texts: What do we call a cross-language spelling error substituting one name for another?

texts:
In our local newspaper La Prensa Libre (Free Press), I saw a notice about the upcoming Grammy awards. Supposedly Tom Perry is being voted "Person of the Year".

Above the caption, to my surprise, I saw a picture of Heartbreaker Tom Petty.

As a translator and longtime resident of Latin-America, I can imagine how this mis-spelling came about: the reporter heard the name Petty, transliterated it into Spanish with the rhotic flap, and somehow came up with a spelling in Spanish of a double "R"--hence Perry.

But this is not an isolated incident of this type of Spanglish spellings that we ex-pats are confronted with on a daily basis.

Other examples:

washa--> washer, as used with bolts and nuts

mofle --> muffler (car)

Retron has supplied two examples from Japan.

Eric Crapton, for Eric Clapton

Makudonarudo, for McDonalds

My Spanish examples show a mangled American English mid and final "R" sound, and the Japanese examples show a difficulty with the "L" consonant. I am wondering if there is a name for this type of mis-spelling very common in L1-L2 (First Language-Second Language) confusion.

Mondegreen seems to deal with only song lyrics.

Eggcorn is closer, but seems to be about mis-heard English words expressed in another homophonic English word.

When I am trying to clasify this type of mis-spelling based on a second language phoneme set that mangles the word to the point of almost unrecognizable form , what should it be called?

I am looking for a term to embrace the idea of a transliteration error coming from any language, based on mis-hearing the original word or name.


texts:
I'm having a hard time fixing this sentence. I know there's something wrong with it, but I don't know what it is nor do I know what it's called. Any help would be appreciated.

I am sending an email to my Macroeconomics teacher regarding the equation below:

Imports decrease + Exports Increase = Net Exports Increase

My question that needs fixing:

  Does this also mean that if exports increase and nothing happens to imports, will that lead to Net Exports increasing?


texts: What does "to take someone at face value" mean?

texts: What does this mean? I hear it often, but not sure what its meaning is. I think it means to believe what they are saying without proof.


texts: Does “Turtles all the way down” mean endless continuation / exercise similar to ‘peeling onions,’’ or does it represent sophism?

texts:
I learned the phrase “Turtles all the way down,” popularized by Stephen Hawking in an answer to my latest question asking the meaning of the phrase, “Mercy within mercy within mercy."

Jmereno suggested that Thomas Merton’s famous phrase is similar to “Turtles all the way down.”

Does “Turtles all the way down” mean endless continuation or exercise of something like ‘peeling onions’ skin’ and ‘Russian matryoshka doll,’ or is it used for dodging a question or is it a simple sophism? I’m unable to judge based on the explanation by Wikipedia.

I should have asked this to the answerer, but I venture to put it as a question as this is different subject from my previous one.


texts: Origin of "even you" without connotations of surprise/insult/praise? (Indian English)

texts:
I live in southern India, and I've noticed that in Indian English, the word "even" can be used without indicating surprise, as it does elsewhere.

Some examples:

  Even you should be able to understand this.

You're not implying that someone is stupid. It simply means "You should be able to understand this too." It may even be a compliment, if you're referring to something complicated.

  Even I have a Bachelor's degree.

This is not self-deprecating. Nor does it imply that having a Bachelor's degree is very common. You're simply saying "I have a Bachelor's degree as well."

  Even I failed the history test.

You're not saying you're a very good history student, so it's surprising that you failed. Nor are you implying that the test was hard or unfairly graded. You're simply stating "I failed the test too."

Real example from my own life:

  -Harry Potter is really popular. My sister has read all the books.

  -Yes. Even I have read all the books.

My friend reads a lot of books, and it wasn't surprising that he'd read all the books. He used "even" just like one would use "also" in standard English, though with different syntax

  -Lots of people play PlayStation.

  -Even I play it a lot.

The second line doesn't (apart from the fact that it seems to be in agreement with the line it's replying to) say anything about the popularity of PlayStation. Again, it's using the word similarly to how standard English would use "as well", "too" or "also."

Please note that I may not understand the usage perfectly, so clarification from people who are very familiar with Indian English would be very welcome.

How widespread is this? Is it common in all of India? What about other countries?

Where did this originate?

Was it a feature of British English which has since fallen into disuse (perhaps due to insulting/boasting connotations) but remained in Indian English?

Or does it have another origin?

