texts: Is there a different understanding of "rubber" in British and American English?

texts:
I was well aware of the different meanings of rubber, not least because there are the same definitions in my mother-tongue. However, while reading a text about differences between British and American English I read the following lines:

  Here's something else for Americans to be aware of: did you know that an eraser is called a rubber in Britain? A good British Mum makes sure her children go to school with a rubber in their pencil case.

So, it's also not new to me that there are differences between British English and American English, but I was and still am surprised that that could somehow be misinterpreted.

Checking the dictionary (OALD and OED) I learned that rubber as condom is indeed an Americanism, though I can hardly believe that British people do not know/use that word.

The other way round, I can imagine to some extent that Americans are not aware of the fact that it isn't that popularly known/used in British English.

Anyway, when talking to British people do I really have to expect that they don't know what I'm talking about when using the word rubber instead of condom?

And when talking to American people, should I avoid rubber and use eraser instead whenever I expect it might sound ambiguous? To be more concrete: the OALD designates rubber (as eraser) as British English, thus do I have to suspect that an American may not be aware of that meaning?

Finally, when talking to both an American and a British at the same time, which words do I use for condom and eraser so that both will understand me correctly?


texts:
Is it correct to say "get maze"? If so, what's the meaning?

Also, does "maze" have a bad connotation?


texts: What happens when the determiner is missing?

texts:
Phrase 1:

  Police officers have the authority to arrest people.

Phrase 2:

  All police officers have the authority to arrest people.

As I understand it, the all in phrase 2 is a distributive determiner. How is an absent determiner treated, as in phrase 1?

My subconscious knowledge tells me that an absent determiner means that the statement applies to members of the group generally but leaves the possibility that it may not apply to some. Whereas the all determiner makes the statement explicitly applicable to all members without exceptions.

Is this accurate?


texts: Is there a term for grammatical mistakes as a result of trying too hard?

texts:
Today, I learned the term hyperforeignism after writing that I was drinking a latté and then stopping to wonder why I was putting a diacritical mark on the "e".

This reminded me of other language mistakes that occur more frequently when people are actively trying to make fewer language mistakes, such as:

Every "----- and me" becomes "----- and I"
Scattering "myself" throughout one's speech
"whom" overuse

These mistakes tend to reveal "I'm talking to an authority figure" or "I'm talking to a group that I may not be qualified to be speaking to".

Is there a term for this phenomenon?


texts:
In Ben Aaronovitch's Foxglove Summer, the main character exclaims this (mentally) upon thinking he's discovered an important clue in an interview. What is the meaning of the phrase?

  I felt her mother practically start out of her chair, and then subside again.
  'What did it feel like?' I asked.
  'Like a big tongue,' said Gaby.
  'And was it low down or high up?'
  Gaby jumped off her chair and demonstrated by sticking her arm straight out in front of her with her palm turned up. About a metre twenty above floor level, by the way she held her hand, suggested an animal of some kind.
  'What kind of animal is Princess Luna?' I asked.
  'She's a pony, silly,' said Gaby brightly.
  A little klaxon went off in my head.
  Aruga aruga, I thought. Set condition one throughout the ship.


texts: What does "notwithstanding" mean in this sentence?

texts:
I'm trying to understand complex sentence-completion questions whilst preparing for the GRE examination. Here is one such sentence:

  The demands of _____ and _____ notwithstanding, a page or two in Dahl's recent book on democracy that considered what public-choice economics has to say about "democratic failure" —or at least a clear signpost to that literature—would have been very well spent.

  ❑ clarity
  ❑ brevity
  ❑ comprehensiveness
  ❑ economy
  ❑ cogency
  ❑ thoroughness

What exactly does notwithstanding mean here? The definition of the word, according to Google is,

  preposition

  in spite of.
  "notwithstanding the evidence, the consensus is that the jury will not reach a verdict"
  synonyms: in spite of, despite, regardless of, for all

  "notwithstanding his many activities, Alan finds time to be a dedicated husband and father"

I can understand the example given above because it reads just fine if you replace it with despite, but it still doesn't make sense to me in the question I posted.


texts: The "Bibles" of American English Phonetics

texts: Daniel Jones' Outline of English Phonetics and Alfred C. Gimson's Introduction to the Pronunciation of English are considered the "Bibles" of British English phonetics. Are there equivalent works in the American English tradition?


texts: I'm looking for a synonym for "proud parents" or "thrilled parents" (of a newborn child) but don't want to use proud as it looks bit show-offy.


texts: A word or phrase for a "goal" wherein the experience along the way is really the goal?

texts:
As he wrote in "The Snow Leopard", when Peter Matthiessen set off with his friend George Schaller, it is clear that spotting a snow leopard wasn't  Matthiessen's ultimate goal.  Rather, the goal was the expedition itself and whatever it brought.

There are lots of other examples where a single idea provides a focus or direction for an effort, but that single idea isn't really the ultimate goal.

I've often wondered if there's a word or phrase that captures that succinctly.

For example, imagine someone saying "My goal is to learn semiconductor physics" when instead they really mean is "I'm going to learn about semiconductor physics to see what I discover along the way".

Is there a more appropriate word for "goal" in that first sentence?  Perhaps a word or phrase borrowed from some other language?

addendum

The word "lark" captures a hint of the idea, but is only appropriate when the undertaking is done purely out of fun or mischief.  The word "ambition" is too heavily weighted to the outcome, suggesting that if you don't really attain that goal, then you haven't accomplished what you wanted.


texts: Am I parsing this incorrectly, or is it really possible to read in ambiguity without more context?

texts:
A while ago, I saw the following advert on Facebook:

  Uber is a flexible way to earn extra money and meet new people giving rides with your own car.

Now, being a bit of a pedant, I concluded that out of context, if I didn't know what Uber was, there were two different ways I could parse "meet new people giving rides with your own car":

"meet new people [who are] giving rides with your own car" - These "new people" are driving the "you" character's car.
"meet new people [by] giving rides with your own car" - This is clearly the intended meaning of the phrase. Moreover, it is perhaps the more obvious interpretation.

I am not sure if (1) is a legitimate parsing of the phrase. Without the "with your own car", it's definitely unclear who the party "giving rides" is. But I'm not entirely sure if it's still possible to read in ambiguity once "your own car" is added, particularly with the addition of "own".

It's obvious that the agent doesn't have to be "you" even if "your own car" is used. For instance:

  She gave a ride to the airport with my own car.

But here, with the Uber advert, the subject isn't a third-party, and so perhaps the "lesson" of this example doesn't apply at all.

Is (1) at all a legitimate parsing of the sentence, when the sentence is divorced from context? Does the use of "own" affect anything?


texts:
How do you pronounce the possessive form of Las Vegas?  Example: Las Vegas' best radio station

Is it correct to put only an apostrophe after the 's' when writing the possessive form of this noun?


texts:
I listened a podcast about the pronunciation of a Chinese with words ending by "-le". And I found that I have the same problem (I'm Vietnamese).
We pronounce words ending by "-le", "-al",.. with the sound "o".
For example: people --->peopo, circle--> circo, hospital--> hospito, chemical-->chemi_co, international--->internation_no
Why I think I pronounced 'people' as 'peopo" like the Chinese in the podcast? Because I really can't distinguish the pronunciation of two words 'people' and 'peopo", neither do my Vietnamese friends.
I have two questions:

The word "people" is pronounced /ˈpiːp(ə)l/  I don't here the sound /l/ at the end of the word. I wonder whether the sound /l/ is not pronounced or it is really pronounced but I can't hear this sound?
When I say just the word "people" without a context, and pronounce "peopo", a native English speaker can understand I want to say "people"? I have this question because for me, the difference is very very slightly.


texts: The name of the letter, which is related to two English letters "gh"

texts: What is the name of the marked letter, which in my opinion relates to the two modern English letters "gh"?


texts:
Are both is equal to and equals similar in meaning? Which is the more natural?

For example, one plus one equals two or one plus one is equal to two.


texts: Word for the song, that we hum or sing all day, once we listen it

texts:
We listen to songs, and sometimes we forget them because they are boring.

And when we listen to a catchy song, we hum it or sing it whole the day. Is it okay to consider such songs as memorable? If not, is there any specific word for this?


texts:
The German Fischer, the two Americans no longer count in the outcome of the race, the Hungarian alone is battling the three Japanese.

I happened to read this sentence while browsing web and wondered what that count in would mean. I looked up the dictionary, but it says count in only has meaning of including something in a count of something, which didn't quite explain why. I suppose the count in above kind of means "to consider"?


texts: Difference between "lift" and "lift off" in Feynman Lectures

texts:
Here's Figure 4.1:

And an excerpt from the Feynman Lectures on Physics Chapter 4.2:

A very simple weight-lifting is shown in Fig. 4-1. This machine lifts three units "strong". We place three units on one balance  pan, and one unit on the other. However, in order to get it actually to work, we must lift a little weight off the left pan. On the other hand, we could lift a one-unit weight by lowering the three-unit weight, if we cheat a little by lifting a little weight off the other pan. Of course, we realize that with any actual lifting machine, we must add a little extra to get it to run.

It seems to me that Feynman is ascribing two different meanings to the verb "lift". One is getting the boxes in an upper position relative to the ground, and the other is removing weight from one of the pans of the machine (when "lift" is used in conjunction with "off").
Is my assessment correct?


texts: "As on 16 May" vs. "as of 16 May" — which is correct?

texts:
I updated a cost sheet and I want to specify that it's a newly updated cost sheet.
For this situation, which one is correct?

  cost sheet as on/of 16 May

Before specifying a date, which will come first, on or of?


texts: How to describe a scenario where there is a mutually exclusive unintended negative affect after a positive intention

texts:
Disney World has a promotion offering tickets for half price on all rides for the day. John buys tickets for him and his girlfriend and imagines having a wonderful day. Although when he arrives as Disney world they have to spend an additional half and hour in queue at every ride because of the additional number of people in the park.

This wanted/unwanted expectation where the wanted has a direct relationship with the unwanted that follows it is called [...]

