texts:
I was in the middle of a subtitle translation for a video, when I encountered a phrase I have not heard before. I assumed it might be an idiom, but failed to find any clues to it's meaning anywhere on the web, including this and English Language Learners StackExchange. I tried seraching for jargon-related queries but neither this helped me find the answer. I am relucant on moving on or describing any of it in my own words, as I believe it to play an important role in the meaning of the whole scene. Sadly, I'm not even sure of the original meaning to be able to at least circumlocute the script in case I couldn't directly translate it.

Now I would like to get to the bottom of this not just for the sake of the translation, but also because I'm personally curious about the meaning of the phrase.

The setting of the video is a parody of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) movie starring "meme brokers" - people who buy and sell memes on the meme stock exchange. At one point, the stocks started tanking and they had to seek an advice from a person who was later referred to as a "baby's first broker", as seen in the following sentence:

  "Now I've got maniacs spending my points however they please and now baby's first broker's trying to help me out."

I believe the meaning might be somehow closely tied to the original movie (a reference, perhaps?) but sadly I haven't seen that either.

I'm not a native English speaker and I couldn't come up with a supposed meaning. Also it might be worth noting I'm just an enthusiast adding subtitles in my native language to English YouTube videos made by independednt fimmakers in my free time.

Thank you for reading and any and all effort in answering!


texts: What does the phrase "to die for good" mean?

texts:
Earlier I saw a new web clip to the vampire diaries season 6 episode 7, where Alarick says:

  If you kill me, I am dead for good this time.

Please, explain to me what this means.


texts: What does "dangling off turrets" mean here?

texts:
It takes me a while trying to understand "dangling off" as well as "turrets" in the following context, have looked up all the meanings of turret in dictionary but none makes any sense here in the context:

the context has been edited and here I have given all about bees in this book...as the "to dangling off turrets waving butterfly nets" part is just after a DASH, doesn't this mean it's still talking about how to get rid of bees? I was supposing that  they were waving butterfly nets to avoid bees...thus was stuck by "dangling off turrets"....now maybe they are   just the description of other images..?

  pages 122–123  LILY COLE IN EARTHQUAKE-DAMAGED ROOM

  WHADWAN, GUJARAT, INDIA, 2005

  British Vogue

  ‘We were in the most amazing abandoned palace with giant rooms shaken
  by the huge earthquake four years previously’, recalls Lily, ‘it had
  never been restored and so existed eerily like some large film-set or
  a haunted house Disneyland attraction. What an adventure those ten
  days in India were: from getting locked into rooms to avoid the
  thousands of stinging bees that swarmed at midday – it was each for
  himself fighting for hats, skirts and so on to hide under – to
  dangling off turrets waving butterfly nets ...’

  Ragi Dholakia:‘One particularly hot March whilst shooting in a 13th
  century palace I noticed a few hornets in the courtyard outside. As
  the morning progressed it got worse and soon the team’s way in and out
  was buzzing with hundreds of giant hornets. Members of the crew
  started to be stung. We shut the doors and windows in the hope the
  swarm would disperse. It didn’t. After being trapped in the room for
  an hour the angry insects started to infiltrate the room. We resorted
  to lighting newspaper to smoke towels which covered our heads and
  making a speedy dash for it.’

From Pictures by Tim Walker


texts:
Is there a single word that means above and in front?

Like "The cabinet is above and in front of my head."


texts: Quotes starting with `` and ending with ''

texts:
I have seen many sentences/words in quotes like ``this'' instead of "this". Here's one from K&R:

  In 1983, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) established a committee whose goal was to produce ``an unambiguous and machine-independent definition of the language C'', while still retaining its spirit.

I have seen this especially more in text written about programming but in parts it means nothing special from a programming point of view.

I assume it is meant to differentiate string literals from quotations but I couldn't find anything related on the Internet and it is really hard to search about this since Google ignores most  forms of punctuation.

My question: Exactly why is this done?


texts: Is a semicolon or colon needed after "including"?

texts:
Previous research has identified four individual factors which appear to predict this including**;** need to feel loved, need to be loved and self-esteem.

Thanks everyone!


texts: Is it proper to say that in contemporary English, certain pronouns are only have oblique and possessive cases?

texts:
Is it proper and/acceptable to say that Contemporary English only has Oblique and Possessive noun-cases?

*To my understanding, Oblique case is a noun that functions the cases other's cannot.

In Early Modern English, we have Oblique, Nominative, and Possessive:
   Thou (Ye,) Thee (you,) thy (your,) and (your's,) nominative, oblique, possessive, and possessive respectively. So such statements as "Be ye holy for I am holy," are clear as to say "Because I am holy, you are holy," being a statement of imputation of being, not a command to be a certain way.

But today, in contemporary English, we only have (unless I am misunderstanding oblique-case:) Oblique and Possessive cases: You, your, and your's.

That all is focusing on one pronoun example, so, that being said, would this pronoun chart be correct:


texts: How should I differentiate between the two meanings of "squint"?

texts:
"Squint" can mean either:

  partly close (one's eyes) in an attempt to see more clearly or as a reaction to strong light.

or

  have eyes that look in different directions.

Is there a way to differentiate between the 2 meanings? Does any one of those meanings have a dedicated word that is not "squint"?


texts:
This takes less time than that.
  This takes a shorter time than that.

Why is 'a' necessary is the second and not the first example?


texts: What is the difference in meaning between prevalent and prevailing? I'm not sure I get the nuance, if there is one.


texts: What is the Difference Between a Mood and Tone?

texts:
The two literary devices "mood" and "tone" seem to be the same no matter where I read about them. I cannot seem to differ them.
Example: "the dark and gloomy night"
The sentence above is setting a worried tone while the mood is scary. But what is the difference? It basically means the same thing. I cannot seem to differ between the two literary devices.


texts:
... instead of "What do you say?"

I am not sure if "What say you?" is even grammatically correct.


texts:
I am confused over the use of lots of vs lot of.

I am phrasing a sentence having the following clause :

  [Article] [lot-of/lots-of] [noun singular/plural] [verb] ...

As an example :

  A lot of mail keeps arriving.

Ignoring the structuring of the sentence for the moment, what are the rules for matching up the article, noun and verb when using either lot of or lots of?


texts:
Recently I have heard many people say that somebody needs ‘to be concentrated’ on something.

Am I right in saying that this is being used incorrectly?


texts: How do you describe this behavior in English?

texts:
A politician might use every chance to emphasize that he/she was poor indeed to gain public sympathy and support. are they playing poor card? that doesn't sound idiomatic.

Aside from politics, when someone is trying to gain sympathy or support from the public by emphasizing that he/she is poor,  like:

  A thief was chasing by the police, but when he's cornered, he incited the crowd by___,  claiming that he was poor and  being unfair treated by the police, so the crowd was anger and he manage to get away with it.

In short, they are all using people's sympathy on poor and antipathy toward authority to arouse sympathy and get the best for themselves.
Is there a idiomatic phrase/expression to describe this behavior?

edit: I make up some keyword to describe that behavior: hypocritical, using people' sympathy and antipathy, sneaky


texts: Is there a term for an equivocal compound e.g. "guinea pig"

texts:
"Sweetbread," "guinea pig," "shortbread" (a typical Scottish biscuit), "egg cream" (a carbonated drink), and "firefly" are all not what their two nouns claim.

A sweetbread is neither sweet nor bread, a guinea pig is not a pig from Guinea, and so forth.

So, is there a technical term for this kind of word?


texts:
What is the difference between these two versions:

  I look forward to meeting you.
  I look forward to meet you.

They seem very similar and exchangeable to me as I am a non-native speaker.


texts: "We can do this infinitely." Is this correct?

texts:
I was told that it's not correct to say "We can do this infinitely", meaning that the process will last forever, without an end. Instead one should say "We can do this indefinitely" or "infinitely long". Is this right? why?

"Infinitely" and "indefinitely" look like complete synonyms for me in this context.


texts: Etymology of 'clinical' in 'clinical professor'?

texts: I searched for the meaning of 'clinical' and I could not find any association with academia. Why are non-tenure track jobs referred to as 'clinical'? What is the etymology?


texts: What does "gan" mean in "White thy fambles, red thy gan And thy quarrons dainty is."

texts:
What the noun gan mean in the following passage from the third chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses:

White thy fambles, red thy gan

And thy quarrons dainty is.

Couch a hogshead with me then.

In the darkmans clip and kiss.

Can the word mean gin - the alcoholic drink? I looked up gan in some dictionaries, it is written in them that gan can be a form of the verb gin (meaning begin). I have not found anything of help with regards to gan as a noun.


texts: What is an appropriate one word replacement for the word "spam"?

texts:
Oxford Dictionary defines spam as:

Irrelevant or unsolicited messages sent over the Internet, typically to large numbers of users, for the purposes of advertising, phishing, spreading malware, etc.

I want to find an alternative for the word, since I want to use it in a sentence where a friend of mine sent me a large number of pictures of Maths questions/notes which I needed, all at the same time. Certainly, that is neither "irrelevant", nor "unsolicited".
A sample sentence would be:

My friend _____ me with Maths questions.

I know that we normally use "spammed" in such sentences, but I want to find a more appropriate word for such a sentence. I know that another way of putting that sentence, while also conveying the same meaning (among many other such sentences) is:

My friend sent me a lot of Maths questions.

However, I want to know if there's a word that fits the original sentence more appropriately than "spammed", while also conveying that I received a lot of the said questions in a short inverval of time.


texts: What is a good word or term to describe how people can be distracted from an issue by another or be misled as to the real causes of an issue?

texts:
I was thinking of populism in the pejorative sense of the word. This can occur in tandem with demagoguery. Also distractionnism although it doesn't seem to underline any form of deceit.

However, populism can have a good connotation in defending the interests of people so it may not be a good choice.

Perhaps there's a better word or term for this? Open to any suggestions.

Edit: Here is hopefully some good sample sentences to help you understand what I'm getting at.

Incorrect cause:

  A rumour led to [word] in claiming that gypsies settled in the
  locality were responsible for setting fire to a building in town when
  there had been reports of arson elsewhere.

