with more than two things?


texts: A picturesque equivalent for German "Beutelschneiderei", i.e. what cut-purses and fraudsters do

texts:
In German there is a term Beutelschneiderei which in all dictionaries I have currently access to is being translated as "daylight robbery". However, Beutelschneiderei in German is a very picturesque word (evoking mediaeval sceneries), and my impression is that "daylight robbery" is more of a sober description of the activity.

Here is the question: What better terms could I use in an English text to render German Beutelschneiderei.

I found

  cut-purse

as a term for the person involved in that business; cut-purse being an exact translation of Beutelschneider, which is the person; whereas Beutelschneiderei is the activity, or the trade, so perhaps something like

  cut-pursery (?).

Note that the term Beutelschneiderei does not only describe the occupation of a person concretely cutting with a knife or scissors people's purses off their belt. It can be used also metaphorically for any fraudulent activity aiming at taking money from people without returning a due service. For example "Trump University" could in German quite correctly be refered to as Beutelschneiderei. It is this metaphorical use that I am after, not so much the original physical activity of pursecutting.

Note also that Beutelschneiderei is not a legal term. In legal terms, a cut-purse would be prosecuted for theft (Diebstahl) or robbery (Raub), because these terms are defined by penal law.

I am sure there are nice words or idioms in English, given for example the rich 19th century literature describing life in the poorer parts of society.

A concise version of this question would be: What (ideally picturesque, possibly slightly ironic) expressions are there to describe fraud?

Later found:

Having had now access to one more dictionary, I can contribute to the list (that meanwhile has formed thanks to contributors):

  thievery

And finally...

... as forum members have posted quite a number of beautiful and interesting answers, and I see now that the semantic field is pretty broad, with all kinds of variables in it, here is the actual context where I want to use the expression: Speaking about various new forms of teaching and learning, I have here somebody claiming that "Providing a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to learn leadership would simply be [your idiom for Beutelschneiderei]".


texts: What is this an example of: "FOR SALE: Car by elderly lady with new body and spare tire"

texts:
Historical examples:

  Croesus asked the oracle what would happen if he
  attacked Persia. The reply: ‘A mighty empire will be humbled’.
  Thank you so much for the book. I shall lose no time in reading it.

Modern example:

  I am opposed to taxes which slow economic growth.

Humorous:

  The anthropologists went to a remote area and took photographs of some native women, but they weren't developed.

What is the term used for these examples?


texts: Word to describe this behavior: applying your work habit even when you're not working?

texts: For example: I'm an engineer on a vacation. When someone mentioned a machine that's broken, I can't help but join in an try to debug the issue.


texts: Is this a correct sentence. "If I want to do this, so do you."?

texts: As we say, "If I can do that, so can you". In a similar way can we use the sentence, "If I want to do this, so do you."?


texts:
The idiom to "like grim death" is widely understood to mean something such as:

like grim death = With great determination.
Oxford Lexico
‘we had to hold on like grim death’

Hence we find:

To hang on like grim death or hang on for grim death means to do something with extreme determination, to hold onto something very firmly. The idioms hang on like grim death and hang on for grim death appear around 1850, though the term grim death was coined by Shakespeare. The term grim death first appeared in The Taming of the Shrew, a play written in the very early 1590s. In the Induction, scene one, the Lord says: “Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!” In this instance, the word grim means fierce, merciless or cruel, it is often used in this sense in the term grim reaper which is an anthropomorphization of death. The character in question in The Taming of the Shrew is not actually dead.
Grammarist

These two examples come from many similar. In none that I have found do I see any explanation why grim death, whether anthropomorphised or not, should hang on. and if so, hang on to what?
Any suggestions?


texts: Word for the view of sun hitting a surface on a neighboring building or natural feature

texts:
I really appreciate the warm glowing light you can see when you look out other buildings or surfaces from a terrace or a window.  This effect is especially pleasant late in the day as the sun gets low on the horizon.

'Indirect lighting' is what the effect is inside and around me, but that does not capture this particular sort of view quality. Perhaps there is an architectural term for it ?