  Sally spends 2 hours in the morning to make herself look beautiful as she want to impress the jocks at school. However she finds herself attracting the attention of not just the jocks but the geeks and when the geeks stare at her it makes her uncomfortable.

This postive/negative outcome where the negative the follows it has a mutual relationship with the preceding positive ...

The negative effect might also not be obvious to the original user who benefits as it could be another person who suffers the causal effect.

I can think of causal effect or symbiotic relationship but both sound to scientific for the above examples and the context of what I want to say.


texts: How to distinguish between transparent (water-like) and opaque (milk-like) skin lotions?

texts:
In cosmetics there are 2 distinct kinds of skin lotions and some languages (but not English, as far as I know) include distinct words to name them: 1. transparent, water-like looking lotions usually containing solvents and antiseptics and meant for skin cleansing ("pleťová voda" (literally "skin water") in Czech, "лосьон" (literally "lotion") in Russian) 2. opaque (non-transparent), milky/creamy lotions, usually containing fatty compounds and meant for skin treatment and moisturizing ("pleťové mléko" (literally "skin milk") in Czech, "молочко для лица/тела" (literally "face/body milk") in Russian).

What would be the shortest while informative distinct names (not necessarily of a single word) for these?

UPDATE: I am considering using "clear lotion" for the first kind and "creamy lotion" for the second kind but am not sure yet.


texts: Is there a word that means simple but not easy?

texts: Often I find myself or others describing a concept that is simple to explain, but difficult to execute. I end up saying "it's really simple, just not easy" way too often for my tastes. Is there a word that expresses this idea well?


texts: What's the proper english name for this mechanical tool to remove bolts of the door?


texts: What is the name of a word like "shite"?

texts:
Whilst watching the 3rd Test match between England and Australia, from Edgbaston, this week, the Barmy Army of England fans were singing as ever (the Australians are not terrace-singers in quite the same way as the English). And among their repertoire the little jingle intended to needle the Australian bowler Mitchell Johnson, and put him off his stride:

He bowls to the left,
He bowls to the right,
But, Mitchell Johnson,
His bowling is shite.

When I looked it up I was amazed to find that shite has an entry in the OED with examples of its use from as early as 1733.

Intended as a word that takes some but not all of the offence out of using shit, it is also undoubtedly helpful to football and cricket fans when composing their rhyming ditties.

One can think of other words crikey, bloody wars or bloody Hilda (avoiding by our lady Mary),etc. What is the name given to a word intended to be a swear word- but not quite?

  Etymology:  Variant of shit n., probably resulting from the influence
  of forms of shit v. with a long vowel, although there could also have
  been an (unattested) inherited form in Old English with a long vowel
  (deriving from the e-grade of the same Germanic base); compare Middle
  Low German schīt, schīte faeces, filth, Middle High German schīze
  diarrhoea (German Scheiße faeces), Old Icelandic skítr faeces. The
  word occurs earliest regionally (chiefly in Ireland (where it is the
  usual form) and Scotland), and subsequently in colloquial English as a
  jocular or quasi-euphemistic variant of shit . For possible older
  attestation in place names see the etymological note at shit n.

  regional (chiefly Sc. and Irish English) and coarse slang (chiefly
  Brit., Austral., and N.Z.).  A. n.


texts:
In a novel I am reading a character says,

  I could fix you some herbal tisane.

Is this redundant? (And to be picky, does one 'fix' tea?)


texts: A particular occasion for the use of objective forms of personal pronouns

texts:
Everybody learns in school that in conventional spoken English one uses "objective" forms of personal pronouns (me, us, him, her, them) for "predicate nominatives" where some conventional formal rules call of the "subjective" forms (I, we, he, she, they). Thus "It's me." rather than "It is I." But I only just noticed that there is another context in which even writers who are fastidious about formal rules use the objective forms where the rules seem to suggest the subjective should be used. Thus (quoting from a novel):

  "What would you have done, sir?" "Me? How can I answer that?"

One wouldn't say "Me would have done thus-and-so." but "I would have done thus-and-so." Yet one says "me" rather than "I" in sentences like that quoted above. So what do grammar books say about this and how does one explain it to foreigners learning English?

PS: It is being objected that this is like another question where someone asks why "Not me." rather than "Not I." is used in reply to "Who wants ice cream?". However, I think there are syntactic differences here.


texts: In the past, I used to say "Herbs", then I was corrected and told that the "H" is muted and one should say "Erbs". Watching some video, the instructor keeps saying "Herbs". What is the right pronunciation?


texts:
In the US, it is common to use the idiomatic expression "knock on wood" to keep
"a good thing going."

Is it the same in the UK, or do they use a different idiomatic expression?


texts: "I love you for who you are" vs. "I love you as you are" vs. "I love you for what you are"

texts:
I love you for who you are.

I came across the line from a BBC Radio’s drama, and wondered what’s the difference from saying “I love you as you are,” or “I love you for what you are.” Would you explain the three of them?


texts: We've found this word Abetrours here and here, but cannot seem to find a definition of it. Can anyone refer us to one, and ideally its etymology as well? Feel free to suggest another StackExchange site (Linguistics?) if this isn't the appropriate one. Thank you kindly!


texts: Verbally differentiating between "prince's" and "princess"

texts:
In Trondheim (Norway) we have a set of streets named after royal titles;

Kongens Gate, Dronningens Gate, Prinsens Gate

Directly translated, they mean "The King's Street", "The Queen's Street", "The Prince's Street".

However, whenever I pronounce the latter, it always sounds like "The Princess Street".

This might be a bit of a stretch, but is there a way to pronounce this while avoiding confusion?

I often end up clarifying it afterwards by using "Street of the Prince", but it sounds weird in my humble opinion. And doing it every time gets old.


texts: What is a single word for "inaccurate suspicion"?

texts:
What is a single word to convey the sense of "inaccurate suspicion," but that tends to infer a bit of unfairness, such as

  It is immoral to use brutal force in response to [inaccurate suspicion].


texts: Are there only active and passive voices in English?

texts:
If I throw a ball at someone; that is active. If someone throws a ball at me - and it hits me in the face; that is passive.

But if someone throws a ball at me, and I catch it; that is 'responsive'. Should there not be, then, a 'responsive' voice?

This is not theoretical. I am writing an article about 'deponent' Greek verbs which, it is argued, are passive in form, but active in meaning. I do not agree and I believe that they are 'responsive' in meaning.

But, if so, then it must be true in all languages, English included, that there is a voice which indicates a response to someone else's active-ness.

===============================================================

Edited after Answers

My problem, I think, is a matter of relativity.

In the example above (I throw, I am hit, I catch) I am looking at everything from my own point of view.

But language construction observes all the events objectively.

Nigel threw. John threw and hit Nigel. John threw and Nigel caught.


texts: Meaning of Lyrics in "Diamonds on the Inside"

texts:
In Ben Harper's song, "Diamonds on the Inside", there is a verse that goes

  She made herself a bed of nails,
  And shes plannin' on puttin' it to use.

I don't quite understand its meaning, especially in relation to the stanza/verse that precedes it:

  When you have everything,
  You have everything to lose.

I understand that there is an idiom/expression, be a bed of nails, that describes a situation that is difficult or unpleasant.  There is also another idiom/expression, make your own bed, that describes causing one's own misery.  Even Alice Cooper has written a song about a Bed of Nails, although this appears to be used in a slightly different context.

Could anybody please clarify the meaning of bed of nails in the above context, and why someone would plan on putting it to use?


texts: "these functions are strictly non-decreasing, whereas the others ARE", or "these functions are strictly non-decreasing, whereas the others DO"?

texts:
Should I say

 "these functions are strictly non-decreasing, whereas the others ARE.",
 - or -
 "these functions are strictly non-decreasing, whereas the others DO." ?

Related, but not similar:

 "these kids in the video are clearly not playing, whereas the others ARE.",
 - or -
 "these kids in the video are clearly not playing, whereas the others DO."

Which is correct in each example, and what is the difference?

Thanks!


texts:
Don't know why the word table wasn't good enough for Microsoft, but SQL Server Reporting Services has a control called a tablix....

But how would I tell you that I have multiple tablix controls?

(I appear not to be the only one with this question)

Tablix does not appear in NGrams's English corpus.

A quick search on Google reveals no dictionaries that contain the word, but the search "tablixes" SQL returns 4,730 results, and the search "tablices" SQL returns 1,160 results.


texts: I'm looking for a sentence with two 'than's in a row. I'm sure they exist but I just can't think of one!


texts: What is the origin of the term "back to back", meaning to follow one after the other?

texts:
Presumably items would follow each other back to front?

There is such a thing as 'back to back' agreements; for example when you have an agreement with a bank to fund a purchase but contingent on (or following) the sale of another.

Could this be it I wonder, as in 'one follows the other'?


texts: Apostrophe with Singular Proper Noun made up on Plural Word

texts:
I'm normally pretty confident with my punctuation, but this one has been stumping me, and it's probably because I don't know the proper phrasing for what I'm trying to ask:

How to we add a possessive apostrophe to a proper noun when that noun is a plural word?

I.e., I'm working with a company named WeBuyAssets. Assets is clearly a plural, but "WeBuyAssets" is the proper name of a singular entity. Would the correct possessive here be:

WeBuyAssets's CEO (my best guess)

or

WeBuyAssets' CEO (looks more likely to be used).

Thanks for your help!


texts:
How do I tell my brother that he needs to wake up early tomorrow?

  Tomorrow we are having breakfast together.

Or

  Tomorrow we are going to have breakfast together.


texts: What is the opposite of the "green thumb" but for technology/electronics?

texts:
As having a green thumb is someone who is good with plants, jokingly, the brown thumb could be used for someone who is bad with plants.

Is there an equivalent pair for being good/bad with technology/electronics?


texts:
What is the point of this joke?

  — "What do you call two crows on a branch?"
  — "Attempted murder."

I've googled it to check if it was a word play but the closest one I've hit was "marauder". Someone care to explain?


texts: What is the contrastive phrase of "little to no"?

texts:
An example question of the usage of little to no: Idiom to describe something that has little to no effect?