Distraction from another issue:

  A blogger gave rise to [word] within the population in claiming that
  immigration was responsible for the fall in available jobs in the
  province without considering that this was due to an economic downturn.


texts: 'She looked incredible. Then she looked at me'

texts: Am I correct in saying that the verb 'looked' is intransitive in the first phrase, transitive in the second phrase? Is there a name for this type of rhetorical technique playing on the two senses of the verb 'to look'?


texts: "But Only" - How to Figure Out the Meaning?

texts:
I first cite the definitions of "but" as an adverb or preposition:

adverb : no more than; only.
Preposition: except; apart from; other than:

Could someone please elucidate/explicate but only below?
Does it mean "only", "all but", "nothing but", ... ? Also, is the "but" redundant?
Please also illuminate how you sussed/unravelled the meaning.

  These, hearing first of the commotions which began about the same time in the other parts to broil, as in Oxfordshire, Yorkshire, and especially in Norfolk and Suffolk, began to take therein some courage, hoping that they should have well fortified the same quarrel. But afterwards, they, perceiving how the mischievous mutterings and enterprises of their conspiracy did suddenly fail, either being prevented by time, or repressed by power; or that their cause, being but only about plucking down of inclosures, and enlarging of commons, was divided from theirs, so that either they would not or could not join their aid together, then began they again to quail, and their courage to abate. Notwithstanding, forasmuch as they had gone so far that they thought there was no shrinking back, they fell to new devices and inventions, for the best furtherance of their desperate purposes.

I referenced:
1: Rephrasing of "All But"

2: [ All + Noun + But ] vs [ All But as an Idiom

3: Vincent McNabb's Comment: All But = Everything Except.

4: "Anything but" vs "Everything but" vs "Nothing but"

5: Two meanings of "But": Inclusion or Exclusion ?
My comment:
I. If there's a whole and a part, then but imports inclusion: but = only.
II. If there's only a whole (I daresay but a whole), then but connotes exclusio = except.

6: All But ≈ Very Nearly

7: Only vs But Only


texts: Why not "virtual estate" instead of "screen real estate"?

texts:
In English usage in many disciplines, like articles on Web designing, people frequently use the word "screen real estate" or "viewport (browser window size) real estate" or even "mobile or browser real estate."

Estate essentially means "an area or amount of land (property)."

So when we're talking about screen area, why don't we use "virtual estate"?


texts:
As I was reading a book I came upon the following passage:

  And when rain at length arrives, how beneficent is its coming!
  Boisterously, richly, merrily it spates forth, like the large, hot
  tears of a man unexpectedly relieved of care; [...]

Is the verb to spate still being used? I checked several dictionaries but I could only find these definitions:

freshet, flood

a large number or amount: a spate of books on gardening
a sudden or strong outburst: a spate of anger


texts: What's the word to describe the sound of a pebble (or pebbles) falling on a rock surface? Clack, tap, clank...? Thanks!

texts: What's the word that could best describe the sound of a pebble (or pebbles) falling on a rock surface? Clack, tap, clank...? Thanks!


texts: What do you call a person who tries to be the first to answer and/or answer the most questions on stack exchange?

texts:
More specifically, those on StackExchange or similar Q&A sites that seem to be trolling (as in fishing) for new questions to answer solely for the potential reputation gained and/or to be viewed as a subject matter expert and to reap the rewards of the resulting stardom achieved from such activity.  It seems that some view themselves as StackExchange rock stars in reading some responses and votes to remove questions that imply they are upset because the person asking the question has wasted their time and was unworthy of their attention.  These types most often have the first response to a question and it is within moments of the question being asked.
I'd like to get the phrase coined for this annoying behavior if it doesn't already exist.


texts: A single word describing exactly 'never' in a collection of frequencies

texts:
The phrase is:
'(frequency) Notifications'
i.e
'Daily Notifications'
'Weekly Notifications'
'Never Notifications'

The best I've found on the internet is "Unscheduled" but that implies that it can happen, just with some lack of determined frequency. Is it impossible to describe never in the context of frequencies?


texts: Algorithm to determine if an "e" in a word is silent

texts:
I'm working on a software that requires me to know if an "e" in a word is silent or not. I thought of using Artificial Intelligence and pattern recognition to determine if the "e" is silent. The AI approach is expensive, I was wondering if there is a fixed finite set of rules I can follow to find if the "e" is pronounced or silent. If no such list exists could you please provide me with a list of words with both silent and pronounced "e" to feed them to my AI engine?

Thank you :)


texts:
I'm thinking both of the following are correct but seems like I'm mistaken.

  If we had started studying Spanish three years ago, we would be much more fluent in it now.

  If we had started studying Spanish three years ago, we would have been much more fluent in it now.

What is the difference between would be and would have been?

Thank you.

Feyza


texts:
As we know, some noun phrases can function as adverbials (especially temporal noun phrases). Here is an example taken from Wikipedia:

James answered this morning.

Can a single noun function as an adverbial? Nouns like "home" or "tomorrow" can function as adverbials, but they are also labelled as adverbs in many dictionaries. So we must find a "pure" noun.

If a noun with plural ending functions as an adverbial, this example can be regarded as a convincing example. (Except some special "plurals", for example "Sundays", which are labelled as adverbs in dictionaries)


texts: Looking for a name of this grammatical feature where (for example) "laptop" becomes "shmaptop"

texts:
I'm looking for a name of a below grammatical feature in writing. I googled a lot and I can't find it.

I think the name of this is something 'reverse', but not sure. Can someone help?

Spelling is most probably wrong.

  laptop - shmaptop

  car - shmar

  python - shmython

  belfast -  shmelfast


texts: Are "parent"/"child" in hierarchies technical terms? What's a non-technical version?

texts:
I want to display some hierarchical data. In math and computer science we'd use "parent" and "children", but I'm unsure if they're considered technical terms. Are there similar words that would be understood by nearly all English speakers?
Edit:
The specific context is communities that belong to other communities. E.g. the soccer community would be a subset/child of the sports community and the opposite would be the superset/parent.


texts: Origin of the phrase "Don't rain on my parade"

texts:
I am watching the "Salute to America" parade staged by President Trump to celebrate the American Independence, and and given the weather, I was thinking about the idiom...

  "Don't rain on my parade"

It is probably Donald Trump's most fervent prayer at this moment.

What is the origin and first use of this phrase?

I am sure some people will say that Robert Merill came up with it for the Barbara Streisand song, but I am also pretty sure it was in use long before 1964.


texts: How to say "is constant in one year"? (Paper Writing)

texts:
I'm helping someone to write their academic paper. He wrote 'something is constant in one year.' But I feel the 'in one year' is a bit awkward. Do I need to change it?
The meaning is that we are making an assumption that a certain variable remains constant in '1 year'. So it doesn't change during a certain year, while each year's value may be different.


texts: Which one is correct in formal style? Why?

texts:
1)  It's a habit of mine.

2)  He’s a brother of Maria’s.

3) My salary is higher than that of Joe.

4) My salary is higher than that of Joe's

5) My salary is higher than that of theirs.

6) My salary is higher than that of them.

My question: Numbers 1 and 2 are correct. Based on these two, number 4 should be correct as well, but Cambridge grammar says it's incorrect and we should use number 3 instead. Why is that? What about numbers 5 and 6?


texts:
I have recently heard in a Tv show that some guy said:

  He is stable-ish for now!

What does this term mean exactly? couldn't find anything, what's the occasion to use? can we use the -ish suffix for any adjective?


texts:
Why aren't the 'progressive' verbal constructions (such as 'I am talking') regarded as tenses in traditional grammar?

"There is no consensus, not even among linguists, about what constitutes a tense."--yeah, okay, fair enough, but that is hardly an answer.

"I have worked"--a tense, apparently. "I am working"--not a tense, apparently. There is no aspect of this that I understand. Why is the line drawn here?

Okay, further edit for clarification--I am referring specifically to the McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage, which describes six tenses--3 simple and 3 perfect. I can see no justification whatsoever for this classification.

Furthermore, I can see no practical use for the concept of tense, in any of its varied applications. So why even bother with it? (In English, at least. I'm willing to accept that it may be a very useful concept in other languages.)


texts: What does "around the menstrual cycle" mean?

texts:
I am a non-native speaker of English. I came across a sentence that baffled me today.

The original sentence is

  Do some areas of your skin tend to break out with small to medium size blemishes, particularly around the time of your menstrual cycle?

What does "around menstrual cycle" mean?

Menstrual cycle is an on-going process, meaning a woman is always on one of the several menstrual phases. How could a time be around the menstrual cycle?
Maybe this phrase refers to those days when a woman is on period?


texts: "What's past is past" is a good grammar structure?

texts:
I'm not sure about whether “What's past is past” is well-structured or not.
Please help me to find out the structure of it. (I wonder if it has double passive clauses; in other words, is past here a verb or an adjective?)


texts:
I would like to know if an 'and' is always necessary before the last item in a colon list.
Is the following correct, or should I place an 'and' before 'grapes'?

The basket contained a variety of fruits: bananas, apples, oranges,
grapes.

Thanks.


texts: What are the different ways an accent mark can go over the letter A & how are they pronounced?

texts:
I've found specifically these ones: á, à, â, å, ä.  I believe they COULD be used in the English language, or root ones such as Celtic & Germanic, but I don't know how they are pronounced.

Oh, and I've glanced at the articles What does the grave accent mark on words mean? and Diacritic if that helps jumpstart you on your assistance.  Thank you, and please give examples of how they are used!


texts:
I asked a question on Stack Overflow about these uses of "moral":

Fast and Loose Reasoning is Morally Correct
Purescript Aff documentation:

  This is moral equivalent of ErrorT (ContT Unit (Eff e)) a.

The responses I've gotten are that "morally" is used to qualify a statement in the same way one would use "basically", as a hedge for a statement that is not perfectly true, but true enough for practical purposes.

Is this word usage normal outside of programming/math?


texts:
I found the following phrase in the wild and as an ESL speaker it piqued my interest:

  So people who become Social Media influencers can get lucrative deals with companies why?