This is obviously something which can lead to unfortunate misunderstandings if both parties don't understand the differing connotations. (It did for me during my early months in India.)


texts: Is there a rule for the position of the accent (stressed sound) in words ending with -ative?

texts:
For example, can declarative be pronounced similar to declaration for the accent (stressed sound)? I thought before that sometimes the position of the "accent", or the stressed sound of a word, depends on how many syllables there are in the word.

But it seems that the words declaration and declarative have the same number of syllables, but declaration is stressed at the first syllable, while declarative is stressed at the second syllable. Is there a rule for this? Does the placement of the stress depend on the variety of English?  (I suppose the word declarative is not pronounced with the first syllable stressed no matter it is British or US pronunciation?)


texts: "Any vs. "any other" and "every" vs. "every other"

texts:
Can you please clarify what difference in meanings exists between the sentences in the following two pairs:

  Tom is taller than any boy present in the class.
  Tom is taller than any other boy present in the class.

  Tom is taller than every boy present in the class.
  Tom is taller than every other boy present in the class.


texts: “Scribble me a line” does that sound rude?

texts: I’ve been using this construction for quite a long time, while giving anybody my contacts in the informal situations, meaning “write me if you have time and inspiration” and I have no idea where I caught it. Recently I’ve been talking to a person from USA and used the phrase, and I was told it sounds very peculiar. He never heard it and found it really strange and funny :) So obviously I googled it and found out that the proper idiom is “drop somebody a line”. English isn’t my native language. My mistake, though word “scribble” does have the meaning “to write, not putting much effort in it”. But what shade of “not putting effort” does it have? I now, feel like I’ve been rude to people by using it, cause the word “scribble” may have some negative connotations? Like associate with clumsy and untidy? I shall not use it anymore but I'd like to know how grievous the mistake was :) So my questions are to native speakers: have you ever heard this construction, can it exist and what feeling does this phrase give you? Thank you in advance!


texts:
When I was a child, I walked to school everyday instead going by cycle.

Is this sentence correct? The following sentence seems better to me:

  When I was a child, I walked to school everyday instead of going by cycle.

Are my intuitions right?


texts: Is "sh*t" rude, or can it be a compliment?

texts:
Is it rude to say shit? I heard someone say it today and I think they used it as a compliment.

I think they said this:

  You look shit.

I looked in the dictionary, but I couldn't find anything.


texts:
All definitions via The Free Dictionary

perdure means

  To last permanently; endure

endure is

  To continue in existence; last

persist means

  To be obstinately repetitious, insistent, or tenacious.
  To hold firmly and steadfastly to a purpose, state, or undertaking despite obstacles, warnings, or setbacks.
  To continue in existence; last

UPDATE

It appears the answers and comments have explained the difference between persist and perdure

  To persist is to remain wholly over time. To perdure is to remain over time despite changes. Objects persist and events perdure.
  @Philosopher

but the difference between “perdure” and “endure” remains obscure.  It seems as though both terms are extremely similar in meaning. Is the difference technical? Could someone please explain the difference in meaning and in usage between perdure and endure?


texts: Is “in so unpleasant a manner” actually grammatical in English? Why?

texts:
I guess "in so unpleasant a manner" is the same as "in such an unpleasant manner". But what is the grammatical construction of the former? The whole sentence is:

  He would not have sacked her in so unpleasant a manner.

Why did the writer of this sentence use this construction?


texts:
I am translating an academic study on manuscripts. In the source language, there is a word that requires a one-word translation for the idea of both reading and interpreting. I haven’t yet found any word that would convey the idea.
I would be grateful to receive answers.
Best regards, Margaret


texts: Determing the lexical category of a word based on the affixes attached

texts:
I am currently taking a Linguistics course and am learning about affixes. Through reading the textbook and following the lectures, I have realized that certain prefixes and suffixes are attached to words that belong only to a certain lexical category. For instance, derivational affixes are attached to nouns and certain suffixes are only attached to adjectives.

I was just hoping to know if anyone here could provide any sources that I can use to learn more about this. Perhaps a list that contains various affixes and which category of words they are generally morphed with. It is just a little overwhelming to figure what the lexical category of a word is by just following the affixes given that different combination will give different results.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


texts: What figure of speech is this: "the arguing sixth floor window"

texts:
Sydney Barringer jumps from the ninth floor rooftop. His parents argue three stories below. Fay's accidental shotgun blast hits Sydney in the stomach as he passes the arguing sixth floor window.  Google Books

This doesn't appear to be exactly synecdoche as the window is not part of the arguing people. Anthropomorphism also sprang to mind but I am not sure that is the case here either. That there is an element of anthropomorphism or personification is not disputed, but I doubt that gives the whole picture, because besides the personification of the window this line also connects the window to the arguing people.