I understand that the phrase little to no effect means little effect, or worst, no effect. But do we have a contrastive phrase? I guess big to all?

Note: I would like to know the contrastive phrase of little to no in general, not little to no effort. I see there is an usage of little to no respect.


texts: What's the rule for transforming a verb into a noun if it ends in "ee"?

texts:
Usually a noun can be made from a verb by adding an -er as a suffix (to paint -> painter, to eat -> eater). What is the rule for verbs that already end with the letter "e", such as "see", "flee", "agree"? Do we:

Add an "er" (agree -> agreeer)
Add only an r (agree -> agreer), and if so, are they pronounced without the "er" sound?
Do something else (Chrome's spellchecker underlined both of these)
Or do they not exist at all (agree -> people who agree)?


texts: Is haphazard the only word where ph is not pronounced like /f/?


texts: In 'The hat is red', how do we know that 'is red' is a constituent?

texts:
As far as I understand, in the sentence

[1] The hat i̲s̲ ̲r̲e̲d̲.

the underlined part, is red, is a syntactical constituent ('a group of words that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure'). I'm interested in the point of view of phrase structure grammar.

So far, I can justify the claim that it is a constituent only by appeal to authority. For example, on p. 50 of CGEL, it is stated that in the sentence he is ill, the is ill is a verb phrase (VP) and a constituent, as evident from the following tree diagram:

And surely, whatever reasons CGEL has to favor its analysis of he is ill, completely analogous arguments will show that is red is a VP and a constituent in [1].

The trouble is, it is not entirely clear what those arguments are.

The authority of grammars and textbooks must ultimately come from linguistic evidence, which, in turn, is collected one specific example at a time. In particular, I was hoping that it may be possible to demonstrate that is red is a constituent by applying some sort of constituenthood test. An example of such a test: a pro-form substitution test. A word sequence 'passes that test' (and is thus a constituent) if we can find a sentence, acceptable to most native speakers, in which that word sequence is substituted by a pro-form.

The pro-form substitution test can be used to show that large classes of verb phrases are constituents. For example, consider

[2] John h̲i̲t̲ ̲t̲h̲e̲ ̲b̲a̲l̲l̲.

We suspect that hit the ball is a constituent. To demonstrate this, note that the following is a grammatically acceptable sentence:

[3] Jack h̲i̲t̲ ̲t̲h̲e̲ ̲b̲a̲l̲l̲ and John d̲i̲d̲, too.

We see that in the second conjunct, hit the ball is substituted for by the pro-form did, and is therefore a constituent.

However, I haven't been able to come up with a definitive constituenthood test that is red clearly passes. As far as I understand, testing for constituenthood of verb phrases (VPs) is indeed trickier than in the case of other kinds of phrases. Apart from pro-form substitution, there are other kinds of reliable tests that can often be used for determining whether some word sequence is a VP. One, for example, is (what McCawley calls) V'-deletion. Unfortunately, thus far, I am unable to find a way to use that (or any other) reliable test in the case of is red.

True, is red can be coordinated with something that is definitely a VP, as in

[4] The hat is red and weighs 151 g.

However, this is not enough to show that is red is a VP and a constituent, because (as I'm told in many sources, including the Wikipedia) coordination is not a reliable test for constituenthood.

Could someone provide a reliable, clear test of constituenthood that is red passes? Or is the argument for its constituenthood more indirect? If the latter, could you provide an outline of the argument? (If possible, I'd like something more concrete than this sentence, found in CGEL (p. 21): 'The full support for a decision in grammatical description consists of confirmation from hundreds of mutually supportive pieces of evidence of many kinds'.)


texts: Word to describe a lover of nature, particularly flowers

texts:
I am looking for a word to describer a character's personality.
A trait, if you will.
The character in question is

extremely fond of nature,
but, he's not exactly an outdoorsman - no camping, very little hiking, and such.
He enjoys to observe nature, likes to draw nature scenes, and
He's particularly fond of flowers.
He does like gardening and keeps an impressive garden,
but other than that does not spend large amounts of time interacting with nature itself.
He also works as a florist - as my attempt to cement his

favoritism of flowers.

Can anybody supply me with a word that could sort of cover this type of personality? It doesn't have to be exactly spot on as that might border on impossible, but a word that is at least similar and might cover with some additional explanation.


texts: Alternate phrase for exciting opportunity?

texts: Any thoughts on an alternate phrase for "exciting opportunity"? It's such an overused phrase. Thank you!


texts: Should I use capitalization when mentioning a domain name?

texts:
Let's say I have a product/brand with a website, for the purpose of this question the product is called Acme and the site is http://acme.com .

What's more correct when referring to the site without an hyperlink? For example, in PR:

  Acme.com
  acme.com

Does it make any difference if I'm using it inside an article's caption? For example:

  You’re invited to the launch of Acme.com!
  You’re invited to the launch of acme.com!


texts: "I see myself as" with personal names of well-known individuals

texts:
I'm not sure how to use articles when using personal names of well-known characters in this particular case.
For example it would be "I see myself as a nice person" or "I see myself as the flood control specialist". How should I use it with the proper names/fictional characters eg. Pope, Rambo, Chandler (meaning the character from Friends). Also what happens if something is added to the noun eg. "Rambo on vacation", "Chandler without friends".


texts:
I asked someone to reduce the amount of content that he provided to be included in a website and he suggested he can pair done the information.

What does pair done mean?


texts:
I was just studying the various meanings of 'off' on http://english.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/off and I stuck up at just the second example sentence:

  She dashed off to her room.

The meaning of 'off' this sentence is an example of is, "away from the place in question; to or at a distance".

If I omit 'off' from the sentence, it seems okay to me:

  She dashed to her room.  [She ran in hurry to her room.]

What does 'off' do here?


texts:
What is the grammatical term for "is"?
For example if the sentence is "Jane is Drawing", "Jane" is the Noun and "Drawing" is the verb, but what is "is"?


texts: Is there a hypernym for or construct for "get current or next"

texts:
In a software program we have a function which asserts if the current date is a working day, and if it's not it retrieves the next working day.

Currently the function is called getNextWorkingDay(DATE)

When using the function in the following manner getNextWorkingDay(*saturday*) would return Monday (unless Monday is a holiday).

My problem with this name is, if you call this function with a working day as a parameter, it does not return the next day, but the given day. So a better name would be assertIfWorkingDayOrGetNextWorkingDay which is a bit on the long side.

Q: Is there a hypernym for "current or next" which I could use like this:
getHypernymWorkingDay


texts:
There is a well known phrase: "I'm not gay but 20 dollars is 20 dollars".

Why do we say that '$20 is $20', and not '$20 are $20'?


texts:
Could someone please tell me what the passive voice is for the following sentence:

  I was trying to study Chinese but I couldn't.

I think it will be:

  Chinese was being tried to be studied, but it wasn't possible.

But I'm not sure, I would appreciate some help.


texts: Seeking a term for 'granular' with positive connotations

texts:
A novel measurement system is 'granular' in the sense that it is measuring millions of unique entities (figuratively speaking: grains of sand) and keeps track of data on a per-entity basis.  The  system provides information-rich and specific data measurements, which I initially described as 'granular', because the measurements unexpectedly yielded very detailed measurements that enable new analytical capabilities.     The concern is that the thesaurus indicates that many synonyms for granular have negative connotations that I would not want to be used to describe the system.  Synonyms:

chapped
coarse-grained
crude
grainy
gritty
harsh
homespun
impure
inferior
loose
lumpy
mediocre
particulate
poor quality
rough
rough-hewn
rugged
unfinished
unpolished
unprocessed
unpurified

Is there a concise word to describe the measurement system, that communicates the measurements are high fidelity, information rich, innovative, and very specific?
The intent is to use the word as a label in a patent application to convey that measurement data reflects measurements of millions of unique entities (much like grains of sand) and that each atomic measurement is for specific entity (grain of sand).
Any questions or suggestions to clarify / sharpen this postings are welcomed and appreciated.  Patience is appreciated.


texts:
I find the phrase ‘gut the (one’s) roster’ very often in the sport section of news papers as used in the following examples. What does it mean? Is it used only in sport related context?

1.He ‘gutted the roster’ of almost all of the players that were in the majors before he arrived, ....

2.The New York Knicks ‘gutted their roster’ on Monday evening to acquire Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets. .....

3.When Phoenix ‘gutted its roster’ this offseason, I honestly don't think many Suns fans expected their team to be at ....

4.The trade that finally united the Knicks and Carmelo Anthony resulted in ‘a gutted roster’ and a fractured front office, but those details were deemed secondary to winning a championship.


texts: Is there anything special about the word "the day-before"?

texts:
Here is a short paragraph from the novel
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden:

“Annie, she help her mamma make the turk’,” Annie’s grandmother said. It was a second or two before I realized that “turk” was ‘turkey,” but the wonderful smell that struck me as soon as I was inside told me my guess was right. “We make him the day-before”--it was one word, beautiful:
“day-before”; when she said it, it sounded like a song. “So on Thanksgiving we can have a good time.”

Very confused about the "day-before" and "him". Annie's grandmother is an Italian, I am wondering if the author wants to present Annie's grandmother as an Italian with bad English or if there is anything special about the “day -before"?


texts: Why are "nation" and "national" pronounced differently?

texts: I was wondering why nation is pronounced nay-shun and national is pronounced nah-shu-nal. My question relates to the difference between pronouncing "Nay" and "Nah". The spelling of "nation" in "national" is the same as "nation", but the "na" parts of the word are pronounced differently. Is there some kind of rule or pattern for this?


texts: How to show people voicing their opinions in essays

texts:
In my essay, I'd like to show a group of people in a stadium crticizing a football team.  I want to use direct quotes to show what different people in the group are saying but I am not sure how to put this in an essay so that it is correct.
Is the proper format something like:

I heard complaints all around the stadium.
"I could have played better than that!"
"This was the worst 90 minutes of my life."
"I hate football!"