What's up with the adverb "why" put at the end? My hunch is that it is a colloquial contraction of a sentence and a sentence fragment:

  *So people who become Social Media influencers can get lucrative deals with companies. Why?

My questions:

Is my hunch correct?
Is there a name for this specific phenomenon in linguistics?
Does this phrasing convey a specific connotation?


texts: Dishonest debate tactic name - metaphor to farm, tower?

texts:
I can't think of the phrase. I remember the meaning - it's when you claim some very large thing, but then when made to defend it, defend a smaller and more defensible claim that sounds similar. Implicit redefinition of the terms involved may occur.

I remember the metaphor, too - analogizing the big claim to farmland and the small one to a fortified tower. I just can't remember what the words it used were.


texts: What’s wrong with saying “Have a nice day”?

texts:
I once read the book Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell. There, he mentioned that saying “Have a nice day” was a faux pas, without elaborating why.

I’m not American, this is way too subtle for me and Google did not help. Therefore, I’ll ask here: what is wrong with this phrase, and what should I say instead in situations where I would use it (like for example parting with a person)?

I’m not making this up, either: look at the first paragraph.


texts:
There is a children's book by Kumon entitled "Let's Sticker & Paste". So I was wondering if "sticker" in this title is a verb. If so, does it sound natural to say "Let's sticker"?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
"You react best under pressure. This can be an asset."
"You react best under pressure. This is an asset."
What's the difference? Is there none?


texts: What is the closest noun for "that which confirms"?

texts:
I thought maybe confirmer or confirmator would work, but confirmer is not an english word and the "ator" suffix only applies to words ending in "ate" (source). The closest noun I can think of is "validator", which is a synonym of confirm. However I was hoping there was a noun form of confirm itself.

For example, "the confirmator was broken, and clients were unable to establish the requests were submitted".


texts: A single word for: someone who believes they were born or exist in the wrong era

texts:
I am looking for a single word for a person who believes that she/he was born in the wrong era/decade/time. The person desires to be either in the past or in the future. That person might also possess a certain nostalgia for a specific era.

I thought of malcontent, but I do not think this fits well. Before I start inventing a ridiculous word like malperitemporalist, I want to know if a sufficient word exists?


texts: What is difference between editor and redactor?

texts:
English is not my native language, so may be I overlooked something obvious?

I seen in few places that "editor" and "redactor" in context of magazine or newspaper are not the same, but can't find a good explanation of the difference.

Thanks.


texts:
No. I'm not talking about xenophilia.

In both these senses, xenophobia and xenophilia relate to foreigners or strangers.

I am looking for a fear of the same people who live in the same country as you, not foreigners but localers, so to speak.

Essentially I am looking for the opposite of xeno. Ive gone thru the Wiktionary entry for xeno, but I couldnt find any antonyms.

Is there already a term for fear of localers?  If not what appropriate greek/latin prefix would work with the phobe/phile suffixes?


texts: How to correctly name a single-select element in forms?

texts:
How to correctly name this in English (in an official documentation for an IT system or in an instruction for filling up some form):

Should I name this:

a radio button,
a radio-button,
a radiobutton,
an option button,
an option-button,
and optionbutton
other name.


texts:
From the mid 19th century to about the mid 20th century, there were a lot of advertisements in newspapers and magazines for something called odd pants.  Judging from context, I suspect they were not just "unusual," which is what one would likely infer from "odd pants" in casual English today.

The Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas) 1 Feb. 1923

It almost seems as if "odd pants" was as common a term as "work shoes" or "dress pants" are today.

The Wichita Daily Eagle (Wichita, Kansas) 02 Apr 1915

The term is not in the OED or other dictionaries I consulted, and most of the instances I've found "in the wild" are from this time period ranging from about 1850 to 1950, mostly in advertisements that don't provide a lot of context for understanding what "odd pants" are.

So what exactly are "odd pants?"  Why are they called this?  Is there a reason the term grew into and then fell out of favor so quickly?  Is the term or any of its variations still used today, and I've simply been missing out?


texts: Is "chill" out of place to say to someone after a not so particularly good exam?

texts:
I am not a native speaker of English.
Now, this was the conversation:

  A: How was today's exam?

  B: It was just okay.

  A: Well, you've got 2 more, right? You'll do well in those. Now when you say "okay" I believe yesterday's wasn't bad either. Anyways,
  chill. Good luck with your next exam.

Now, is the usage of chill appropriate in context?

Also, how acceptable is the reply by A in terms of selection of words (again keeping in mind the context)?


texts: What's the best way to format a loan word in an English sentence?

texts:
Say I have a word from another language that I am very fond of and I want to just plop it in a sentence without trying to translate it.  Should I use italics?  Example:

  I've never cared for winter sports because I'm friolenta -- I get cold easily.


texts: "To persecute", but with a lighter acceptation, and without physical actions involved

texts:
I'm looking for a word to indicate what someone is doing when they're regularily targeting anyone part of a different group / community using words and without physical actions involved, something like "to persecute" but with a lighter acceptation.

A good example would be supporters of a football teams (?) supporters of other teams; they're not "persecuting" each other, but if they meet they'd start (?) each other, so the topic is the rivalry here; nonetheless this wouldn't imply physical actions of any kind, but just words.


texts: What is the antonym of "rarissima" and "rariora"?

texts:
Rarissima and rariora are two nouns meaning "extremely rare books, manuscripts, or prints" and "rare books" respectively. Is there a word denoting common or everyday books, or books that have no special quality about them whatsoever? Here is the sentence it'll be used in:

"[T]hey would discover that the books they saw through the storefront window were not familiar and fathomable [noun I am looking for], but rather foreign and fathomless rarissima, wholly incompatible with the modern mind, and therefore of no interest to the modern reader."

I would like this word to be one word. The word doesn't have to be plural like rarissima and rariora, but it would be preferable. Thanks.
PS: This might be a tough one, as rarissima and rariora are recherché words themselves.

How I came upon these two delightful words.

I am a big logophile, so I make it my business to know my native
language as thoroughly as possible. I was looking specifically for a
word meaning "rare books," so, on a writer's hunch, I started with
curio. (After all, rare books are “something
considered...rare.”) That led me to Merriam-Webster’s thesaurus and
the connotatively ribald word curiosa. I then decided to look
up curiosa in the OED. Once I did, I wanted to see if there were any
similar words referring to books in the OED's Historical Thesaurus
(which is incredibly useful, by the way), and from there I found
rarissima and rariora. (Many thanks, Oxford.) I was ecstatic to find two words meaning exactly what I wanted them to mean; English can
oftentimes surprise you like that. But I believe to every word there
is another with an opposite or partially opposite meaning, and that’s
why I am looking to this site for answers. I realize that there’s not
a word for everything, but for most things exists a word; and I hope
someone can find the word I seek.


texts: A non slangy word for "distractible person"

texts:
I'm thinking of starting a 12 step inspired support group, for people struggling with distractions. Basically it would be a group for people with ADHD symptoms, whether they actually have the disorder, or have simply wrecked their attention spans by using the internet too much.

What would be a good name to put before "Anonymous" to convey this scope? A tongue in cheek name like "Scatterbrains Anonymous" or "Spaceshots Anonymous" seems like it might put people off. I'm looking for something that would be to "distractible" as "depressive" the noun is to "depressive" the adjective. I've considered the neologism route, with "Distractives Anonymous", but it seems like a reach to get people identifying with a term that doesn't even exist yet. Any other suggestions?


texts: Is the hyphen necessary in "artificial-intelligence system?"

texts: Is the hyphen necessary in "artificial-intelligence system," and if not, what is the rule of grammar that makes it unnecessary? I know that a hyphen is necessary for two-word adjectives, but artificial intelligence is an attributive noun in this context, so I don't think this rule applies here.


texts: Term for talking about a subject or idea you did not want to talk about?

texts:
Specifically, is there a term for the situation where both parties agree not to discuss a certain subject and in so doing end up engaging in a discussion about the very topic they said they wouldn't?

An example:

  Person A: "What do you want to talk about?"

  Person B: "Anything but the weather."

  Person A: "Agreed, I find it boring to discuss the weather."

  Person B: "Me too. Oh, that reminds me -- did you hear it was supposed to snow tomorrow?"

  Person A: "Wow, really? I didn't know that. So long as it doesn't rain!"

  Person B: "You do realize we now actually are talking about the weather, right?"


texts: Do you "inaugurate"or "launch" or "open" a new book?

texts:
My friend is going to publish a new book and the opening ceremony is tomorrow. However, do I say that she is "launching" a new book?

Is there a better or more accurate way of saying this?


texts: Documentation for a piece of software will often include a tour of its features. Sometimes this is called "Feature Tour", and sometimes "Features Tour". From querying web search engines, it would seem that "Feature Tour" is twice as frequent, both being widely used. Can someone expand on the correctness of both, the subtle difference in meaning, and/or reasons to prefer either form?


texts: Is the adjective “vain” considered offensive when applied to a person?

texts:
I am given to understand by the Chambers Dictionary and Webster's that vain can be understood as thoughtless, empty-headed, useless, which all sound rather strong to me. Is it likely that a native English speaker takes offence at the following phrase?

  You are vain.

If not, does the word have any potentially dangerous usages?


texts:
The five building blocks offers you privacy and data protection from tailored modules and dashboarding, to integrated access to XZ's full advisory capabilities.

Is the above sentence correct? Can 'to' be used twice in a list?


texts: Is there a proper term for an ex-husband of your mother when you are born from her second marriage?

texts: My mother was married before I was born, then got divorced, married my father, and had me. Is there a term for my familial relationship to my mothers ex-husband?


texts: in that song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LzErRydJyE because I'm not sure about meaning


texts:
I just want to know I would like to kindly ask you could you check......? could be a right structure for asking question?

regards


texts:
"when I held the assembly that women are fun I were just lying"

The speaker had previously said so to an assembly of workmates.
What does the sentence mean?

The sentence can be heard (with the corresponding closed captions) at the minute 11, on the third episode of the 20th season of South Park, which is on official page for free.

What does hold sb that... mean?