Also I don't think anthropomorphism is a figure of speech. What is this then? Figure of speech or some other concept?


texts:
Method 1:
wasn't/weren't + subject + verb(ing) + object?

Method 2:
was/were + subject + not + verb(ing) + object ?

Which method  correct in past continuous tense ~ negative interrogative form? Or both are correct?

Example:
 A). Wasn't she crying?
 Or
 B). Was she not crying?

Please explain this..


texts:
What does Kudos to you exactly mean?
Can I use it instead of"Bravo"?
I hear it a lot in "Californication".


texts: Where does the anglicisation "Ottoman" come from?

texts: Wikipedia on Ottoman Empire gives its naming as coming from the Ottoman Turkish language, but on that very page, the name of the language is transliterated as Lisân-ı Osmânî. In Russian we call the empire and language "Османская"/-ий, also transliterating as "Osman[suffix]". The trail vanishes there... Were telephones that bad that the Turks said "Os" and the English heard "Otto"?


texts: "a quiet head"? I need a more natural sounding equivalent

texts:
I am racking my brain for a solution to this. I am translating a text discussing a long-term project performed by a bank. In this case, the bank is very worried that it won't achieve all of the project's milestones in time. So it didn't approve any summer vacations for its employees, and it funded and created a private summer camp for their children.

The boss is now saying that the bank created this camp so that the employees can work "with a quiet head" (that's the literal translation - I need something more idiomatic. The basic idea is that the workers will be able to focus on their work without having too many other problems or distractions to deal with...).

Any creative suggestions are more than welcome!
Ilan


texts: “What’s the buzz about something?” What does it mean?

texts:
I found a phrase, “What’s the buzz about ...?” in the following sentence in an article of Washington Post (January 20 issue) referring to the State party hosted by President Obama for welcoming Chinese president Hu Jintao, where the House Speaker, John Boehner apparently didn’t show up.
What does “What’s the buzz about something?” mean? What the word,”buzz” does in this particular context represent for? Is the connotation of this phrase peripheral to “What’s up?”

I also found an example of “what's the buzz about?” in a short phrase – “So what's the buzz about Michael Jackson's new baby?” in another source.
Can somebody clarify for me?

“The question is, and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer — is that human life a person under the Constitution and Barack Obama says ... Boehner's no: Just how big of a social and political faux pas was it for Speaker Boehner to say no to the state dinner? What's the buzz about Exactly why he did it? To appear 'tough'? I'd say he just appeared small and petty.


texts: Meaning of "had a horror of destroying documents" in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Musgrave Ritual"

texts:
In the Sherlock Holmes story "The Musgrave Ritual," Watson is describing the untidy nature of Sherlock Holmes. The description includes this sentence:

  He had a horror of destroying documents, especially those which were connected with his past cases,...

On first reading the phrase, I took "had a horror of destroying documents" to mean that Holmes had a horrible habit of destroying documents, horrible (or horrifying) to Watson in the sense that he wishes to chronicle the cases that Holmes has been involved in (and perhaps also horrifying in the sense that the documents might contain important evidence in ongoing police investigations). But the rest of the passage immediately makes it clear that Holmes does not destroy the documents:

  ...and yet it was only once in every year or two that he would muster energy to docket and arrange them...
  ...month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner."

So after it becomes clear that Holmes is being a packrat rather than destroying anything, I take "a horror of" here to simply be a more concise way of saying "a shocking/absurd number of" documents.

That leaves me with the question of what "destroying documents" means in this context. Searches for the phrase are fruitless, as the Google waters are muddied with other instances of the phrase that mean, well, exactly what you would expect (incinerating documents or rending them into teeny tiny pieces), and corpora likewise only show instances of the literal, expected meaning.

I have some theories, the first one being most likely in my mind:

"Destroying documents" is synonymous with "damning evidence" (i.e. Holmes has valuable information relevant to criminal investigations scattered haphazardly around his apartment).
"Destroying documents" means "documents that are either of no use or contain sensitive information and should be destroyed" (unlikely).
(updated) "Destroying documents" means the documents are slowly being destroyed by wear and tear because they are not stored properly.
"Destroying documents" is a collocation from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's time with some other specific meaning that has fallen out of use.