Or am I completely mistaken?


texts: Is there a word in English for copy which is better than the original

texts:
I want to use that word to talk about the cover songs which are better than the original songs.

Edit: Thanks for the answers. However, I am specifically looking for a single word replacement for "a copy which is better than the original."


texts: I can't understand a sentence with "never more ~ than ~"

texts:
I'm a student studying English and I'm not quite sure that my question is proper to this site. Let me know if my question is improper.

  Thomas Jefferson was never more typically a child of the Enlightenment
  than in his youthful conviction that reason and inquiry may lead man
  away from whatever is false, twisted, and capricious in human affairs
  toward the truths inherent in the nature of things.

The above is the full sentence, and I especially can't understand the following parts.

  Thomas Jefferson was never more typically a child of the Enlightenment
  than in his youthful conviction.

I want to know grammar used in it, and want to know interpretation or rephrasal in clear meaning.


texts: Adjective describing a person who has lots of children, not "fertile"

texts:
Is there a single adjective that means "this person has lots of children"?

Context: I'm not actually talking about a person. I'm talking about a data structure in a computer program, where objects are organized in a hierarchical tree and each object can have few or many "child" objects.  So "fertile", and similar words, are inappropriate. The object doesn't produce children on its own; the programmer must assign children to the object.


texts: I'm confused on the usage of 'not until'

texts:
Consider:

  My life was a blur not until you came and changed everything.

Does this mean that her life was a blur, but then when he came, it wasn't any more? Or should not be eliminated so it will mean the way I said?


texts: Does the word "being" refer to now or past in this context?

texts:
The two women who were watching the hockey were on the other touchline, directly opposite where Cecilia, with Daisy and Amanda was watching it, too, since attendance at home matches was compulsory. Cecilia remembered the women being on the touch line before, because when the hockey ended they'd passed close to where she, Daisy and Amanda were looking for Amanda's watch, which had slipped from her wrist without her noticing.

Did she remember the women being at the sam place but in a previous time or did she remembered them on a different place in the past?
** Is the word "being" describing the presence of the women on the touchline in present time or past time ? **


texts: I think use of "usually" and "normally" is similar in English usage, and both are correct and exchangeable. I prefer 'normally' in most of my writings. Is there any suggestion for me?


texts: Is there a category name for verbs like: think, assume, suppose, etc

texts: Is there a category name for verbs like: think, assume, suppose, guess, believe, reckon, expect, hope, etc. I guess these verbs have in common that they can all introduce statements that describe thoughts.


texts: Why is interrogative pronounced differently from interrogate

texts:
The word interrogate is usually pronounced something like in-TEH-ruh-gayte.

But we pronounce the grammatical structure (or at least, I learnt to pronounce it) 'interrogative' as in-tuh-RAU-guh-tive. Excusing my probably inconsistent renderings of the pronunciations, what explains this difference, and why is there such a difference in stress?


texts:
Not entirely sure, please help.

Need to know if putting three or so dots before you're quoting means there is more of the sentence, but you have taken it out as it isn't needed?

I apologize if this doesn't make a lot of sense, I don't know how else to explain it and really need to know what the three dots mean.


texts: Should it be "you and I" or "you and me" in the song "We are the world"

texts:
In the song "We are the world" by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie, there are these lyrics:

"We are the world,
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So, let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me"

Should the last line be "you and I"? Because the meaning is "you and I will make a better day".
Actually Michael Jackson asked this same question in the recording session, and someone (likely Quincy Jones) told him to sing "you and me". Is there any principal reason for this choice of words?


texts: Under what circumstances is the construction "whose each" grammatical?

texts:
For context, this is based on a discussion here (https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/1439/is-the-construction-whose-each-correct)

The original question was whether the following was grammatical:

  "The set of elements whose each pair is ...".

The majority opinion on that question was then that this was ungrammatical (or at least unusual), however there seems to be some disagreement as to why.

So my question is this:

  Under what circumstances is the construction "whose each" valid within a sentence, and what are the governing grammatical rules for such a construction?


texts: Models are my life, vs models is my life

texts:
I am wondering which one of the following is correct:

I love building mathematical models. Models are my life.
I love building mathematical models. Models is my life.


texts:
I came across this line

  There was only the New York Yankees baseball cap lying there, mold
  crusted on its bill.

I was wondering what part of the cap is called its bill.


texts: What does the phrase "savour the months" mean in this context?

texts:
Here is the sentence:

  The clock is ticking towards a new year even though we’re still
  savoring the months that are now behind.

I am not sure how the lexical meaning "enjoy or appreciate" would fit here.


texts:
Can I represent restaurants by the noun retailer?

I also want to group the entities hotels, museums, restaurants/cafes/bars and retailers. How do we group these cleverly? I am going to refer to them in a title of a paper so it shouldn't be too long. I don't want to write in hotels, museums, restaurants and retailers.


texts:
I am a ornithologist working in Japan and I'm trying to translate a Japanese word, "経年" "けいねん" pronounced "ke i nen", which means change over time or aging but since my English skills are not where they used to be. I am stumped on what word choices to use for changes over time. It's closest to Temporal Change maybe? Temporal is change with time but can it mean change over time as well? Any clue?

The word should fit in this sentence:

  The changes over time of nesting sites and population size...


texts:
I have some problems with understanding the meaning of "counterpoint". It somewhere means "corresponding" and somewhere else "opposite", and sometimes a combination of the two meanings. How can I understand for example which meaning is intended in the following contexts?

  Context #1:

  In fact, Wallinger initially stumbled upon the eruv – an actual,
  operational one – within a Jewish community in a part of North West
  London. Subsequently, sliding down the map a little way into central
  London this improvised demarcation served as a resonant
  counterpoint to another kind of zone, an official, prohibitive one that had been decreed by the British government in 2005, namely the
  Serious Organised Crime and Police Act.

  Context #2:

  Skulptur Projekte, taking place for the first time in 1977
  it has been held every ten years since during the summer months,
  rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the most significant, if
  infrequent, international art world events. In fact, it came about to
  some extent as a form of sculptural counterpoint to the
  quinquennial Documenta held in Kassel – not a million miles away –
  coinciding now with every second staging of this major exhibition,
  which seeks to give curatorial impetus to the ‘global direction of
  art’.


texts:
These two sentence variations annoy me immeasurably.

  Earlier I squashed a bug.

  Earlier I squished a bug.

Neither get a red underline, and I normally hear squish not squash, even though I've grown up saying squash.

So, which is more correct and has been used for a longer period? Is there a difference between squash and squish, and which dialects use each variant? Etymologically, how did they develop, considering they have such a similar sound?


texts: How to denote possession with "Bureau of Statistics"

texts:
When denoting possession with Bureau of Statistics, does one use "Bureau's of Statistics" or "Bureau of Statistics'"?

E.g.

  according to the Bureau's of Statistics Consumer Price Index
  according to the Bureau of Statistics' Consumer Price Index


texts: "Currently, sales report .... " vs. "Currently, THE sales report ..."

texts:
I read and compared with this question: Are there any simple rules for choosing the definite vs. indefinite (vs. none) article?

However, either I am missing something here ... or the first construction is plainly wrong with regard to the answer given there (and still heavily misused all around).

In constructions like this one:

"Currently, sales report is executed automatically every hour" vs. "Currently, THE sales report is executed automatically every hour"

... I see both versions around quite frequently, both with or without "the". Do I understand correct that according to the answer given on the other thread, only the second approach is correct?


texts: Adjective that describes giving life or soul to some thing

texts:
looking for an adjective that describes putting life/soul to something.

If i were to coin a word i would say Soulify... though it doesn't sound great.

Context:
Tag line for a system, that would energize, put life, put soul to an item.

Thanks.


texts: Why is this word "decessor" not a valid entry?

texts: I need to write a handover report and realized this word "decessor" is underlined in red by the word editor, my question is can I still use this word in formal situation and why "predecessor" is acceptable?


texts: Is it correct to say "source to" instead of "source of"?

texts:
Is it correct use to as preposition in the following sentence?

  Books are the best source to knowledge.

I have mostly seen of as being used with source, for example "source of knowledge". But I was wondering if I could use "source to" without it being a mistake.


texts:
I am translating a story from Turkish to English for my friends.
In Turkish we don't have "he/she/it". We only have "O" and it includes all.
the story is about someone in depression. And his or her gender is intentionally unspecified, even avoided, since depression can happen to anybody. The writer just wanted the reader to put himself/herself in character's shoes. unspecified gender is kind of the whole point of story.
I can't write "that night, he or she couldn't sleep again."
What should I do?


texts:
I need help with a word in some part of the book  Born to Run by Christopher McDougall (Random House, 2018)

  Hunting like that isn’t for the meek; Neanderthals were known to suffer
      the kind of injuries you find on the rodeo circuit, neck and head trauma from getting thrown by
      bucking beasts, but they could count on their band of brothers to care for their wounds and
      bury their bodies.

The author is talking about the way that Neanderthals haunt, and then he says "Hunting like that isn’t for the meek". I couldn't find out what does he mean by saying 'for the meek". I searched "meek" in dictionaries and read about it but it doesn't help me and since I am translating this book I need a clear understanding of the author's purpose.


texts: What is the opposite of 'read-only' besides 'writable' and 'editable'?

texts: The context is a PDF form with read-only fields and editable fields. However, those terms are dissimilar. A true opposite would be uneditable and editable. Another true opposite would be read-only and what?


texts: Is “cut against [something]” an idiom or just ‘cut’ followed by a prepositional phrase?

texts:
There was a phrase, ‘the governor cuts against his core argument” on the issue of how to handle undocumented immigrants in the following sentence in Time magazine’s (Nov 23) article titled, “Christie’s leadership of GOP governors elevates and tests him.":

  “Earlier this month, Christie dodged the question on Sunday shows. The
  reporter asked Christie to answer as a yes or no, to eliminate any
  confusion on immigration reform. When the reporter pointed out he
  didn’t answer the question or state his position on the issue,
  Christie replied, “Yeah, well, I don’t have to answer the question the
  way you want me to.”