"Lots of light" or "indirect light" can be achieved many ways: a reflecting surface isn't always required ... the sky and clouds etc let some light in, even on a shady side of a building. That idea of needing less lamps on not what I'm talking about.

An answer can either be a word or a short term (perhaps an adjective coupled with the word 'view'?).

Sample sentence:

Great space with a radiant light reflected in from neighboring building.

Great space with _____


texts: Word for a person who continually tries to teach you when it's not necessary

texts:
I've experienced this way too many times, and the best example I can give is a person who treats you like you have no idea how to do X and who keeps teaching you how to do it. I feel handicapped.
Take for example how to play a card game. You know how to play the game because you've played it 5 times. However, there is a person always insists on explaining the game to you - like you are always new to the game - when you don't actually need any help and you just want to think for yourself.
Another example situation is doing a repetitive task which you already have experience with, and yet the person continually tries to 'teach' you when you don't need help/already know how to do it. It almost makes you mad because you really don't need help.
As an example which recently happened to me:

"Hey, do you remember how to start the wood chipper?"
"Yes I do"
"Okay, well, let me show you one more time"

Again, is there a term for someone who does this?


texts:
Duplicate of:
  “User accounts” or “users account”
  “Employee list” or “employees list”
  Should a list of tokens be called a “token list” or a “tokens list”
  “BookList” or “booksList?”
  Is it correct to say “lesson count” or “lessons count”?
  "Thing count" or "things count"
  And others

Which of the following are correct?

  Countries List
  Country List

It is the title of a web page where users can view the list of countries and select one.


texts: What is the origin of the music term 'grace note'?

texts:
A grace note (Wikipedia link) is a generally short-lived musical note, which serves to 'decorate' a melody, while not adding any time to it, or affecting the melody's structure in any significant way.

But why 'grace'?  Who coined the term?  Was it borrowed from another language, say, Italian?  What was the logic behind associating the notion of 'grace' with this kind of musical note?  Concerning the origin of 'grace note' in English, Etymonline says only this:

  In music, "an embellishment not essential to the melody or harmony," 1650s.

To be specific, I am researching a particular kind of musical ornament that recurs in Medieval Latin treatises on music theory (Gregorian chant), the so-called vinnola vox.  The descriptions reveal it as either a quick short passing note in a rising musical passage, or a brief neighboring note between two notes of the same pitch, like an acciaccatura or mordent.  All of these musical ornaments are conceptually similar to a grace note.

Well, the Latin term vinnola or vinnula, describing a voice, means 'lovely', 'sweet', 'delightful', believed to be derived from the name Venus (goddess of love),   about which Wikipedia says the following:

  It [Venus] has connections to venerari ("to honour, to try to please") and venia ("grace, favour") through a possible common root in an Indo-European *wenes- or *u̯enis ("friend"). Their common Proto-Indo-European root is assumed as *wen- or *u̯en- "to strive for, wish for, desire, love").

Granted, there are about eight centuries between the 1650s and the time period of these manuscripts.  Yet the coincidence is tempting to study.

So ... what do we know about the connotation of 'grace' in a grace note, and how far back does our knowledge reach?


texts:
I'm not sure I would have been able to answer.

Is this present and past combination correct?


texts: What is the history of “partner” being used to refer to boyfriend–girlfriend relationships?

texts:
In North America (especially Canada and the United States), the word partner is more and more commonly used to describe someone who would otherwise traditionally have been called a boyfriend or a girlfriend.  Why is this, and what is the history behind it?

In trying to answer this question, I came up with a number of theories, but I haven’t been able to verify them, so I’m interested to see whether an expert can shed light on what’s happening here.

Just to be clear, I understand the historical etymology of partner.  My question comes from the recent use of the word by people who would not have used it just a few decades ago.