What does "destroying documents" mean in this context? "Damning evidence," "documents that should be destroyed," or something else?


texts:
Let me ask about the word I'm not sure about its meaning from The Golden Pince-nez by Conan Doyle.

  As I turn over the pages, I see my notes upon the repulsive story of
  the red leech and the terrible death of Crosby, the banker.

What I want to know is whether the word "red leech" here refers to animal leech or a person. Anything can happen in Holmes universe so it could mean literally animal leech whose body color is red. But for me it looks a bit strange. I found the term "leech" could indicate a certain type of person which is.. a person who gives attention to someone over a long period in order to get their money or support, then the readers should take this word as so? That is the red-headed scum who may have killed the banker Crosby?
The term "red leech" here is ambiguous even for native speakers too? Or is there any way you can judge which is which?
Thanks.


texts: Is "knocking on" an idea an idiom for dismissing the idea?

texts:
For years, I thought I'd heard others say, "I don't mean to knock on your idea, but..."—and it was definitely on, not down, although I've heard knock down as well—but now that I'm looking it up, I can't seem to find the idiom anywhere. The closest thing I've found is knock in the Urban Dictionary as meaning "to disregard, turn down; to ignore,"—but without the preposition on.

Have I misheard others all these years?—or have you heard the phrase used this way, too? If knock on isn't a real idiom, then is knock down the only alternative, or are there similar variations?


texts: Word order with "just" and "only" meaning "merely"

texts:
Marking a German student's test I have encountered the following problem:

  The relationship between the two adolescents is one-sided. Just the boy really feels something, the girl hates him.

Can just be used here? My gut feeling says it should be only, although both words can mean "merely" and do in this case.


texts:
So recently, I have been working on a speech. Parts of this speech is a series of questions that I pose to the audience. I realize some difficulty when writing them. For example:

“Who remembers their birthday?”
“Who remembers one thing another person in this room did that make you smile?”

I struggle with the pronouns when addressing the crowd. I know that "they" can be a singular pronoun. However, it would sound quite awkward if I say " “Who remembers one thing another person in this room did that make they smile?”
Could someone suggest what pronoun can I use to address my questions?
Thanks!


texts: Meaning of the word "bat" in the following context

texts: I found this sentence in the short story Two Legs for the Two of Us by James Jones. The larger context is: "George was standing in the door (...) He opened the screen (...) He grinned down at her belligerently through the dark circles and loose lips of an extended bat." What could the word "bat" mean here? None of the usual definitions listed in dictionaries seem to fit this context.


texts:
Could someone please let me know the synonym of "paint someone/somebody into a corner". I don't know any and have to use the idiom all the time, it will be good to know its synonyms.

I generally use this idiom to denote situations where somebody is left with limited options or a hard choice (mainly due to their own behavior/actions) as in:

  By insisting on a pay rise, I seem to have painted myself into a
  corner. I will have to find another job if I don't get the raise.


texts: Is "our very next work" a common phrase?

texts: In order to point to our next work that planned to be done in the near future, is it common to use "our very next work"? Googling could not provide reliable help, by the way!


texts:
What is the good word to describe 'comedy movies' and 'ads' that seem very fake and tacky, and which failingly try to draw emotional responses (with fake grins and all) (like some but not all Robin Williams films where he acts like a kid etc.). I thought of the word 'cheesy' but that doesn't connote 'trying to draw emotional responses from the audience'. So any good words or a word for that?

I am also not thinking about the word: low budget movies here.


texts:
Would you say the sentence below sounds natural without the indefinite article "a"?

The protein must have (a) sequence identity of at least 90% with XXX.

Constructions like this usually take "a" as in

The plane is travelling at a velocity of 900 m/s.
Scotland has a population of 5,295,000.

and "have sequence identity of at least 90%" does not sit right with me but I often come across this usage. Any thoughts?


texts: Is libre the only English single-word adjective signifying 'liberty' without also meaning 'at no monetary cost'?

texts:
The Wikipedia entry Gratis versus libre contains the following text:

  Libre /ˈliːbrə/ in English is adopted from the various Romance languages, ultimately descending from the Latin word lībere; its origin is closely related to liberty. It denotes "the state of being free", as in "liberty" or "having freedom". The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) considers libre to be obsolete,[2] but the word has come back into limited[3] use. Unlike gratis, libre appears in few English dictionaries,[3] although there is no other English single-word adjective signifying "liberty" exclusively, without also meaning "at no monetary cost".