Could that represent the ellipsis for "at which I said"?

Here's the excerpt of the video: https://youtu.be/p-Bb6lnekX0
Here's the script: https://southpark.fandom.com/wiki/The_Damned/Script


texts:
Is there a word for something "local", "focused", "centred" elsewhere?

Let's assume "local" means "an area close to a location usual to someone".

What would be the word for "here" for a far person?

In other words, I'm looking for a morpheme like "far-local".

Samples:

"The <foo> disaster went global, affecting the local machinery."
"The computer updated the local state using a <foo> state."

<foo>: the word I'm looking for

Please forgive in advance my irritating rigor. I already thought about these cases, which I would like to skirt if possible:

"far": to what I ask, it is too loosely coupled to "local"
"global": to what I ask, it refers to a too broad area


texts:
Is it

  With enough light, plants carry out a normal life cycle

or

  With enough light, plants carry on a normal life cycle

I'm confused because I'm not getting the exact difference between both verbs in this case.
Although "carry on" means continue and "carry out" means perform, I don't know if plants should continue a normal life cycle or perform a normal life cycle


texts: Is there a term for a person who is half British and half East Asian?

texts:
I know quite a few people who have one parent from somewhere in the U.K. (generally England) and the other parent from somewhere is eastern Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, etc.). They are all very nice people, and I was just wondering, is there an ethnic term for people like this? (Please excuse the racism.)

If this is not the right site to post this question, please tell me what is.


texts: Which one is correct: built or to be built

texts:
Which of these is correct?

1.How do you want your house to be built?
2.How do you want your house built?

I think 1 is correct because it is the house that will be built(someone will build it). But I can also get the same meaning with 2. So I don't know which one should be used. If 2 is correct and means the same, could you please explain the syntax?
And for these ones too:

When it was started to be built....
When it started to be built....


texts:
Is there a single word to describe "embrace challenges"? The full context would be,

  A man who loves to [embrace challenges].


texts: Is there a word for the punctuation "?!" or "!?"? A friend of mine steeped in such idiosyncrasies of eccentric English lore said there was but could not recall the name. I guess for reasons known only to the search-gods it seems rather ineffective to Google.


texts:
I was wondering why we say "something is missing" instead of "something is missed"?

If missed is an adjective then why we use it that way?

E.g.: "The sword is missing".


texts: Is there a word to describe a person who likes chaos?

texts:
I am wondering if there is a word to describe a person who likes chaos. By this I mean a few specific things:

The person is pleased to hear when chaos is created, or confusion emerges
The person will take opportunities to create chaos or confusion
The person enjoys taking part in chaotic or disorganized situations.

I can't seem to think of a word to describe the type of person who would act in this way.

I hope this question is clear.

EDIT: Below gbutters sums up nicely:

  What I wonder is if there is a word for a generally good-natured person who just likes some good old-fashioned chaos. It seems like any person that thrives on chaos would have to have some extra baggage.


texts: To hyphen or not: cat person-turned-dog person vs. cat person turned dog person

texts:
Would it be:

I'm a cat-person-turned-cat-and-dog-person.
I'm a cat person-turned-cat and dog person.
I'm a cat-person turned cat-and-dog person.


texts: Can "learning as they went" be omitted from this sentence?

texts:
Found no results containing "as they went," so I thought I would ask this question.

About the sentence "The MagikMe founders did not start out as business professionals: they were parents who became professionals, learning as they went" - will it make sense even if we drop the as they went part?


texts:
There is the following sentence in Jeffery Archer’s fiction, “The Fourth Estate.”:

  He droppped into three newsagents on the long walk into Kingston, and
  purchased Time, Newsweek, and local papers. He then stopped at the
  first restaurant he came across, with American Express sign on its door, took a
  quiet table in the corner and settled down for a lengthy lunch.

  Having paid for a lunch best forgotten, Townsend left restaurant and
  began to stroll around the town. It was the first time he had spent
  like a tourist since his visit to Berlin back in his student days.” –
  P436.

What does ‘a lunch best forgotten’ mean? Does it mean the lunch he ate was terrible rather than mediocre, and worthless to remember, or he almost forgot to pay?

According to Google Ngram, the incidences of usage of ‘best forgotten’ is significantly lower than ‘best remembered’ by almost 10 digits (best forgotten: 0.0000046 - 48 vs. best remembered: 0.000032 - 28 during 1998 through 2008), and I don’t think I’ve met this word so often.

Is ‘something best forgotten’ an idiom to mean the thing you’d better to forget, like ‘a lost love best forgotten’, ‘a failure best forgotten,’ and ‘one’s ex-wife best forgotten?

I learnt there is a hit song, “Better Best Forgotten” by Steps released in March 1999 with Wikipedia, but it doesn’t seem to be relevant to “a lunch best forgotten” here.


texts: "To clock in", what does this produce? "A clock-in"?

texts:
During a discussion, which was conducted in Norwegian, we came across the need to record the fact that the user clocks in or out when arriving or leaving work.

"To clock in" is a good description of the action the user performs, but the record in the database that the user clocked in, what do we call this?

A clock-in?

Is there a better word for this factual entry?

"His clock-in was 08:15"

Note that we're not looking for a description of what the user did, "He clocked in at 08:15" is quite good enough, but the record of him doing so, that's what we're struggling with a name for.


texts: What is the difference between "affect" and "influence"?

texts:
For example, if I want to say "the performance of this bike could be affected/influenced by many things", is there a difference between these two words?

My gut feeling is that "affect" sounds better, but I cannot find evidence in dictionaries.


texts:
I have a doubt about the use of could. I know that could is the past simple of can, and is also used in conditional constructions.

How native speakers distinguish one usage from the other in everyday speech?

Example:

  John: I will need somebody over fifty to swim tomorrow. Sadly, my
  grandfathers never learned to swim.

  Ben: Oh. My grandma could swim.

Is Ben talking about the past? Or is he offering his grandma for tomorrow?

There is some tip, adverb or something to talk more specifically?


texts: Another word for Short form and its Long form of a word


texts: What is the English term for "assume the least dangerous body pose when falling"?

texts:
In Russian, there is the term сгруппироваться ("to group yourself together"), which means "fold your body, bend your legs and arms". This action is believed to be helpful when falling, since it helps one minimize injury.

I looked up translations for сгруппироваться in Multitran and found these:

  wrap; ball the legs; draw the knees up to the chest; tuck; tuck oneself up.

Which of them is the term you would most likely use in this sentence:

  During training, while trying to perform a move, the athlete failed to ___, and he went sprawling.

Here's a description of this "group-yourself" action in Russian, with a picture:


texts:
I have a list of todos and I did what was required in those todos. For example, my todo list includes "grocery shopping" and I did that. How can I express that in a simple sentence?

Ideas:

"I did my todos." or
"I finished my todos." or
"I processed my todos."


texts: Is the word 'parameterizable' an incorrect variation of 'parametric'?

texts: In other words, are all these uses incorrect?


texts:
What word describes someone who offers unsolicited advice?

For example I might write:

  "At the risk of being called a [..........], I will offer you some unsolicited advice."


texts: Word for object in programming that connects to relay

texts: What is a word for an object that connects with something? Connector is used to describe a specific part in electronics but I need a word describing that the abstract object connects with something. This is an object in programming that allows the programmer to connect to a local proxy relay. I would like to call it a relay-connector but am unsure if it is correct to use connector in this context.


texts: Is there a construction with a form of "to be" and a past participle?

texts:
In researching a question on another site, I was trying to find out if the following sentence was using a compound verb:

You are prepared to graduate.

My assumption had been that it was, but another poster stated that "prepared" was being used as an adjective.  I found that there is a present progressive tense that uses "to be" and a present participle:

You are preparing to graduate.

I have not been able to find a matching tense that uses the past participle, so I am assuming the poster is correct.

My inner word nerd is puzzled at this imbalance.  Would someone please explain?


texts: What is a term which refers to the areas in the back or rear, with the same scope as the word "frontal"?  The satirical/humorous term backal exists, but is not really a word (or appropriate to use in writing).


texts: when should that be used in defining clauses. Is it only used to give more information about a person or something or can it also be used to give more information about a place. Is it informal or formal English?


texts: Can I delete "that of" in this sentence?

texts:
I found the following sentence in the dic, and I wonder if "that of" is necessary.

  The young coveted career today, is that of an entertainer.

I guess "that" refers to career. So my question is, is the following sentence correct?

  The young coveted career today, is an entertainer.

Thanks!


texts: What is the difference between "accumulative" and "cumulative"?

texts:
I'm having a hard time understanding the real distinction between accumulative and cumulative.

accumulative

  adjective

  tending to accumulate or arising from accumulation; cumulative.
  tending to accumulate wealth; acquisitive.

cumulative

  adjective

  increasing or growing by accumulation or successive additions: the cumulative effect of one rejection after another.
  formed by or resulting from accumulation or the addition of successive parts or elements.
  of or pertaining to interest or dividends that, if not paid when due, become a prior claim for payment in the future: cumulative preferred stocks.

These definitions (and those from other dictionaries as well) say different things but I can't understand how they aren't really meaning the same thing.

Yet, when thinking about it, it seems there are some cases where it is distinctly more correct to use one or the other.

What's the difference, practically?


texts: You have "the right" to remain silent vs "a right"

texts:
When you google "Miranda warning", the first thing you see is a clip of Wikipedia explaining what it is briefly:

  The "Miranda warning", which can also be referred to as the "Miranda
  rights", is "a right to silence warning given by police in the
  United States to criminal suspects in police custody...before they
  are interrogated...)

The warning itself reads:

  You have "the right" to remain silent...You have "the right"
  to talk to a lawyer (or "the right" to an attorney in a different
  version)...

We know the difference between "a" and "the" and this question explains well.

IMHO, however, I think we have to use "a" in place of "the" in the above quote as "a" is used:

  when mentioning someone or something for the first time in a text or
  conversation:

[Oxford Online Dictionary]

Also, a "right" to remain silent is one of limited rights a suspect could have.