These are my theories:

Political Correctness — With the rise of gay culture and the acceptance of same-sex relations in the Western world, partner provides a gender-neutral word to describe someone’s significant other.  By using partner, a person would not have to reveal the sex of their significant other, and so this use, especially among the internet and counter-cultures, in the name of political correctness, then spread to opposite-sex couples.
Relationship Complexities — Boyfriend and girlfriend are somehow perceived as narrowly defining a relationship, implying certain undesirable characteristics about that couple’s relationship.  With the growth of the internet, casual dating, and delayed marriage, relationships have become more complicated than ever.  Partner is used to neutrally describe the relationship without implying too much or too little about how the couple feel about each other.  This may have come from the historic use of partner to describe a significant other in a domestic partnership.
Opposition to Patriarchy — (similar to political correctness) Terms like marriage and boyfriend or girlfriend are perceived by the hippie or hipster cultures to have come from a time of patriarchy.  Partner is a way to escape from this historic oppression over relationships.


texts: Can I use shoes as a collective noun as singular?

texts:
The only thing I can wear is my shoes.

Can I use shoes as a collective noun in singular, as in the example?


texts: Is it grammatical to use "would" twice in a sentence? Why? Please consider the following examples

texts:
Is "would" used correctly in these sentences?

I would not be surprised if you would lose.
I would not give you the weapon if you would use it to harm others.


texts: What is a word/idiom for 'unable to decide'?

texts: Let's say I have an important decision to make and I can't decide between two competing things (like break up with a girl or not break up with her). What would be a word/idiom to express that?


texts: Comma or period after break from quotation?

texts:
In quotations such as

"I'm hungry," he said, "I want to eat dinner."

Do you end the word said with a comma or period?


texts: Is there a saying or proverb for a situation where the weakest party will always lose?

texts:
Context - One might use it in the following situations:

"An employee has an argument with her boss and a dispute follows." (she gets fired a few weeks later)
"A student having an argument with his teacher over his grades takes the problem to the headmaster." (the headmaster doesn't want to get into it and says the teacher is right)
"Workers go on strike for a week, get no raise and are considered absent from work."

You can say it to your son/daughter as a prediction: “Be careful mate, remember…(the saying)…

And you can also say it when he/she comes to you for comfort and support: “I told you, mate, they say that........(the saying).


texts: Is there a name for this kind of supplementary text?

texts:
Here is a link to a crossword published by The Guardian (UK newspaper).

As happens from time to time, the puzzle is headed by a brief note marked Special Instructions.

My friends and I invariably refer to that text as the byline, but we all agree this isn't the right word. Possibly there isn't one. I doubt there's a really common name for it, or The Guardian would have written that instead of Special Instructions.

Is there a more appropriate term out there?


texts:
As English is not my native language, I have a trouble to find the correct way to express the following:

Two negations are equivalent to an affirmation

properly.

This is how it translates from my native language (Greek) if it is translated word by word: "δύο αρνήσεις ισοδυναμούν με μία κατάφαση", and it does not sound good to me.

Is there a standard English expression (an appropriate cliché, for example) with this meaning?

UPDATE. Let me give an example of what this expression really means:

"There is NO student in this classroom who DOES NOT HAVE a pencil."

is logically equivalent to:

"Every student is this classroom HAS a pencil"

So the first sentence has two negations - a negation of a negation - while the second one has affirmative nature.


texts: It seems like a particular dance is called "Two-step". It gave me some doubts about how to spell step in the description of a method I use. If my method has two steps, should it be called a two step method or a two steps method?


texts: The "preying" mantis female is said to devour its "mail" during copulation. Considering these mistakes unintentional, what would we call them?

texts: Is there such thing as "a written malapropism" or "a slip of the pen"?  Or are they just simple spelling mistakes? If they were unintentional, they couldn't be considered puns or a play with words, I presume.


texts: If I want to enumerate few indicators that were measured, how can I do that without using a word "indicators"? My friend suggested "Were measured: professional identity, professional motivation, social personality values, leadership potential, etc.", but that doesn't sound right.


texts: "Proudly Sydney Based": To hyphenate or not?

texts:
I want to check my understanding (or lack of it) about hyphenation. I find hyphens very confusing.
I have a phrase "Proudly Sydney Based" for a headline.
My understanding is that as written above there is no hyphen, but if I wrote a "Sydney-based company" I would need to use a hyphen.
Can you please advise whether this is correct?


texts:
I heard the sentence in a TV show (Fringe 4x16).