  This is quickly becoming a pattern for the Republican governor that
  cuts against his core argument to  voters.”    - http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/23/christies-leadership-of-gop-governors-elevates-and-tests-him

I surmise “cut against” in the above sentence means “contradict,” like it “cuts against the grains,” or go reverse.
However neither Cambridge nor Oxford English Dictionary carries “cut against sth” as an idiom, while Google Ngram shows a long-standing usage of “cut against,” which can be dated back to 1840s.

Is ‘cut against’ an idiom, cliché, or just an incidental combination of ‘cut’ and preposition?

What would it be a single word (verb) to replace it?


texts: "Favorite fruits are grapes" or "favorite fruit is grapes"

texts:
I think I understood the general idea of fruits vs fruit, but what about the situation where you're saying: "My favorite fruits are grape"?

This made me cringe when I saw it in an English course booklet. Would I be correct to assume that, in this case, we would say: "My favorite fruit is grapes"? The reason being that my favorite fruit is. But also, grapes is considered one group or type of fruit here, therefore fruit = is grapes.

Did I explain this correctly? Is this the right assumption? I think that "favorite fruits are..." would be used if you're going to say "grapes and apples".


texts: If someone says, "I behoove you to read the policies" is that a correct use of the word?

texts: I was attending a presentation and the  manager said at least ten times, "I behoove you to read the policies. The first time I heard it, I thought I had not heard it correctly. But then he said it again and again and the audience was primarily educators. It did not sound like the correct use of the word.  I have only heard it used in a sentence, "It would behoove you to read the policies."


texts: Why do we say someone is "on their computer"?

texts:
We don't say they are on the tv when watching TV, and we don't say they are on the radio when listening to the radio. But if someone is, like me right now, using their computer, they are ON the computer.

I just find it a strange way of wording it. Is there a reason why the preposition on is collocated with computer?


texts: Is a letter considered to be in alphabetical order with itself?

texts:
We've come across a maths problem regarding car license plates. Their format is XXN where each X is a letter from A-D, and N is a digit. For example "AA0, AB1, CB9, etc"
One of the questions asked is to calculate what fraction of all possible plates have their letters "in alphabetical order" and my 10-year old asked me: "is a plate that repeats the same letter twice such as AA1 considered to be in alphabetical order"?
While I am inclined to say yes, the objection is that the alphabet never repeats the same letter twice, it is always increasing.


texts: Can I use comma after "because" in the middle of the sentence?

texts:
Is the following comma after "because" correct or not?

  I don't like flowers because, they smell bad.

If not, why?

For reference, my full sentence:

  An effective leader is who connects skills and personalities which are shaped by experience, and not always realistic to leadership expectations without sex difference because, accomplishment oriented development efforts in American culture and are often effective whether qualities of traits are masculine or feminine as long as has empathetic influence towards tasks.


texts:
Are these two prepositional phrases disjuncts or something else? I’ve looked through Biber and Huddleston, and the two examples don’t seem to fit into any of their categories of disjuncts. Thanks in advance!

Given the issue's complexity, a brief summary is difficult.

Considering his size, he was speedy.

UPDATE: I thought I would provide some background on my question since someone asked which books I was using. I’ve been looking at these three books:

Huddleston - Cambridge Grammar of English Language (2002),
Biber - Grammar of Spoken and Written English (1999),
Quirk - Comprehensive Grammar English (1985)

I am focused on prepositional phrases. I can’t find the answers to any of my remaining questions about prepositional phrases in any of their books. The authors frequently use the PPs I’m confused about in their own writing, but they don’t address them directly in their books. Huddleston points out a few types of adjuncts that can’t be directly questioned using When? Where? How? and Why? Having said that, it would seem that the ones he doesn’t point out as such should be “questionable.” All of the disjuncts and conjunct examples these sources present are simple to understand. And it makes sense that if the prepositional phrase is not a disjunct or conjunct, then it must be an adjunct. However, I should be able to see how a prepositional phrase adjunct fits into at least one of their models. Adjuncts don’t modify entire sentences, do they? I thought only disjuncts did that. So, there’s a bit more background on my questions. Thanks for your help!


texts: On the use of latter within a sentence, how many does latter refer to

texts:
This is my sentence.....

  These include, the manager, an occupational therapist(O.T), an
  activity coordinator, two mental health practitioners, two mental
  health nurses and eight health care assistants.

And I want to say...

  The latter two, work twelve hour shifts.

Is this possible or does latter just refer to the last in the list?


texts: "both of" + possessive, which noun does "both of" refer to?

texts:
Both of the boy's parents were happy with the new school.

Is it proper English to say "both of the boy's parents", as in the above sentence, to mean "both parents of the boy"? Or do we have to use the latter?

Background

A similar question appeared on a private advanced-level English test. The task was to spot a mistake in a sentence similar to the above. The correct answer was apparently the place of the apostrophe: in terms of the above example, it should read "both of the boys' parents" (meaning "parents of both boys"), with the argument that, in proper English, "both" can only refer to "boys" in such circumstances. I found this argument a bit shaky though. I am not a native English speaker, but I have studied and spoken it for many years, and the above sentence looks perfectly correct to me. I also could not find any helpful references on the internet that address this scenario.


texts: What preposition should come after the word "embarrassment"?

texts:
In this line:

  Being too intimate in public places, ignoring social morality and causing embarrassment of others.

Should the preposition after "embarrassment" be "of" or "to"?


texts:
I have seen in the literature different ways of writing "neighborhood" as an adjective.  Specifically:

Neighborhood solutions
Neighbored solutions
Neighboring solutions

Do they mean the same thing? Which is the right one?


texts:
The internet slang term copypasta is a recent coinage and means:

The term copypasta refers to a block of text which is repeatedly copied and pasted by individuals over various online forums and social media sites. It is often used interchangeably with “copy and paste.” From
(Dictionary.com)

The term appears to have a derogatory connotation and is often associated with spam according to Techopedia:

Copypasta is seen as being similar to spam. It is a viral message that keeps getting replicated and sent, either because of some natural interest or a kind of internal command to share it, similar to a chain letter. However, copypasta is organically spread — it is a human-generated type of message, regardless of whether people think of it as spam.

Its origin is quite simple and intuitive:

An English portmanteau of “copy” & “paste”, the term “copypasta” is believed to have been coined by 4chan’s Anon community circa 2006. One of the earliest reference articles on “copypasta” was submitted to Encyclopedia Dramatica in September 2006. Outside of English-speaking regions, such text-based memes are referred by indigenous names. From
(Knowyourmeme)

Questions:

Is "pasta" in copypasta used just because of the assonance with "paste", or does the term "pasta" convey also a derogatory, possibly slang, connotation which actually differentiates it from the more common and neutral expression "Copy and Pastes"?

Is "copypasta" used only with a derogatory connotation to indicate undesirable or unnecessary  instances of "copy and paste"?


texts: A question on this common sentence structure

texts:
I saw these lines in a children's book today:

The tourists gathered around the lake, taking photographs of the wildlife in the area.
The cat sat itself down on the veranda, stretching its lazy body.

It seems like both sentences can be modified to become more "parallel".

The tourists gathered around the lake to take photographs of the wildlife in the area.
The cat sat itself down on the veranda and stretched its lazy body.

Is there any particular reason why the original sentences are structured the way they are? Is there a formal name for this sentence structure?


texts: Is there a rule for what we can turn into a compound modifier/adj?

texts:
Consider the following:

  The music was perfect for a windows-down, summer's-day car ride.

Is this sentence grammatically correct? The hyphen usage looks particularly odd, but since they are being used as compound adjectives, I was under the impression it was be correct.


texts: The style guide I use, THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, uses the term "prose" for all non-dialogue or quoted material. The word "narrative" is rarely used. However, fiction web sites, as well as Stack Exchange, seems to prefer "narrative." So my question is: Is there a professional difference (I'm not really looking for a dictionary definition; I use Webster's)? And then some follow-ups: Are there regional differences? Does fiction v. nonfiction matter? What about poetry? Thanks!


texts: Is the comma usage proper in this sentence?

texts:
As a result, I am able to be understanding and accommodating to the people that I work with, including clients, which I believe is an important asset for a professional to have.

I wanted to make sure it is absolutely known that I mean to acknowledge clients as a class of people I can work with. Is this the right way to include it with commas?


texts: is there any word to describe a person (or a phenomenon) that can accomplish contradictory things?

texts:
For example, if someone is given to finish two contradictory things (or we can say task) and he/she would accomplish all at the same time.
It's like oxymoron, but somebody can handle those kind of situation.
Is there any word for that?


texts: why the color word is used in this way: "dark" chocolate and "black" coffee

texts:
Both colors of dark chocolate and black coffee are the same to me. Why the color words used are different?
Thanks!


texts: "images with at least one defect" or "images with at least a defect"?

texts: I'm writing a technical document with some coworkers, and none of us is a native English speaker. I'm writing about images (pictures) of mechanical parts with or without defects, and I want to refer to the subset of images which contain at least a defect (possibly more than one). What's the correct form? "Images with at least one defect" or "images with at least a defect"?


texts:
After detailing some strange results, I want to write something like

"Such apparent concern is no problem in practice as ..."

As I start to explain those results. My intuition was first

  [...]. Such apparent concern is none in practice as [...]

Which is more concise, less repetitive and sounds very natural to me (not native English speaker), but is it correct to use "none" this way?


texts: What’s the correction punctuation in "dwelled on why that happened; would it happen again?"

texts:
The title is a variation of the following example.

Should there be a question-mark before semicolon? the part after semicolon is also part of the dwelling. should the punctuation be different?

  He dwelled on what if the path had been different;
  could he have taken it?

Based on a comment below, is this correct?

  I dwelled on "what if the path had been different? Could I have taken
  it?"


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Me and my wife” or “my wife and me”

I keep seeing that it's just courtesy to put yourself last in a list of nouns. eg. "They went to the game with Sally and me" instead of "They went to the game with me and Sally".