If there truly is no such word, then I must grudgingly accept the ugliness of Libre. I must admit that nothing springs readily to mind. Is there such a word?

EDIT: The basis of this question is that the people who coined (or revived) the term Libre didn't do so lightly. They were obviously of the opinion that it was necessary.


texts: Is it common to use the word "throbbings" (plural of throbbing) as a noun?

texts:
I ask because my word processor highlighted it as a wrong word. And I couldn't find any instances of my desired usage on Google.

Here's an example sentence:

  I have migraines. I'm not talking about small throbbings, but really
  strong hammerings.

If the usage isn't common, what's a better word to use?


texts:
I apologize if this has already been raised elsewhere. I was unable to find an answer to the question of when, if ever, it is acceptable form to include multiple uses of the word "from" in a single phrase. The example I have in mind can be seen in the following:

"He made every effort to steer himself as far in the opposite direction from where he had come from as he possibly could".

If the sentence is fine, cool. If not, any suggestions as to how it might be rewritten to correctly convey the same intended meaning? Thanks!


texts: Is there a specific word to describe a business legend?

texts:
I would like to know if there's a word that describes a deceased business/entrepreneurial legend that revolutionized their industry.

Examples of the types of people I'm talking about include Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Steve Jobs.

Industrialist seems close, but means

  A person involved in the ownership or management of an industrial
  enterprise

and thus doesn't convey the right sense of importance.


texts:
In some legal documents, sentences can be the lengths of paragraphs due to semicolons. What are the grammatical rules for the use, or maximum number, of semicolons for non-legal writing?

Here is a specific example I am struggling with: IC; (transitional phrase), IC; IC.

Independent clause = IC.

Does my example use semicolons validly?


texts: Is it more correct to say "repeat", or "resay"?

texts:
Telling a person to repeat something they have said sounds better to me, but is it more correct to ask them to resay what they said?

If I say something then resay it, then I have said it again. I don't peat, so why would I repeat? Do I peat? What does peat mean when referred to this way?

Which is better, repeat or resay?


texts: Using the word 'Blurrable' in a sentence

texts:
I am trying to create my own book, and one of those sentences I want to add is:

  To him, the images in your memory are blurrable.

The word came out of my mind, but I don't think it is used anywhere before, can't find it in dictionary either.

Found this online but I want to know if using blurrable is fine.


texts:
This sentence struck me as odd when I casually said it in conversation:

  I expect there to be bears.

...meaning I wanted [sarcastically] bears in the cave we were planning on exploring. What allows for the odd construction of "...expect there to be..."?

I scoured the internet, found an EL&U question, found another EL&U question, and discussed with my friends to no avail. Well, to some avail, but I'm still left with questions regarding construction, and how many grammar rules I'm bending or making up.

The word "expect" always takes an infinitive clause (never a gerund [why?]), which explains the "to be". Could we say that "to be expected" is a verb phrase?
I think "there" is an Adverbial Demonstrative Pronoun. Adverbial because it's supporting a verb and Demonstrative Pronoun because it's replacing the known noun phrase (the cave). I'm having a hard time backing this up with sources though.
If "there" is adverbial, what verb is it supporting: "expect" or "to be"? Or, is it an entire verb phrase as I mentioned ("to be expected") that's been flip-flopped and split by "there", thus making "there" support both? (I feel like I just made that up but can't find evidence otherwise.)
My friend said "there" is a post-position, because it's after the verb (he's assuming it's supporting "expect") but I read post-positions are not common in English.

Perhaps this is a daft and overthought, unimportant question, but it's been bugging me so I'm hoping for a smarter person to help with an explanation of this construction.

(A side thought, possibly unrelated, but regarding redundancy: If "there" means "the cave", I can say "I expect bears to be in the cave." ("I expect bears to be there.") This has the same meaning as my original sentence, but re-arranged. But I could even say "I expect there to be bears in the cave" or "I expect there to be bears there" which, to me, makes "there" redundant but still grammatically correct. Why?)


texts: Is it acceptable to use "especially" at the beginning of a sentence?

texts:
Whenever I see a sentence starting with "especially," I always get the impression that this is not grammatically correct. From example:

  The high water-salt ratio will not be good for you. Especially if you are dehydrated.

I feel like the two sentences should be united with punctuation, not divided.