Why is "the" used in the warning? Is it just "the way it is"? [Ngram Viewer]
Let's say you have a 15-year-old daughter and she returns home at midnight. As a father or mother, which one of the followings will you use? Would it depend on the context?

  (1) ... I have "the right" to know why you came home this late.
  (2) ... I have "a right" to know why you came home this late.

Any difference between BrE and AmE?

The below Ngram Viewer shows no big difference in usage.


texts: Are compound contractions proper grammar?

texts: I've been told that compound contractions like couldn't've and I'd've are proper grammar. Are they?


texts: Using "the" with mathematical properties

texts:
Let’s say I have a mathematical property such as (the?) connectedness of a topological space. Do I need to use the definitive article if I refer to it?

For example:

  (The?) connectedness of space S does not guarantee (the?) path-connectedness of S.


texts: Do you really need to put a comma after the word 'so' at the start of a sentence and, if so, when? Can someone give some examples.


texts: What's the expression that means "to search every possible place?"

texts:
I thought the expression was "to search from land to sea" but according to Google, I'm wrong.

What's the correct expression?

Example sentence:

  After searching his jacket __, he gave up hope.


texts: Is there any passive form of “congratulate” with the preposition object as the subject?

texts:
Take “I congratulated Andrew on his birthday” as an example.
The passive form is “Andrew was congratulated on his birthday”.
Is there any structure like “His birthday was congratulated”, meaning there were some people congratulating him on his birthday?
If not, how can this be said?


texts:
It's a weird question. I want to know how to pronounce "th" correctly, as in 'the' or 'thin'.

Should I bring my tongue out of my teeth?

In Arabic (as my native language), the correct pronunciation of 'z' 'ذ'  is when you bring your tongue outside. Is it the same in English?


texts: Verb form after "when" referring to the future

texts:
You would have to be very upset with her not to answer the phone when she calls/called you.

Is it "calls" or "called"?

From what I gather, it can be either (or at least, I've seen both verb forms in constructions of that nature, with a "when" subordinate clause referring to the future).

Except, some argue that it should be "called," as required by "would."

What's the underlying syntax? Does syntax require "calls" or "called"(and why?).

Thanks in advance.


texts: Synonyms for "Charge" as it relates to charging devices?

texts:
I was trying to think of alternatives to 'charging' a phone or ipad or other electric device, but have come up short.  Obviously, the word has multiple meanings but it seems there are few/no alternatives to this particular definition of it.

I've searched Thesaurus.com, Powerthesaurus.com, Oxford among others but was unable to find alternatives.

Any suggestions on alternative words for "Store electrical energy in (a battery or battery-operated device)"? (Oxford definition)


texts:
The simple rules of using a comma before and after the vocative case state that you write, for example, What do you, Mark, think about the book?

But what about “you guys” / “you, guys”? Or, for that matter, “you Mark”?

Are there instances where it would be correct to use a comma and instances where it can be omitted, thus altering the meaning of such a sentence?

What happens to sentences like Where are you guys?


texts: "I have possibly the same [thing]" or "I possibly have the same [thing]"

texts:
Do you say:

I have possibly the same [thing]
I possibly have the same [thing]

Also:

I may have possibly [done something]
I may possibly have [done something]

Google search returns almost equal amount of results for both variants


texts:
Can the word "regret" be used with a condition? For example, could I say, "I regret my sadness"? This a just a quick example.

I understand that the word is most often used to describe someone's feeling toward a past action.


texts: How would you translate "Kommandostab", "command bar", from German?

texts: How would you translate "Kommandostab" from German? The literate translation is "command bar", this object was used to give orders to the army. Full sentence: "In der rechten Hand hält er einen Kommandostab, in der Linken die Zügel." It appears on the third page (page 6) of this German periodical.


texts: Difference between a "crowned jewel", "crown jewel", and "jeweled crown"?

texts:
I was grading a student's paper and found their use of the term crowned jewel confusing. They used the term in this way:

  The article was the crowned jewel of their evidence..

It sounded wrong at first, but when I say it out loud, I sense that I have heard it said that way before.

However, shouldn't they really write: "The article was the crown jewel of their evidence." or "The article was a crown jewel of their evidence."

A jewel that was "crowned" would be one that has a crown put on it. And a jewel that is part of a crown (or in the crown) would be a "crown jewel". This would be the singular form signifying one of only a handful of very special items. And a "jeweled crown" would be the crown that is lavishly decorated. Finally, I suppose a "crowning jewel" would be a jewel (or special item) that is shown as a singular demonstration of one's significance.

Main question: Is the above-mentioned use of "crowned jewel" the wrong spelling for the term that describes an item of special value? My intuition is to help them correct their spelling.

Secondary question: Am I correct about the definitions of the other variations of "crown" and "jewel"?


texts:
Imagine a scenario where Jim provides a piece of information to Sue. Jim believes this information to be true and correct, but is later proven to be mistaken. Some might say that Jim lied to Sue. I believe this to be the wrong word, because the misinformation was unintentional.

Is there a better word for this type of unintentional "lie"?


texts: Usage, construction and origin of "make do (with)"

texts:
I had always supposed that the expression make do(with) was the short for the idiomatic expression make do and mend. The case appears to be  quite the opposite;  Ngram shows usages of "make do (with)" from the beginning of the 20th century, while the latter expression clearly originated later, during WWII. The following usage example is from Homes and Gardens (1930):

  Make do with inexpensive furniture and renew it piece by piece later, if necessary. But start with a good carpet if you would have your room thoroughly lovable and liveable.

The Grammarist suggests that "make do" is actually the short for another, probably once commom, expression, but it does not provide futher evidence:

  make [something] do well enough, where do carries the rare sense to serve a specified purpose. So this do is similar to the one used in sentences such as, “I could use a cup of coffee, but tea will do.”

Then we have also the nominal expression make-do which refers to the same concept and, according to Dictionary.com, dates back to the end of the 19th century (1890-1895).

(Cambridge Dictionary, Dictionary.com)

Questions:

Where does the verbal expression "make do" come from? Is it derived from the nominal and apparently earlier term "make-do"?
What is "do" in "make do" from a grammatical perspective, a verb, and adverbial form  or what?


texts: How to reply when someone says 'you deserve this'

texts: I always wonder if it is okay to reply with just a 'Thanks' when someone says 'you deserve this' or 'you have done a great job'. Can someone please advise me about whether saying 'Thanks' and leaving it at that is okay, or whether I should add something more to my response?


texts: Is there a word for weekend/weekday split?

texts:
I am trying to present a bunch of data using a number of time period splits. For instance, I can present the data by:

Day of Week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, ...)
Month (January, February, March, ...)
Year (2015, 2016, ...)

I would like to also present a split by weekend and weekday. If I want to split the data by weekend/weekday, is my only option to use that slashed designation of "weekend/weekday?" Or is there a word or phrase that will provide the information without the need for the "\"?

(I am doing this because I can't name files with a "\" in it)

Any and all help is appreciated.


texts:
I think this is probably just one of those phrases people get wrong, such as "for all extensive purposes" - but I just found this on a cafe web page:

This question asks the meaning of "in store" but I don't see any reference to stall. Is this a reasonable alternate usage or just another "foul swoop"/"baited breath" situation? (and by the way is there a word dedicated to describing that kind of mistake...)


texts:
Wikipedia's article on Geisha states:

  "Geisha girls" were Japanese women who worked as prostitutes during
  the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan. They almost exclusively
  serviced American GIs stationed in the country, who referred to them
  as "Geesha girls" (a mispronunciation).

  These women dressed in kimono and imitated the look of geisha.
  Americans unfamiliar with the Japanese culture could not tell the
  difference between legitimate geisha and these costumed prostitutes.
  Shortly after their arrival in 1945, occupying American GIs are said
  to have congregated on the Ginza and shouted in unison, "We want
  geesha girls!"

  Eventually, the term "geisha girl" became a general word for any
  female Japanese prostitute or worker in the mizu shobai and included
  bar hostesses and streetwalkers.

  Geisha girls are speculated by researchers to be largely responsible
  for the continuing misconception in the West that all geisha are
  engaged in prostitution.

This would suggest that "geisha girl" isn't used for actual geisha.

However, Google ngram suggests that the term was used about as much before World War II as after it, which seems inconsistent with Wikipedia's description of how the term became popular.

Choosing one example of a novel written before World War II (The Ragged Edge, by Harold MacGrath), where the term was used for actual geisha:

  The manager twisted his moustache. "The same as a Japanese geisha
  girl."

  "And what is a geisha girl?"

  ...

  "The geisha and the sing-song girl are professional entertainers. They
  are not bad girls, but the average tourist has that misconception of
  them. If some of them are bad in the sense you mean, it is because
  there are bad folks in all walks of life. They sell only their
  talents, not their bodies; they are not girls of the street."

In addition, the definition of geisha girl given by several of the dictionaries linked to by onelook.com suggest that "geisha girl" is a synonym for actual geisha:

  a Japanese woman trained to entertain men with conversation and
  singing and dancing

Is "geisha girl" used to refer to actual geisha? And has the term been used to refer to women who aren't actually geisha, such as prostitutes for American GIs, or bar hostesses?

Background: I came across a tourism brochure, written in Japan and presumably by Japanese people, which captioned a geisha as a Geisha girl in a Chaya area, and I wanted to know if they made a bit of a blunder.


texts: logic of a since-clause that leads to the idea of the main clause as a reason

texts:
(If anyone could please help me with plain English, I would greatly appreciate it)

I just don't understand why 'an entity typically ...' can be reason enough to support the notion of 'the vast majority can be accounted for under either view.'

Is it my limited understanding of the English used here that's hindering the uptake, or the authors' unreasonable logic? To me 'an entity ...' only explains how there is a great deal of overlap between the set of entities that are familiar to the hearer and the set of entities that are uniquely identifiable to the hearer. To me it seems this does not explain that the two theories combined cover the vast majority of uses.

  Research into the meaning of the English definite article has
  generally been approached from one of two perspectives,
  characterizable as 'familiarity' and 'uniqueness.' That is, felicitous
  use of the definite article has been argued to require that the
  referent of the NP be either familiar within the discourse or uniquely
  identifiable to the hearer. The vast majority of uses can be accounted
  for under either view, since an entity typically must be familiar in a
  given discourse in order to be identifiable to the hearer.