The guy's phone was ringing and his friend said:

  "You should get that. I think the seventies are calling."

and they both chuckled as if at a joke. So I thought it must be slang.

I got no results from Google and was curious to know the meaning.


texts: What is a single word for a person who wants badly to hold a place in history?

texts: He wants to be REMEMBERED forever by the people like Abraham Lincoln or Adolf Hitler


texts:
What I am particularly interested in is the phrasal verb stand down.

According to Oxford Online Dictionary, it means:

  Relax or cause to relax after a state of readiness:

However, whenever I hear this phrasal verb in movies or TV shows, it sounds more like "do not engage (do not aim/do not shoot)" or "lower your guns from the target".

Question: I am interested in knowing about its origin and etymology. What exactly does stand down mean? Any object of the verb stand is omitted or something else?


texts: How can I order eggs "over hard" in the UK?

texts:
I've recently made a couple of trips to the London area, and I've had a terrible time trying to convince the hotel breakfast cooks that I want my eggs fried "over hard", meaning that both the white and the yolk are cooked until solid.

It may just be that the cooks were not native English speakers, but I'm wondering whether this is a term used in American English but not in British English.

Is there a good way to express this in the UK?


texts: Reasonable phobia name for fear of alcohol evaporating before you can drink it

texts:
I am curious as to what the phobia name would be for the fear of the alcohol in your drink evaporating before you can drink it.

It appears most phobias are rooted in Greek and sometimes Latin.  Some searching around turned up some names for a fear of alcohol:

Alcohol Phobia- Methyphobia or Potophobia.

Are there any language whizzes out there that can come up with this?

Alcoholism will not be accepted as an answer.


texts: Should there be a comma before "such that" in this context?

texts:
In mathematical papers, one often encounters "such that". I was wondering in what contexts you would need to place a comma before that.
An example sentence is the following:

Take an element out of this set[,] such that this element satisfies this condition.

The context is, there are a lot of elements in the set, but not all of them satisfy the condition. Should a comma be placed here or not?
I believe there should be a comma, since this is similar to the situation where you have a defining clause or a restrictive clause. However, when I look it up I cannot find any examples that specify the use of a comma before "such that".


texts: English equivalent for "When the head is present, tail should not wag."

texts:
In Malayalam/Indian, there's a saying "Thala Irikkumbol, Valu-attaruthu!", which literally translates to:

  When the head is present, tail should not wag.

It means that one should not act out of turn in the presence of one's superiors.

Consider:
Mafia bosses A and B discussing stuff; a low-ranking member M chimes in interrupting them; A puts a bullet between M's eyes saying something-cool-here.

I'm not limiting answers to mafia style, though that would be cool.

What are other English idioms equivalent to this?


texts: Are you "Dinky Die"? And what does Dinky Die mean?

texts:
Australia day is nearly upon us! And that means it's time to throw another chop on the barbie and say real Aussie things like "dinky die".

Stone the crows, what's that even mean, "dinky die"? I've been saying it for years in sentences like

  I'm true blue, fair dinkum, ridgy didge, dinky die Aussie.

Does anyone know where "dinky die" came from and the correct usage?


texts:
A lettrine or drop cap is a large initial letter (usually with some illustration) at the start of a chapter in a book.

In the English language, which is preferable: "lettrine" or "drop cap"? Incidentally, is it correct to indent a lettrine?


texts:
Helping a friend writing a description of the courses taken, we seem to not find information about which is the correct preposition to put with "seminar". After looking through the Internet, in particular, university webpages, I found examples of both, so I cannot arrive to a final answer. I tried to check also some grammar references, but I was unsuccessful.

Which one is correct? "seminar on" or "seminar in"? In particular, is it "seminar on topology" or "seminar in topology"? And more generally, which is the rule to use "in" or "on" related to areas and fields of knowledge?