Am I mistaken?


texts: Which ones are considered correct in these two sentences? " what I need is/are a car and a house." and " What I like is/are the mountains"

texts: Do they always take a singular verb (is) even if they refer to plural nouns?


texts: use of articles with personal names modified by adjectives

texts:
Suddenly, to everybody's surprise, the silent Mr.Smith swung around and addressed Barbara.
  The dinner was served by a silent Mrs. Keats.
  I saw an infuriated Jennifer, who started shouting at me the moment I opened the door.
  It seemed Walter didn't pay any attention to a tearful Kitty.
  She hasn't got lovely eyelashes like marvellous Monica.
  I bet your Mum kept you well clear of horrible Jesse.

The rule I learned at university said that the is used when the adjective a permanent quality of the person in question. E.g. 'I met the wicked Matilda the other day' would suggest that Matilda is inherently wicked.

The indefinite article a/an, on the other hand, would denote the mood or an unusual quality of the person described.

However, recently I've come across a lot of examples where no article is used with names modified by adjectives (see examples 5 and 6 above).

Can anyone explain why there are no articles in sentences 5 and 6?


texts:
I'm looking for an alternative phrase to be used in a non-fiction context. The starting phrase is "to chase up" meaning to contact someone to find out what progress they have made with a task.
I want to present the notion that this is a polite enquiry and I'm looking for an alternative that is less prone to be interpreted as hassling or an over-bearing demand, but gets across the notion that, prior to such a call, it is already obvious that the progress is a long way behind schedule.
So far I have not had any luck with the synonym/thesaurus sites I'm familiar with as they don't seem to recognise "to chase up" as a whole phrasal verb and thus instead show answers for "chase". This is one exception https://www.powerthesaurus.org/chase_up though the closest it suggests are "follow-up" and "monitor", neither of which really suits the purpose.


texts:
I'm writing a book where the characters visit a stone circle called "The Nine Stones".

This is a single place, but named for the 9 stones that form the circle.

Should it be plural or singular in this sentence?

  The Nine Stones was 90 miles east of Plymouth

vs

  The Nine Stones were 90 miles east of Plymouth

I can see arguments both ways.


texts: What do you call a person who does average pencil drawings?

texts: I am writing my resume, I do average pencil drawing & documenting tags like "developer", "photographer". In this way I want to tag as "pencil drawing artist" please help with phrase this in a better way.


texts: How can i say "you can only upload image or video in a post"?

texts:
How can i tell user that they can upload a video OR image in a single post?
My sentence:
You can only upload image or video for a post


texts: What does "arrange to dispatch" mean? Does it express multiple things of action?

texts:
Complete sentence:

  Pls find the attached New PO for Feb 2019 requirement for your reference, Kindly arrange to dispatch 5K for tomorrow and remaining by 10th of Feb 2019.

PO = Purchase Order


texts:
What's another word for "Deploy" that conveys a similar meaning?

deploy: To move troops or equipment into position.

I'm trying to come up with a name for a service where drones will be used to inspect factories and power stations.

I wanted to call it DroneDeploy, but that name is already taken by another drone service.

Is there a similar word that would be suitable?


texts:
Does pocketbook in the following paragraph mean 3. Also, pocket book . a book, usually paperback, that is small enough to carry in one's coat pocket. (Dictionary.com:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pocketbook)?
These two paragraphs are taken from NY Times.

As Germany embarks on this journey of self-discovery, the question is whether it will leave behind a European project which was built in no small measure on the nation’s postwar guilt and on its pocketbook.
On the one hand, no nation has benefited more from the euro than Germany, whose trade surpluses come largely from imports by its European neighbors.


texts:
The phrase “take it easy” has several different meanings, and it's not always easy to tell between them from context. I'm referring specifically to the standalone phrase (grammatically, an imperative), not to the use of the verbal expression in general.