  *NP: noun phrase, i.e. a noun with modifiers, or just a bare noun. (This
  annotation is added by Sssamy)

  ('Uniqueness, Familiarity,
  and the Definite Article in English' by Betty Birner and Gregory Ward)

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.


texts:
I encountered a new phrase today: "academy verse". Here it is in context:

  ... even if In Memoriam James Joyce isn't judged as academy verse, still there is nothing else that it satisfactorily is.

In Memoriam James Joyce is a long poem by the Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid. Because of the context, I suspect that "academy verse" means something like "poetry that is overly intellectual or theoretical, or too explicitly so". Is this correct? I can't find anything in the OED or the other usual sources.


texts: A fork usually has three points; what are the individual points called? Trident points?


texts:
I was struck by the use of "the ill" as a noun phrase in a sentence from a question asked yesterday: "I'm going to be a doctor. I'm going to help the ill." For some reason, I felt that "the sick" would be much more natural here. I tried searching Google for further examples of "the ill", and I found some uses that seemed more natural, but that also seemed a bit different to me:

  The Church and families of the ill, infirm and dying have a very important role to play

("Anointing of the Sick", The Cathedral of Saint Thomas More)

(Here, "ill" is used along with two other adjectives, "infirm" and "dying"; but "the sick" is used many times in the rest of the page)

  The sacrament is administered to give strength and comfort to the ill and to mystically unite their suffering with that of Christ during his Passion and death.

("Anointing of the sick", Encyclopaedia Britannica)

(I don't know why, but for some reason "the ill" sounds OK to me in this sentence, even though I found it jarring in the "doctor" sentence. I think it could be a matter of register: the Britannica passage seems to use fairly elevated language, whereas the quote that bothered me was attributed to a child speaker and used contractions ("I'm"), which are not as common in higher registers of the language.)

I couldn't find any information about the use of "the ill" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Is it just a synonym for "the sick", and if so, does the use of one vs. the other differ between different varieties of English?

I know that British English speakers often use be ill instead of be sick, because be sick has come to be used in some contexts to mean "vomit". But the Google Ngram Viewer seems to indicate that "help the ill" is not yet clearly established as the main variant in the UK.

The frequency of "the sick" when not followed by a noun is somewhat greater than the frequency of "the ill" when not followed by a noun in the British English Ngram corpus:

The frequency of "help the sick" is much greater than the frequency of "help the ill" in British English:


texts: Moral person, but without the connotation

texts: I am looking for a word that describes a person to whom doing right by others is a primary value.  I'm looking to avoid words that are associated with religiosity, like pious or the like.  I want to convey a secular morality.


texts: More dastardly dashes: what are the 'horizontal bar' and 'figure dash' characters for?

texts:
Having read another excellent answer regarding the use of horizontal line-like characters, I'm interested to know the meanings of the horizontal bar and figure dash.

In the other answer linked above, it is said that the em-dash is the appropriate character to use for parenthetical text, which I too believe to be the case. On the linked pages about the Unicode characters, the horizontal bar has the index entries "quotation dash, HORIZONTAL BAR, BAR, HORIZONTAL dash, quotation" and the comment "quotation dash; long dash introducing quoted text". The comment for the em-dash is similar, but it doesn't have any reference to quotation in its index entries.

The index entries and (lack of) comment for the figure dash give no clues, but based on the name I'd guess that it's intended to be used with numbers, e.g. when giving ranges. But again, in the post linked above it is said that the en-dash is the correct dash to use for this purpose.

If anyone can answer, it would be interesting to know whether the shortcuts for unusual dash characters on Mac, Windows and Linux mightn't be creating figure dashes and horizontal bars as opposed to en- and em-dashes, which look very similar. Personally I'm using the X Windows shortcut Ctrl-Shift-u plus the Unicode number, so they're all equally convenient for me—hence my desire to know what they're all for!


texts:
When we have a button on a website for creating an account, should it say "sign up" or "signup"?

I see "sign up" in most places, but which is the correct one?


texts: An adjective describing "someone who is doing his best given the circumstances"

texts:
I'm writing a research paper on the effect of a predictable income change on household consumption, labor supply, etc.

At its core, I ask if households are improvident or simply "doing their best given the circumstances". I.e. if households in fact do anticipate the change but are unable to do anything about it.

Hence, here lies my question. What do I call someone/a household which is simply doing its best given the unfavorable situation they are in?

Extra: If it sounds nice in combination with improvident, I can also use it for the title of the paper. For instance, "Improvident or [Incapable]: The Consumption Response to Predictable Changes in Income".

Thank you in advance!


texts: Slang usage of "fish" meaning US Dollar.

texts:
I've come across the slang use of fish referring to the US dollar. Being unfamiliar with this usage I checked a few dictionaries and this is what I've found:

Slang. a dollar:
He sold the car for 500 fish.

(Random House Dictionary)

A dollar : The job paid only fifty fish (1920+)

(The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.)
Is this usage common or commonly understood in AmE and BrE?
Where does its usage come from?


texts: how to say recharging the battery and account

texts:
I have heard English use the term "recharge" for both account and battery.

I want to recharge my battery.
I want to recharge my account.

Are these sentences correct?


texts:
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius and Remus have the following conversation:

“Remus!” Pettigrew squeaked, turning to Lupin instead, writhing imploringly in front of him. “You don’t believe this ... wouldn’t Sirius have told you they’d changed the plan?”
“Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter,” said Lupin. “I assume that’s why you didn’t tell me, Sirius?” he said casually over Pettigrew’s head.
“Forgive me, Remus,” said Black.
“Not at all, Padfoot, old friend,” said Lupin, who was now rolling up his sleeves. “And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?”
“Of course,” said Black, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his gaunt face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. “Shall we kill him together?”

-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Emphasis mine.)
Lupin's response of "not at all" seems to imply that Padfoot is not forgiven, yet the rest of the text implies that they both forgave each other and are now friends again. What does "not at all" mean in this context then?


texts: "I often buy fruit" vs "I often buy fruits"?

texts:
These are the grammar guidelines:

  To say things in general,

  we can use an uncount noun with no article.

  Eg: I like cheese

  or

  we can use a plural count noun with no article.

  Eg: I like dogs

So, what about a noun that has both countable & uncountable form. E.g.: Fruit

So, should we say: "I often buy fruit at the supermarket" or "I often buy fruits at the supermarket"

Most native speakers say that "I often buy fruit at the supermarket" sounds better and "I often buy fruits at the supermarket" sounds strange because of fruits.

But I did apply the above rule, "we can use a plural count noun with no article to say things in general."

Is it true that when talking about a noun in general and when that noun has both countable and uncountable forms, that the uncountable form has higher priority?


texts: Description of summary report data: condensed, summarized, something else?

texts:
I'm writing a technical description about the usage of personal detail data in a system. Some reports are generated from that data, but those reports do not have anyone's personal details in them.

For example, you could have a webshop with orders, where for each order one would store the customer's name, product code, and date of order. A report could be a monthly summary of what products were ordered and how many of each were ordered.

So I'm trying to say something like "These reports do not handle the personal data in any way as they only consist of _____ data". (Feel free to rewrite the entire sentence if that helps.)

It's certainly not anonymized nor pseudonymized, as there would be no place for any kind of user name in that report. Words I'm thinking of would be "summarized" or "condensed". Would those work, or would there be some even more appropriate word?


texts: Did the author of the Hunger Games make a mistake here?

texts:
I'm reading The Hunger Games, which is written in the first person. I came across this sentence:

  “I dismissed myself,” I said. I remember how I promised Prim that I really would try to win and I feel like a ton of coal has dropped on me.

  — Collins, Suzanne (2009-09-01). The Hunger Games (pp. 106-107), Scholastic Inc., Kindle Edition.

Was this a mistake, or is there a writing rule I did not know about where using said is actually better than I say?

I've added some additional text for people who have not read The Hunger Games, to give them a better idea of what I'm talking about.  I've also corrected my mistake of writing "I says" instead of "I say" (sorry about the lack of carriage returns):

      “What about my family?” I say. “Will they punish them?”
      “Don’t think so. Wouldn’t make much sense. See, they’d have to reveal what happened in the Training Center for it to have any worthwhile effect on the population. People would need to know what you did. But they can’t since it’s secret, so it’d be a waste of effort,” says Haymitch. “More likely they’ll make your life hell in the arena.”
      “Well, they’ve already promised to do that to us anyway,” says Peeta.
      “Very true,” says Haymitch. And I realize the impossible has happened. They have actually cheered me up. Haymitch picks up a pork chop with his fingers, which makes Effie frown, and dunks it in his wine. He rips off a hunk of meat and starts to chuckle. “What were their faces like?”
      I can feel the edges of my mouth tilting up. “Shocked. Terrified. Uh, ridiculous, some of them.” An image pops into my mind. “One man tripped backward into a bowl of punch.”
      Haymitch guffaws and we all start laughing except Effie, although even she is suppressing a smile. “Well, it serves them right. It’s their job to pay attention to you. And just because you come from District Twelve is no excuse to ignore you.” Then her eyes dart around as if she’s said something totally outrageous. “I’m sorry, but that’s what I think,” she says to no one in particular.
      “I’ll get a very bad score,” I say.

— Collins, Suzanne (2009-09-01). The Hunger Games (pp. 106-107), Scholastic Inc., Kindle Edition.


texts:
What is "figure-eight logic" meaning in this context:

Laura Ingraham’s show on Friday night was a particularly captivating example of the figure-eight logic we resort to when our stories don’t align with reality.


texts:
Recently I was told by a potential interviewer for a job that we would be having a "high-level conversation" soon.

I assumed at the time that she just meant a conversation with a higher-up, e.g., her boss, but suddenly am not so sure.

So I'm curious. Have you heard that term before, and what does it mean?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Use of “that” in a sentence

Which of the following is correct in British English?

1) There are 100 people going to the party, so I expect it will be a good night.