Is there an official rule somewhere that says this? All i'm finding is people just saying that's the case


texts: What does "play at writer" mean in this context in the The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck?

texts:
" Bukowski
wrote back to the editor: “I have one of two choices—stay in the post office and
go crazy . . . or stay out here and play at writer and starve. I have decided to
starve.” "
What does "play at writer" mean in this context? What does play or work at (a job) mean generally?


texts:
Is it compulsory to use subject in a sentence
e.g "going up the hill,an old temple was seen"
can we say going up the hill, they/we/he/she etc saw an old temple?
or is it correct without subject?


texts: Grammar of "will" plus "have to" plus "have+pp"

texts:
Is this sentence correct?

  I will have to have done this (in two years for example).

What I want to say is : there is a task to be done in 2 years from now. this sentence is referring to the end of the 2 years in future.

Please tell me which one is correct:

I will have to have done this in 2 years from now.
I will have to have done this by the end of the year(one year for example).

I mean, should it refer to the "End" or to the "Duration"?


texts: What is the plural of "scenario"? I have always used "scenarios", but have recently come across "scenaria" and "scenarii".  Should I be treating it as an Italian or Latin word?


texts: Is the usage of a hyphen in "ad hoc" acceptable?

texts:
I know that "ad hoc" is a Latin phrase and I've typically seen it used without a hyphen. However, many technical articles use a hyphen. For example:

  Ad-hoc mode is useful for establishing a network where wireless infrastructure does not exist or where services are not required.

(http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/ad_hoc_mode.html)

Is "ad hoc" always the correct usage? If it can be "ad-hoc", is the usage of the hyphen specific to certain circumstances?


texts:
I just read this: It’s a (wo)man’s world out there.

Is this an accepted approach to gender-neutral language, or is it just used when humor is intended?


texts: What word describes our habit to use extremes in language, and what are its implications?

texts:
I have heard that in America, and likely elsewhere as well, we are beginning to be more gratuitous with our use of extreme words when not entirely accurate, such as the words "awesome", "always", "never", "crazy", etc.

Is there a word or phrase to name this phenomenon?

What are the implications of this behavior with respect to our use of language and its effect on our lives?


texts: "It is having time to think that makes me depressed" — grammatical function of "that"?

texts:
It is having time to think that makes me depressed.

In this sentence, what is the grammatical function of the word that?


texts: The meaning and word origin of "Christian with four aces"

texts:
This is one paragraph from a news article:

  Politics is for decision makers and risk takers, not scholars and wimps, and I don’t think he has what it takes – the ethics of a hungry shark married to the confidence of Twain’s “Christian with four aces.”

I'm not sure what the Christian with four aces means. I read some English dictionaries but in vain.

I assume that 'four aces' refer to the aces of diamonds (♦), clubs (♣), hearts (♥) and spades (♠). But I'm not sure why this expression is related to confidence and why it has something to do with any religious faith.


texts:
I may or may not contact you later.

Isn't this redundant?  Unless I'm missing something, the meaning can be expressed equally well with:

  I may contact you later.

Or even:

  I might contact you later.


texts: 'We communicated a few weeks ago' in an Email

texts:
I am writing an email that has not to be formal. I am trying to translate a phrase from Spanish that goes: 'Nos comunicamos hace unas semanas.' The literal translation would be 'We communicated a few weeks ago' and I am trying to use that phrase to let the receiver know that we were in touch before, and I am re-approaching her to solve something.

I wanted to know if that sounds right and natural or is there another common way to let the other person know that we were in touch before, and use that as an introductory phrase.


texts: considers a probability vector v containing the probabilities of jumping to each vertex

texts:
Should I use "probabilities" or "probability" in the following sentence?

  Consider a probability vector v containing the probabilities of jumping to each vertex.


texts: What are some more formal synonyms in the form of a verb, preferably one word? thesarus.com produced 'strike', but it is transitive and sounds too grating. 'Arrive' sounds noncontextual.


texts: When is it correct to use a semicolon before a list or quotation (if at all)?

texts:
Although I don't do it myself, I've noticed many people use a semicolon to introduce a quotation, for instance:

  John said of the event; "it's great to see everyone..."

And the other circumstance: using a semicolon to introduce a list, instead of a colon.


texts: A phrase consisting of a "floating" noun and some verbiage following it

texts:
The question is on phrases like the ones that begin the following sentences.

(a) Her chin on the tabletop, she looked at me.
(b) His back turned to the door, he was writing a letter.
(c) His time being short, he turned to what he thought was the most critical question.

Questions
(1) Is there a single grammatical term for such phrases?  We may say that the phrases in question

consist of a noun and some verbiage following it,

do not connect to the rest of the sentence by means of a "grammatically revealing" connector (for example, a preposition governing the noun) and

can easily become a sentence in which the noun is the subject and the other verbiage the predicate. ("Her chin was on the table top."  "His back was turned to the door."  "His time was short.")

(2) Are they noun phrases?  (Some of them may be another kind of phrase as well, but is it true that they are all noun phrases?)
(3) Which case are the nouns in (e.g. nominative, accusative)?
Some thoughts
On (3), I suspect maybe not the nominative (not always anyway) because, when there is a pronoun involved, we want to say something else:

With him gone, there was no chance now.

Also in German we seem to get cases other than the nominative, as in the following.

Am Fenster saß an einem Schreibtisch, den Rücken der Türe zugewendet, ein kleinerer Herr, der mit großen Folianten hantierte, die auf einem starken Bücherbrett in Kopfhöhe vor ihm aneinandergereiht waren.

I am told that the phrase is considered a participial construction in German (an answer I got from German StackExchange).  (I guess it's a separate question whether a "participial construction" is necessarily not a noun phrase.)


texts:
Now, shadows dawn as the twilight comes.

Dawn has the meaning "come into existence". Does it work that way almost every time with words like, for example, shadows? Or, are there quite limited types of word that can be used with dawn? And, the sentence above, does it sound awkward to you?


texts: Opposite saying/word for "have patience"?

texts:
What would the opposite word or short phrase be for "be patient"/"have patience"?

Say some friends and I are getting ready to go out for the evening, and we are all ready but one friend is still just lollygagging around and taking their time, not really in a rush.  We ask them to hurry up and they reply  "come on guys have patience."

We had been patient and gave say ten minutes before asking to hurry up...So we were patiently waiting but it's now past that point (if that makes sense).

What would a proper reply be? "Could you be a little more _____"? Or "we have been patiently waiting, could you learn to be a little more _____"?

Random words I think of but aren't quite right are "attentive", "punctual", obviously not "impatient" (although it's along that thought line)...

If I can clarify any more please let me know!

Edit: To clarify, like saying "have patience" implies something I lack as a trait, I'm looking for something that would mean the same for someone who always takes their time.


texts:
I'm not sure whether to use the past tense or the conditional in this construction below.

  I found the answers to the exam, but I didn't look at them because I
  would have felt that I was (or were?) cheating.

Is it 'were' because it's an unreal conditional? Or is it not an unreal conditional?


texts: Does "Period of Continence" mean the same as "Prescribed waiting period"?

texts:
If you are acquainted with Islamic Sharia (law), you may have come across the term "iddah" (the period a woman must observe after the death of her spouse or after a divorce, during which she may not marry another man).

It's often translated as: "legally prescribed waiting period", but I lately heard a professor translating it "period of continence"; continence meaning "self-restraining from intercourse". However, the "iddah" is not only about intercourse. It also includes that the divorced/widowed woman is not allowed to leave the house. Also, it's mandatory that she does not have intercourse, it's not her choice. Does that make the phrase inapplicable?

Restrictions of Iddah

I have done some research and found that the phrase was never used in any Islamic context. I know that the translation "legally prescribed waiting period" does not show what iddah entails but does it have to?


texts: What does this quote mean; "There's never a lie because there is never a truth"?

texts:
Here is the quote by Lenny Bruce in its full context :

  Let me tell you the truth. The truth is "what is". If "what is" is,
  you have to sleep eight, ten hours a day, that is the truth. A lie
  will be: People need no sleep at all. Truth is "what is". If every
  politician from the beginning was crooked, there is no crooked. But if
  you are concerned with a lie, "what should be"—and "what should be" is
  a fantasy, a terrible lie that somone gave the people long ago: This
  is what should be—and no one ever saw what should be, that you don't
  need any sleep and you can go seven years without sleep, so that all
  people were made to measure up to that dirty lie. You know there's no
  crooked politicians. There's never a lie because there's never a
  truth.


texts:
I'm wondering whether the phrase 'in books, TV, or films' is correct.
It seems to realize the 'in A, B, and C' structure; however, the preposition
'in' does not go with 'TV'. We cannot say 'in TV'.

Do we have to say 'in books, on TV, or in films' instead?


texts: The meaning of nailed in the conversation

texts:
In the following conversation from the Gilmore Girls episode "The Breakup, Part 2," what is the meaning of nailed:

  Summer: Tristan, stop.

  Tristan: You are making me chase around the party.

  Summer: Just trying to have fun.

  Tristan: You won't talk or dance with me. Why the hell did you come
  with me to the party?

  Summer: Stop yelling.

  Tristan: Summer, please, can we just go?

  Summer: No, I am sick of fighting with you.

  ...

  Summer: I think we should break up.

  Tristan: I want to go outside and talk about this..

  Summer: Then go. Bye.

  ...

  Tristan (to Rory): You just loved it, don't you?

  Rory: loved what?

  Tristan: Seeing me nailed like that.

I did the research. Here is what I found:

pin someone down (on something) and nail someone down (on something)
Fig. to demand and receive a firm answer from someone to some question. (Alludes to shifting from answer to answer; commit to one answer or another.)

I tried to pin him down on a time and place, but he was very evasive.
Don't try to pin down the mayor on anything!
I want to nail her down on a meeting time.

Punching them in the face.

"Man I really nailed that guy in the face."