2) There are 100 people going to the party, so I expect that it will be a good night.


texts: "At schedule" vs. "by schedule" vs. "on schedule"

texts:
Let's assume that I wash my car every Saturday at noon. How do I say it using the word schedule:

  I wash my car at/by/on schedule.

Update: It's not about doing something on a regular basis. It's about doing something on schedule — at an exactly defined day and time every week. If I say "I wash my car regularly", it simply means that I don't forget to wash my car, but doesn't imply I do it every time at the same time.


texts: Can I use "hole" as a verb in the context of making holes in metal plates?

texts:
Here is the sentence in question. please read on:

"The brand plates [which are metal] get holed and engraved and drivers and amplifiers get mounted."

I'm not sure if "get holed" can be used in this context. Is there a technical term for when machines make holes in metal plates?

Thanks,
Maryam


texts:
I read this sentence in a book:

  I just took part in a study over in the Psychology Department.

Why do we add over in front of in the here?


texts: Can I describe the fact with "You broke my computer" when my son made my computer not working while it wasn't physically damaged?

texts: I am not sure about the usage of the word break. Do English native speakers use it to describe if something stops working?


texts: What would the statement "You over there!" be called?

texts:
If someone was to shout "You over there!" to get the attention of a friend, for instance, what would this statement be called?

Would it be a declarative because "You" is over there, but then is it an exclamative because you are exclaiming the statement to get the friend's attention... or is it something else entirely?


texts: Increasingly + positive or increasingly + comparative?

texts:
For instance, would you rather say "It became increasingly hard" or "It became increasingly harder"?

From my understanding, both are possible, but their meaning is slightly different. The first simply means that it became "harder". The second literally refers to an increasing rate of getting harder.

Though in practice, I believe the second is still used to express the exact same as the first, while sounding somewhat awkward.


texts: How do native speakers answer questions like "what's cooking"?

texts:
I work in an office environment as a software developer in Massachusetts, USA and every so often have some colleague ask me a question like "what's cooking? anything good?"

When they say that they are usually standing next to my desk, waiting for me to reply.

These individuals are not managers or anyone who would be looking for a status update, and typically the sort of work stuff I do is not really all that exciting to talk about (unless maybe someone is fascinated by the nuances of some software work, but I do not think that is what these people really want to know).

Besides, I come from a northern European culture where small talk has not been really common (I'm from Finland), I typically do not really have much going on that I think would be interesting to those who ask this question. So as a result I give them an answer like "nothing, really". But that sounds a bit awkward (or perhaps even a tad pessimistic sounding because I sometimes wonder if they expect my life to be exciting). So I was wondering how do native English speakers answer this kind of question?

(Side note: I do not think this is similar to the other commonly asked-about question "How are you ..." as that one can just be answered with a simple "fine, how about yourself" etc.)


texts:
We decided that we would have to stay at home.

  We decided that we will have to stay at home.

Which one of the above is right? My grammar knowledge told me the first one, but how do we distinguish the "would" here from a "would" in Subjunctive Mood?


texts: Why do some people pronounce "antisemitic" as "antisimetic"?

texts:
Not a question of grammar but one of pronunciation. I notice many educated Americans mispronounce the word "antisemitic". The word is derived from "semite" which I pronounce to rhyme with "she might" or "Sem might". I hear more often than not a transposition of the vowel sounds which results in "an-ti-sim-et-ic" (with /ɪmɛ/) rather than the correct "an-ti-sem-it-ic" (with /ɛmɪ/). (This pronunciation is listed in the Merriam-Webster entry for "anti-Semitic".)

That is, the second syllable of semitic i.e. SEM is pronounced as though it is written SIM and the third syllable IT is pronounced as though it was written ET. The word is not written SIMETIC but that is the way it is pronounced by some. A Jewish friend of mine also mispronounced the word until I asked him to pronounce it in syllable while looking at the spelling. Why do some of us, I wonder, when we add the prefix anti- mess up the pronunciation of the rest of the word?


texts: Meaning of: "hollered a shrill, wannabe voice-of-the-people"

texts:
"Is anyone up there sober?!" hollered a shrill, wannabe voice-of-the-people, audibly virginal and entitled.

What does this sentence mean?

I am uncertain of meaning, or implied meaning of

1.  "hollered a shrill, wannabe voice-of-the-people"

and

2. "audibly virginal and entitled."


texts: English equivalent of "amae" (甘え) - the feeling of pleasurable dependence on another person

texts:
Amae is simply defined as the feeling of pleasurable dependence on another person but there is more to it. I'm including an example sentence for the sake of showing how the word can be used but this is not the only situation that amae can be observed.

  In a romantic relationship, the woman will mostly feel _______ for the man who supports her.

Amae (甘え) is a word from Japanese; and it obviously has a cultural and historical significance in Japan (which is the usual case) but the concept is not unknown to Western cultures. It is often mentioned as untranslatable but here is an explanation from kirainet.com:

  Amae (甘え) is a Japanese concept/word that is used to describe people’s behavior when you desire to be loved, you desire someone to take care of you, when you want unconsciously to be depending on another person (your parents, your wife/husband or even your boss) with a certain meaning of submission. For example, a person with lots of amae would be the one who is capricious so he/she gets the attention from other people, children are the best example of amae behavior, always aiming for pamper from their parents.

There are extensive studies on this concept and there are translations of this word considered as not a good equivalent. Japanese psychiatrist, Takeo Doi, claims that there isn't any equivalent of this term and it is unique to Japanese culture; but the following excerpt is from an article that compares amae in Japan and United States.

  Doi defined Amae as the ability “to depend and presume upon
  another’s love or bask in another’s indulgence” (1992, p. 8) and
  called Amae “a key concept for the understanding not only of the
  psychological makeup of the individual Japanese but of the structure of Japanese society as a whole” (1973, p. 28).

  Although Amae
  is a common word in the Japanese language, it has no exact
  equivalent in English. Some translations are “whining,” “sulking,”
  “coaxing,” “pouting,” “wheedling,” “being spoiled or pampered”
  (Johnson, 1993) and “cherishment” (Young-Bruehl & Bethelard,
  2000), but none of these translations fully conveys the meaning of
  the complex phenomenon of Amae. For one thing, almost all of
  these terms have negative connotations in English, but Amae does
  not ordinarily elicit disapproval in Japan.

  Doi took the lack of an
  English translation of the word Amae and the complexity of the
  concept as evidence that Amae is unique and central to Japanese
  culture, but he provided no empirical data to support this claim.
  The lack of English translation and the difficulty in defining the
  concept may be an indication that Amae is more salient and more
  frequently experienced in Japan, but they do not rule out the
  possibility that it
  exists
  in non-Japanese cultures.

  Amae in Japan and the United States: An Exploration of
  a “Culturally Unique” Emotion by Yu Niiya and Phoebe C. Ellsworth
  (University of Michigan), Susumu Yamaguchi
  (University of Tokyo) / http://sitemaker.umich.edu

There is a lot to read and write about this concept but if we put the cultural differences aside, what would be an equivalent of amae in English and Western cultures?

Trust comes to mind but amae can be as strong as an indulgent love and as delicate as an infantile dependency. Thus, trust can be the basis of the amae relation but not the concept itself. Amae satisfies the subconscious desire for unconditional acceptance in a positive way but it is doesn't indicate submission alone.


texts: Should hyphens go between these examples?

texts:
I understand that we usually don't use hyphens when the meaning is clear (e.g- noise-cancelling headphones).

I am just a bit confused when the hyphen is put between just two words instead of more than one word acting as an adjective (for example- the down-to-earth man).

Would words such as "race car" and "tree house" need hyphens between them?


texts: Is 'irony' the correct word to describe a character's delusionary observations?

texts:
In the following passage, would it be correct to say that the bolded sentence uses irony?

  She walks past one of the farm workers (is his name John?), a robust,
  small- headed man wearing a potato-coloured vest, cleaning the ditch
  that runs through the osier bed. He looks up at her, nods, looks down
  again into the brown water. As she passes him on the way to the
  river she thinks of how successful he is, how fortunate, to be
  cleaning a ditch in an osier bed. She herself has failed. She is not
  a writer at all, really; she is merely a gifted eccentric.


texts: Can I use "therefore", "so", "hence" and "thus" interchangeably?

texts:
I was taught that, at least, 'therefore' and 'so' and can be used interchangeably, one being informal, the other formal. But, even when written, replacing 'so' with 'therefore' doesn't seem correct.

  I was tired so I fell asleep.

...

  I was tired therefore I fell asleep.

Am I even allowed to use therefore as a conjunction here? The dictionary says I can, but it would seem more suitable to say:

  I was tired and therefore I fell asleep.

I realise hence and thus (and even ergo) are rarely used, but where do they fit into this?


texts: Which verb is used to tell: check and pass it

texts:
I'm looking for a verb that when I'm saying: XXX it, then I would mean: Check it and if it was valid, pass it What should be the XXX? Or any verb that have a similar meaning as the mentioned sentence.

EDIT: I removed the to me from the sentence.


texts:
What are some sayings or metaphors that would interact well with a massacre or calamity?
for example "The crows feasted for days"


texts: What is the meaning of "with at least one of the words. without the words. where my words occur"?

texts:
Searching for google scholar in the search engine duck duck go gives this cryptic sounding help text. "with at least one of the words. without the words. where my words occur".

What does it mean? Even if it is a glitch, where did it come from?

Here is what I came up with so far.

where my words occur - Its a text field so words should occur here.
without the words - The intended words did not get displayed due to a glitch.
with at least one of the words - The error message showed up in the text field instead of the real message. So, at least one of the words occurred.

Its keeping me up at night.


texts: Slang or scientific term for "mental food"?

texts:
By saying "mental food" I mean something that you enjoy digesting mentally, like watching a football game or reading a comic book.
(It is in contrast to "physical food" which you physically eating the food).
For example:

  Asian U23 football championship is the "____________" for Vietnamese people.


texts:
Network for passenger route development and connect!

This is a slogan for conferences devoted to route development (airports and airlines). I feel that something is wrong with it.
1. "Network" - would native speakers perceive it as a verb? Because my first reaction that it's a noun with a missing article. Does it sound like a call to action?
2. The word order. Maybe moving the verbs closer would make it better?