Or having sex with them

"I'm telling you dude, I totally nailed that chick last night"

Or if you catch someone in a crime or want to

"I'm gonna nail that bastard who shot my partner"

Or accidentally hitting someone with a nail gun

"Oh man I'm sorry dude I didn't mean to nail your face to the dog"

So it would be like "punished" when doing something wrong. Right? The last one seems to be closer in meaning. But I am not sure.


texts:
It's from The Lord of the Rings:

  ‘Then I will declare my doom,’ said Faramir. ‘As for you, Frodo, in so
  far as lies in me under higher authority, I declare you free in the
  realm of Gondor to the furthest of its ancient bounds; save only that
  neither you nor any that go with you have leave to come to this place
  unbidden. This doom shall stand for a year and a day, and then cease,
  unless you shall before that term come to Minas Tirith and present
  yourself to the Lord and Steward of the City.

I can't understand the conjugation of the verb "lies" in the second sentence.
Since it seems that the subject of the sentence is "you", instead of "Frodo"
Which one is the correct subject of this sentence?

[As for "you", in so far as "lies" in me under my authority, ~~]
I couldn't find the particular sense of the word "doom" as it is used in the context of this novel provided in any modern dictionary. Does it just mean the new rule (regulation) applied to the individual temporarily?
So the rule of Faramir is that Frodo is "free" to come to this place (Gondor) only when he is allowed (have leave / unbidden)?


texts:
Sentence that needs correction :

  "For building vocabulary skills, students should try to speak and write new words in appropriate contexts, rather than merely memorizing definitions".

How is "for building" a dangling modifier?


texts: Is "who did what" grammatically correct?

texts:
Sometimes I wish to know what each person in a group of people did, or where each person went, or which book goes where. Is it correct to say,

  Who went where?
  Who did what?
  Who told whom?
  Which book goes where?

If not, what is the grammatical way of framing such questions?


texts: "by whom the sums were paid" vs "who paid the sums"

texts:
Richard and Damian Taylor. Contract Law Directions (2019 7 ed).  pp 278-279.

I don't understand the syntax of the relative clause underlined in red. I've removed that paragraph's adjuncts to focus on the relevant:

  All sums  [...] shall [...] be recoverable from him as money received by him for the use
  of the party by whom the sums were paid [...]

Why isn't it "who paid the sums"?
How do I parse "by whom the sums were paid" = whom the sums were paid by?


texts: A word for someone complaining about the complaint

texts:
I see it now and then, someone posts critique against something, perhaps a bit attacking, and gets a reply from another person in the style of "stop complaining", "you don't know what you're talking about", or "you are so negative". And this response gets turned around with "stop complaining yourself", branching the discussion into nonsense.

Is there a word for when someone brings nothing to the discussion and just complains about the complainer like this?


texts: Is 'a 210-million-people market' correctly written?

texts:
Usually I find compound adjectives quite straightforward, but I'm not so sure when it comes to the following:

A 210-million-people market

So how should I refer to a market 210 million people large with a compound adjective before the noun?


texts: Would the commas in the phrase, "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up," be a comma splice?

texts:
The question is just as the title says. Here are a few examples:

  "Come on, come on, come on!"

  "Go, go, go, go, go!"

  "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!"

Would these be comma splices?


texts: Verb to refer to putting debris aside with machinery

texts:
The screen was showing a close up of some buildings in ruins.
  Excavators and bulldozers [...] debris aside, while the survivors watched
  the work with anguish and despair on their faces.

OK, I guess I could use put. But I think it sounds too soft for such heavy work. I also thought of push but I guess excavators don't actually push things? (unless push can also be used for 'grabbing things and putting them aside').

So I can't think of the proper verb. Any suggestions?


texts:
Excuse my limited acquaintance on English usage; which sentence is grammatically correct, and if any, which meaning does each convey?

I saw them play chess.
I saw then playing chess.


texts: Any popular phrases that urge the hearer to help a good cause even if help seems unnecessary

texts:
What I'm hoping for is something along the lines of "better safe than sorry," but instead of urging the hearer to take possibly-unnecessary safety precautions, my context is one of shared responsibility for some communal benefit.
I'm similarly unsatisfied with "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," because that works by threatening a bad outcome for failure rather than offering a benefit for better-than-photo-finish success.
Also related "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," which actually seems like the opposite of what I want. Like "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," it says that it's worthwhile to accept gains already realized even if it means foreclosing on additional potential gains; I almost want to  paraphrase Gretzky: "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
Not satisfied with "it couldn't hurt" (etc.) because the skeptical bargain there is merely that there is no downside to trying, and it might further imply the possibility of unexpected benefits in case of success.
What I'm looking for is something that recognizes the existence of "stretch goals" (for lack of a better phrase), and urges people to act in pursuit of those goals who might otherwise be willing to be free-riders on a simply mediocre outcome.

For context, I'm writing a short story about a society that holds that every person -- not just those in government -- shares a responsibility to ensure that the community's affairs are conducted well. If the task is balancing the town's books, maybe more-than-baseline effort could yield some kind of windfall. If the task is the pursuit of justice, perhaps it's the difference between cookie-cutter punishment vs some kind of personalized correction and rehab. If you're a witness to something, you shouldn't wait to be found and interviewed, you should step forward; and if nobody is even investigating, you should step forward to conduct the investigation yourself if that's what it takes. Almost "the buck stops everywhere."
I imagine such a society would have lots of little phrases to remind each person of their duty, regardless of context. And I'm realizing that I don't seem to have any such phrases.


texts:
I need the names of the following symbols:

♪
The one that is not coloured in and looks like a "d"
The circular one, that looks like an "o"
The one like this ♪, but doesn't have the little thingy sticking out


texts: What are the appropriate adjective and verb that match "load"?

texts: Hello, everyone. I want to ask a question a little related with the computer. Suppose the requests from the users are shared by more servers as we have deployed more servers. Thus every server "undertakes less load"? Is it right if I say in this way? Any suggestion will be appreciated. Look forward to your reply. Thank you in advance. regard.


texts:
Somewhat related to: Is "to fight with" ambiguous?

For some reason prepositions are presenting me problems lately.

To struggle with and to struggle against basically have identical definitions, meaning to fight with/against, respectively.

Is there any distinction in meaning when one is trying to say, "I experienced something negative and there was a sense of conflict between me and the entity"?

For example, is there a distinction in meaning between:

  In the past I have struggled with entitlement and greed.

AND

  In the past I have struggled against entitlement and greed.

If there is no distinction, is one preferable and/or more popular than the other? Thanks.


texts: A Chinese colleague just told me of a Chinese idiom for anxiousness or restlessness. They will often refer to someone who is overly restless as an ant standing on a heated pot. I'm pretty sure there is at least one English idiom for restlessness/anxiousness, but for the life of me I cannot think of it right now. Is there indeed one or more common idioms for restlessness in English, or am I imagining things? :)


texts: “If you insist there be...” , is that correct? Can I use it like that?

texts:
But if you insist there be someone being judgemental, it's you,not her.

(Is that correct, or I should use “there is”, and why thank you!)


texts: "The economic and health [crisis | crises] can be tackled together.”

texts:
Is this sentence correct with plural crises:

The economic and health crises can be tackled together.

or should it instead be this one with a singular crisis:

The economic and health crisis can be tackled together.

Bear in mind that the economic crisis and the health crisis mentioned here are intended to be two completely independent and unrelated crises, never normally mentioned together.


texts: Is there a particular rule for conjugating verbs in cases of semi-ambiguous subject?

texts:
"A school of fish swims away" vs "A school of fish swim away."

Enough said.

What's the rule under such circumstances?


texts: Adverb placement: Obviously and Definitely

texts:
I had a grammar test this morning and I was asked in one of the exercises to place the adverb between brackets into their right positions, here's the exact line I had to solve:

  He can't go with you on that trip, because his parents are against it (obviously-definitely)

My answer was:

  He can't obviously go with you on that trip, because his parents are definitely against it

My question is if it's correct or not? If no, please tell me why.


texts: When and why did Germanic languages (and more in general, languages outside Italy) started to use Andrea as a female name? To my rough understanding of Greek, this is a male name, which comes from the Greek "andrós," that indicates "opposed to the woman."


texts: Term used for a feeling or dream of events happening in the short or near term.

texts: They say Nostradamus could see the future. While not being so bold but what is the term used to describe when some people at times are able to dream or know what is going to happening in the short-term/near future and that actually happens.


texts: What does it actually means "make 2013 his year"?

texts:
It seems simple, but bit confused.

He wanted to make 2013 his year, to return to the top of the mountain,
he tries to do that tonight's game.

In this sentence, "wanted 2013 his year" means
"he could not be super happy in 2013"?
Therefore, the following goes and means,
"he tries to return to the top of the mountain(=get the title)
tonight's game."

Is this understanding correct??


texts: Can I write “You must not sit when your superior is not”?

texts:
I’m trying to shorten some of the sentences in my work and this sentence came across:

“You must not sit when your superior is standing.”

Is it grammatically correct to substitute with:

“You must not sit when your superior is not” ([Not sitting])?

In both cases the second clauses are in continuous form, so I maintained that. Couldn’t find any examples online, but I’m sure I’ve seen it used somewhere.


texts:
Is it correct to say

"MIGHT I have a look around?
OR
"MAY" I have a look around?

Which is correct and why ?

Thanks


texts:
Recently I have watched the film "The Shack". The events of the film is narrated by a person who is also a character in the film (Willie). At the beginning he gives some information about Mackenzie's(main character) father. Here it is:

His father was an elder in the church.
A closet drinker.
Especially when the rain didn't come,
or came too early...
Most times in between.

The first line is clear: The man is a worker in the church and he is not supposed to drink but he brakes this rule.
I didn't understand the second line. Why the narrator is mentioning rain? How can it be related to the closet drinker?
The third line will get cleared, I think, if the second line gets cleared first. Can anybody explain what the narrator means in the second line?


texts:
When do we use 'on the web' and when 'in the web'?

  Roombeats provides image content marketing solutions by linking images to product or brand information and distributing it on the web.


texts:
As a non-native speaker I'm looking for the right term for a technical application/product that dispenses or doses a viscous liquid, i.e. the device will "output" a specific amount of "stuff".

However, dosing/dose/dosage appear to be "medical" to me, also maybe describing a ratio of components (like controlling the amount / rate of medicine/drug added to an IV drip).

On the other hand, dispenser more seems to be "outputting" or making available already discrete "entities", e.g. a tissue dispenser.

I'm lacking knowledge of more elaborate uses of those words and appreciate any comments.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dispense#English
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dose#English


texts: How to explain the use of stress to emphasize agreement

texts: In a discussion with someone whose first language is not English, the phrase "that is fun" came up, with the stress applied to emphasize agreement. This was taken as an insult; he thought the stress on 'is' was used in a corrective manner (thus implying that he didn't know it was fun), rather than how it was meant. How can I explain this usage to him? It's a part of English that I take for granted, so I don't know any words for it.


texts: What are the plural forms of the words "octopus" and "platypus"?

texts: I've seen "octopuses" and "platypuses", respectively, but I've also seen "octopi" and"platypi". Which is correct, and why?


texts:
I guess I've been in mathematics for far too long, and I tend to use the phrase "Not all is lost" as the negative of "All is lost".

To me the phrase "All is not lost" suggests that nothing is lost. It doesn't send the message I'm trying to give which is that "at least one thing is not lost".

What's your interpretation of the two phrases?


texts:
When I am talking about plural ("Sites"), should I use does or do?
In case I'm talking in plural, I should use "do". But "like Facebook", is singular. So which one is correct?


texts:
I know this is a bit odd to ask, but I'm really stumped on this SAT question (Test 4, Section 8, Q: 17). The author is deriding the critics of television.

  Unlike everyone else, the theorist has remained completely intact morally, can distinguish in a sovereign manner between deception and reality, and enjoys complete immunity in the face of the idiocy that he or she sorrowfully diagnoses in the rest of us.

In line 59, "sovereign" is best understood to mean

A) excellent

B) opulent

C) elitist

D) absolute

E) oppressive

I chose A and the correct answer is D. I'm really confused on this. Would someone mind clarifying?


texts: Using so on in sentences to avoid repeating a word

texts:
I would like to explain something without repeating words. I try to do that using _so_on. However, I do not know whether this is acceptable in English or not?

For example,

The first drawer is used to store the files of the first class while the second drawer is used to store the files of the second class.

I try to avoid repeating words, so I did this:

The first drawer is used store the files of the first class and so on of the second drawer.

I am not sure if my sentence is understandable or not? I feel it changes the meaning of the first sentences.

Any help, please?


texts: We moved to CA from Norfolk, VA as children. Our parents and grandparents are college educated yet we four all said “amn’t,” to the shock of our CA neighbors. We no longer say it but I wondered why we all said this in 1967. All I can find in an online search is that they use it in Ireland and Scotland. Of note: My second and 3rd generation Irish parents from Boston and St. Louis did not use it. Is it common in southern Virginia?


texts: Is the term "Christian name" in decline in British English?

texts:
I learned most of my British English as a lad of thirteen in 1968–69 and one of twenty in 1975–76, during which (academic) years I lived in Sussex. As a Yank (I think that at least is still a current usage, at least in schoolboy register), I then had to get used to the term Christian name for what I had always called simply my first name. As I approach my first visit to England in some sixteen years, I wonder if it is time to unlearn that lesson, what with the new London mayor and all. Does this usage garner odd looks in today’s more multicultural England? Will it perhaps mark the user as a UKIP (or, by transatlantic extension, Trump) sympathiser?

Ngram suggests decline since 1968 but by no means to the point of vanishing. I can find no previous EL&U question on this, though there is some relevant discussion here.


texts: Is the possessive of "one" spelled "ones" or "one's"?

texts:
I've been confused about this as long as I can remember. Should it be:

  One should do ones duty.

or

  One should do one's duty.

I'm guessing it should be the latter. But that doesn't sit well with the possessive pronoun 'its'. For example:

  It is its own purpose.

vs.

  It is it's own purpose.

Here, the former seems clearly correct.


texts: Ataraxis or/and ataraxia, a quandary. A question over their existence and usage?

texts: The Oxford dictionary has ataraxia (ataraxy) as a valid word but not ataraxis. however, I've seen and heard the ataraxis being used once in while. But it happens that the guys at Oxford do not recognize it (ataraxis) as a word. You can search ataraxis and many sites, along with Google itself, will define it. Now the question is whether I can use the word ataraxis and ataraxy (ataraxia) in place of each other and will any examiner such as those at GRE and GMAT consider and approve it.


texts: "Lessen, poisoned gulls, ditcher wander hair annulled furry tell a boarder Slipping Booty?"

texts:
This is the prelude to an article published in Sports Illustrated magazine on August 17, 1959:

  Lessen, poisoned gulls, ditcher wander hair annulled furry tell a
  boarder Slipping Booty? Hoecake? Wail, heresy starry.

As a nonnative English speaker, I don't quite understand what is going on in the article, but I guess this is some kind of style which uses the same pronunciations of words with different spellings. My question is, what is this technique called? Where and on what purposes is it used?


texts: One word for the "feeling one has after acquiring the habit of being flattered" (भाव खाना)

texts:
There is a teacher in our school who never approves something unless she is buttered up or flattered. I want to know if there is any word that describes the feeling one has after being flattered.

I am looking for an apt translation of the Hindi bhaw khana (भाव खाना).


texts: Is there a word for person who have to always read anything written or printed anything and anywhere?

texts:
Is there a word for person who always have to read anything written or printed either the graffiti on wall something printed on t shirt, behind or on side of the transport literally almost everything  no matter the situation. Sometime he/she makes it awkward in-front of other people.More curious type of person but sometime annoying.

Edit 1: That word that clearly implies the behavioral pattern as mentioned by @Spagirl.


texts: What's a word for when you try to be something?

texts:
I don't mean it in a way where you're trying to be something that you're not, rather, where you're trying to be more of something that you already are (maybe not 100% of the time but you still have been it before)
If that even makes sense?

P.s. It doesn't have to be an adverb, I'm just not good with choosing tags...


texts: Is there a phrase for the action of overlooking on purpose something

texts:
In Portuguese we have an expression called "vista grossa" which means to overlook some wrongdoing on purpose.

This is used mostly when something is borderline wrong/illegal or possibly wrong under some rigid laws and the person enforcing the situation pretends to not notice the issue to avoid confrontation with the infractor. Bribing should not be present on such situation.


texts:
Is there a word for the ideas you get while showering?

Doubtful there's an English word for that, but I'd be open to words from other languages as well.


texts:
Looking at Wiktionary, which sense is used when we say one landed in prison? Landed in a hospital?

(intransitive) To descend to a surface, especially from the air.
(dated) To alight, to descend from a vehicle.
(intransitive) To come into rest.
(intransitive) To arrive at land, especially a shore, or a dock, from a body of water.
(transitive) To bring to land.
(transitive) To acquire; to secure.
(transitive) To deliver.


texts: Degrees of comparison - "is the" vs. "is more"

texts:
Can we say "John is the stiffest of Rachel and Mark.",
OR
"John is more stiffer than Rachel and Mark."?

Which one is better?


texts: "The Garvaghy/Ormeau/Falls/Crumlin Road": The in NI road "names"

texts:
In the UK, we often hear of roads in Northern Ireland being called "The X Road" in the news. This isn't common usage in Great Britain. I can think of five reasons why this may be common usage, but haven't been able to work out which one dominates as each seems to maybe apply sometimes:

The usage refers to a general area by metonymy;
The usage is a differential linguistic marker of community membership within NI;
The usage is uncomplicatedly common throughout the island or within NI;
The roads change name a number of times throughout their length, and this phrasing is used to denote the whole length in contrast to the named parts;
The usage is no more common than in the UK / the sample is incomplete / this is selective memory, etc.


texts: "Software craftsman" as complimentary term for programmer

texts: Is software craftsman a complimentary term for a programmer or is it just neutral?


texts: How should title and suffix appear when writing last name first?

texts:
It's common in business to list persons in order of last-name-first.
Instead of "John W. Van Dyk", write "Van Dyk, John W.".

But what should be the convention when the name has a title or suffix.
How would "Dr. John W. Van Dyk III" be written?

There are other similar questions about how to deal with a suffix, but I can't see any that deal with title. (Mr., Dr., Rev., etc)


texts: Is there a word for crossing an isthmus (inverse of "ford")?

texts:
An isthmus is a narrow bit of land connecting two areas of land and dividing a body of water.  I know that when a person on land crosses water at a shallow portion, it's called a "ford" (e.g. "Along the Oregon Trail, we forded several rivers.").  Is there a word for a person on water crossing a narrow isthmus to get to the water on the other side?

An example of usage this might be the history of Native Americans building lightweight canoes to be able to carry them over small bits of land between rivers.  A sentence might say "The Iroquois built their canoes to be lightweight in order to more easily [this word] the land crossing between X and Y rivers."

I've tried searching for synonyms of "ford" but they mainly apply to water crossings, except for compounds like "cut across" or "pass over."  I'm looking for a single, concise verb, if there is one.


texts: I'm sure there's a word for this, but I don't know what it is. Specifically, the concept associated with nationalism - the glorification of a past time period as being better than the current one, which usually results in exaggerating that time period's positive aspects and downplaying its negative aspects. It's not quite nostalgia, I don't think.


texts: Word that describes what will be a collection of a particular type of document

texts:
Apologies in advance for not being able to provide a sample sentence as specified in the single-wordrequests` tag, but this context/application is actually just a folder name (i.e. a paper file folder or computerized project folde).  I am hoping for a short, meaningful, descriptive word that will:

encompasses the implication of "a particular collection of documents".

This may be impossibly broad because "anthology" or "collection" don't work in this context so I think I will have to refine this further to a more specific context.

The context presently in my mind: A collection of documents that may include for one or more people (please let me know if a different word should be used if it is personal or collective) include:

biographies
cover letters
resumes
specifically requested application documents

I considered

"Personal documents" (but this is far to vague)
"Applications" (but the content is not really an application, it may be used IN an application, but in and of itself, it's not really an application)