  Network and connect for passenger route development!

I know that "network" can be a verb. I know the first sentence is grammatically correct. I am asking how the sentence reads to a native speaker. Because I, as a native Russian, feel that it reads as a noun-phrase, not as a verb-phrase, which has been confirmed by one of those who took the time to answer (thank you!).


texts: What does the phrase "50% premium" mean?

texts:
In the context of commissioning a piece of artistic work, what does the phrase "50% premium" mean?

Sentence for context:

  Would a 50% premium be OK to include a transfer of IP rights for said art piece?


texts:
when we say "tentative balance of butterflies" what can "tentative" stand for? Does it mean "natural", "experimental", or "unstable"?

Context:

The painter Madeleine Strindberg uses fMRI scans as a starting point to make delicate paintings of the fine traceries of the central nervous system. She reconfigures specimen sections in order to render the mysterious patterning of the brain as the abstract matter from which processes emerge. Traverse sections of the medulla oblongata float like butterflies over a golden yellow background, an adulation of form for its own sake. It also helps to know that the medulla oblongata controls bodily movement and the maintenance of equilibrium, so the butterflies’ tentative balance is more meaningful intellectually.


texts: In social networks, what is the person who is friend with numerous group of friends called?

texts:
Assume there is a class of a hundred students. Naturally, they won't all be friends - or, at least, good friends - with each other and all hang out together; they will form small groups of, say, five to ten persons.

However, there is always that one person (X) who is able to be liked by most people and who also tends to not have any problem with anyone. So, he/she has (a) friend(s) in each of the groups. Those friends would serve as the "points of contact" for the groups. So, if, for instance, X wants to invite the whole class to his/her birthday party, he/she can just invite the points of contact and tell them to tell the rest of their respective bunches to come too.

So, basically, X is at or around the centre of the network in his/her class. He/she might not necessarily be the only one, there might be a few others with that same characteristic.

What is the technical and/or non-technical term for a person like X?

P.S. By "social networks", I'm obviously not referring to online social network services (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).


texts: What is the etymology of the word “basic” as used in current slang?

texts:
For those not familiar with the term, it is used mainly by teens and 20-somethings.

The definition can be found at Urban Dictionary (look at definitions 1 and 3).

Specifically, I am not talking about the definition of this word that is synonymous with "simple". The common slang usage of the term has been very divergent with the word "simple"; an example use case of the word would be:

  Wow, drinking a pumpkin spice latte while wearing a North Face jacket is so basic, I can't even.

Notice how the word "simple" would not make sense in the previous example; also, despite the seemingly incomplete predicate of the second clause, this example is indeed a complete sentence. The slang use of the word "basic" is also commonly conjoined in the term "basic bitch", usually referred to a "basic" girl, and the behaviors of such an individual. See also: "fuccboi".

The question is... what is the origin and etymology of this term, and how did it develop?

Specifically, how did it develop in October 2014, as seen by the peak in this chart: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=basic%20girl%2C%20fuccboi

Notice the initial peak in usage stems from October 2014, so linking to stackexchange questions that predate this peak are useless since they obviously do not address important events that happened after the event. It would be like trying to define the slang usage of the word "Inception" with only posts from before the movie "Inception" was released.


texts: Will and can for typical 'behaviour' of inanimate objects: any difference?

texts:
In Michael Swan's Practical English Usage, fourth edition, entry number 86, entitled 'typical behaviour, can, could, may, might, will, would', I found this example sentence:

  Sulphuric acid will dissolve most metals.

Would it be possible to say or write 'Sulphuric acid can dissolve most metals. ? Is there a difference between the two?


texts:
Some one pointed to me that in this Star magazine from cover, the editor used the sentence "Why Tom let Katie win" instead of "Why did Tom let Katie win". Is it a correct form or is the grammatical quality of the magazine the same as its content quality?

The same goes for the question in the upper left corner in the blue circle "How much $$ she gets". If the use of "$$" instead of the word money is acceptable, is the sentence "How much money she gets" grammatically correct?

picture http://mscwne.wcdn.co.il/w/f-466/1312943-5.jpg


texts: Is it "ignorance in something" or "ignorance on something"?

texts:
Let's eat grandma. Let's eat, grandma.
Over millions of grandmas die each day because of our ignorance in using commas. Commas save lives! Use commas now!

Should that in actually be on? How do I find out which preposition to use here?


texts:
While talking about a city or a country, in some cases I have seen the article , but in most other cases, it is absent. For example, I have seen

The NYC

The US

The UK

but never

The London
or
The France

What's the rule here? From the usage, I guess while talking about a very prominent or famous place (which everyone is aware of), I should use the. But is not it too subjective?


texts: What is a word or set of words to convey the meaning of a two level hierarchy?

texts:
I am looking to build a piece of software that has in "Index" or "Table of contents" type look up and need a generic term for categorizing Items/Documents/Chunks of Data, and need my hierarchy to be two levels deep similar to parent/child or level1/level2 or broad/narrow that works for generic structures.

It's really a taxonomic structure with two defining classifications with an "is a" relationship. Is there a set of canonical generic terms for this?

EDIT: To clarify from a user interface perspective what words could be used to create the metaphor in their mind to instantly convey the two level hierarchy.


texts: What is a word for future uncertainty that may cause serious consequences?

texts:
Is there a word to describe a future uncertainty that may cause serious consequences? For example,

  There is a lot of uncertainties in the progress of this project.

But I would like to replace "uncertainties" here with another word that also connotes the seriousness of possible consequences if back luck hits in.


texts:
My boss was talking to me. How could I have just taken off?
My boss was talking to me. How could I have just took off?"

Which one is correct. (or are they both wrong?)


texts: What's the second part of the word "colophon"?

texts:
According to Wiktionary and Etymonline, I only find the ultimate Greek word "κολοφών", leading to my question.

The first part of "colophon" is "colo-", which derives from PIE *kolən-, *koləm-.

I want to find out the Greek or PIE root of "-phon", the second part of "colophon".

colophon (Wiktionary)

  from Ancient Greek κολοφών (kolophon, “peak or finishing touch”)

colophon (Etymonline)

  1774, "publisher's inscription at the end of a book," from L. colophon, from Gk. kolophon "summit, final touch" (see hill).

hill

  From Middle English, from Old English hyll (“hill”), from Proto-Germanic *hulliz (“stone, rock”), from Proto-Indo-European *kolən-, *koləm- (“top, hill, rock”). Cognate with Middle Dutch hille, hulle (“hill”), Low German hull (“hill”), Icelandic hóll (“hill”), Latin collis (“hill”), Old English holm (“rising land, island”). More at holm.


texts: I need a better word for this than "snoutband"

texts:
According to dictionary.com:

  A snoutband is someone who always interrupts a conversation to correct or contradict the person speaking. Every social group has a snoutband, who thinks they know everything. They probably don't know the meaning of this word, though. At least, not yet.

But nobody uses this word!  There has to be a more formal, more appropriate synonym.


texts: If I was an airline pilot vs. If I had been an airline pilot 10 years ago

texts:
In a comment signed by Martha, she wrote that:

  "If I was an airline pilot" and "If I were an airline pilot" have
  different meanings. The latter is the subjunctive case (and presumably
  what most people mean, even if they say the former). The former is
  talking about the past tense - "if I was an airline pilot 10 years
  ago..."

The comment above received 8 upvotes, and this confused me. Somewhere out there, are at least 9 people who hold the same view on this usage. I can't "see" how the sentence: "If I was a pilot 10 years ago" is speaking about the past.

The sentence begins with "if" which means the speaker is thinking and talking hypothetically, imagining a situation which is unreal. He or she being a pilot never happened. Now I would understand the number of upvotes if (ha!) "was" had been said to be informal and "were" considered to be grammatically more acceptable, (especially if one were to sit an English exam or submit a paper) but to say it expresses a past tense?

My natural inclination is to write: If I had been a pilot 10 years ago. But in this case the speaker is still hypothesizing in the present about an unreal, and no longer possible situation.

Am I wrong??


texts: How are certain technical words used in British English?

texts:
I have noticed that many terms in software come from American English, as the US was responsible for much software engineering terminology. I want to know how Britishers use these terms in these specific contexts.

 How do Brits say "refactoring code" (which means to decompose code into more easily workable parts)? Do they say "refactorizing"? Americans use  factor  as a verb; Britishers don't.
 Do Brits say "Database indices" instead of "Database indexes"?
 Is this correct British English: "We attended the entertainment  programme  after we corrected issues with our software program  ?"


texts:
A Peace Corps volunteer started a credit union requiring people receiving a new home to put down community references in lieu of collateral. These references were friends, family members, or neighbors who could vouch that the applicants would pay the loan. The decision to create these arrangement was based on microfinance – the idea that people would be more likely to default on their own possessions than to compromise their reputation in the community and let their community down […]"

I'm quite confused as to the meaning of "put down" on this sentence. I thought it could mean "down payment", but you can't put down a person…

And collateral is something the person owns that serves as a guarantee, but if it's part of the a down payment, it's no longer a guarantee.

So I don't think put down really means make a down payment. Could somebody please explain how this system works and what "put down" means in this sentence?


texts: The correct meaning of "hoist" and "float"

texts:
There is an excerpt from the book Shoe Dog by Phil Knight:

  Woodell and his twenty frat brothers were hoisting a float down to the Millrace, a stream that wound through campus. They were trying to flip it over and someone lost their footing.  The float collapsed.

I want to know what is the meaning of "hoisting a float down to the millrace". I've looked up on Google where millrace is a stream of water but what is the meaning of "hoisting a float down" and "the float collapsed"? I am not a native speaker of English so it would be very thankful to clear the right context of these words.


texts: Verbal noun after a passive construction - dangling or not?

texts:
Is this sentence correct (in a mathematical text):

"This formula is established by observing that A+B=C" ?

My feeling is that everything is OK because there IS identity of subjects: the reader who observes one formula can establish the other one.
In other words, the passive voice makes "this formula" a "fake" subject.