— I'm going on a holiday. — Take it easy for a week, you deserved it. (the usual verbal meaning)
— I'm leaving, bye. — Take it easy. (≈ “have a nice time”)
— I'm going to hit someone. — Hey, take it easy, man! (≈ “keep your cool”)

What clues can distinguish the friendly use (have a nice time) from the reproachful use (keep calm)? Are there other meanings to consider? Are there regional variations?


texts: phrase request for "knowing your physician"

texts:
I'm helping a colleague of mine to write an essay on physician-patient relationship and here is the deal:
In the introduction part we want to say that,

  patients' "knowing" of their doctors changes significantly based on
  their hospitalization history.

by saying "knowing" we actually meant having some background information like certain ways of behavior of their doctors and etc, but the word "knowing" sounded a bit odd to me.
I'm asking for a single-word or maybe a proper phrase or even a jargon in substitution of that weirdly used "knowing".


texts: What is the meaning of N+1 in this context?

texts:
The cycling retail business I work for just sent out a company wide internal email discussing the availability of some demo products for sale to its employees.
I am having trouble understanding the last line. I can't find whether this is a standard English expression or some sort of cycling industry term:

Everything has previously been ridden and are sold entirely ‘as seen’, so please make sure you are happy with your chosen bike(s) before taking them, as due to their nature we can’t offer any warranty or returns process.
So remember, N+1 and come down and grab a bargain!

What could that final line possibly mean? Could it mean "anyone"? or is specifically it bike related?
Here is a picture just in case it has some sort of visual context:


texts: What is the meaning of "his downfall was a mistletoe"?

texts:
While listening to the song Death of the God of Light, I noticed the following sentence.

  His downfall was a mistletoe

Now I only know a mistletoe as the plant/Christmas decoration, which does not really help make sense of the sentence.

With a bit of searching around on Thesaurus and Google I couldn't really find any other meaning for the word, beyond what I already describe above.

Which brings me to the question, what does this sentence mean?
Is this some sort of proverb or symbolism?


texts:
I want to use one word to say "lack of guidance". For example, our english study is lack of guidance. ==> our english study is xxx.

I also want to use one word to say "lack of source". For example, our city is lack of source. ==> our city is yyy.

Could anyone help?

Edit 1: our city is lack of source is confusing. Here is another example:

I want to say to do this study, our team is lack of source (we need more data sources or more data to do this work). Is there one adjective work to replace lack of source?


texts:
I'm looking for a word that opposes to structural, in the context of organizing information.

Imagine I have a set of images or data files organized in folders on a computer. The set of folders is the structural information. But I don't find a term to refer to the set of images. Some candidates could be organic information, functional information or factual information, but I think there must be a better choice.


texts: Is there an adjective meaning a wide trajectory?

texts:
I need an adjective that tells that the trajectory of a projectile (in this case, a snowball) was wider than higher and fills in this blank:

"The _____ snowball hit the wall the other team made to protect us from snowballs, but my team started lobbing the snowballs."


texts: Meaning of 'constantly' in 'everything is fluid, is constantly changing...'

texts:
Heraclitus: everything is and is not, for everything is fluid, is constantly changing, constantly coming into being and passing away.

If 'constantly' means 'no stop in every little seconds' then this is of course wrong, for example, our name may change but not change in every seconds.

If it means 'may stop in some times, but in a long-term view, never stop', then it's acceptable.

I ask what exactly CONSTANTLY means in English. IF it means like a river flows and not stop in every seconds or it means like heartbeat, you heart beat in a lifelong time, but surely it stop beat in a little time and beat again in another seconds. there are one state in river and two states in heartbeat


texts: Is 'thought it to be' grammatically correct?

texts:
Does

  If man continues to scathe all of Earth and its seas, then this isn’t
  the world I thought it to be

make sense? Or should I just replace the 'to' with 'would'?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Singular or plural following a list

Would I use is or are in the following sentence?

  The Pohutakawa Coast, Hauraki Gulf, and Waiheke Island is/are the backdrop for our day.

If I rewrote it so the subject (backdrop) starts the sentence, then it seems to me that as it is singular, the verb should be the singular is. But as it is written above, are seems less clumsy.


texts:
One hypernym for teacher and student is person. Vehicle is a hypernym of
car and lorry....

Is there a hypernym for query and report?


texts: Transfer of Liquid from one dish to another

texts: What is one word for the act of transferring liquid from one dish  to another  repetitively in order to cool it.


texts:
When planning an appointment for a specific day (and time), for example,  should on or for preposition be used? See the context below, though, I am guessing, the rule should be universal:

  Sure, I will  tentatively pencil you in for  Sunday evening.

Is there change in meaning if I use on above? I picked for simply because it sounds better -- and more intuitive.


texts: What is the English term for a word meaning a shortened/contracted version of itself?

texts:
I remember being taught this by my Literature teacher in school long ago but I can't remember the actual term, maybe complicated sounding like 'onomatopoeia'.

I don't mean apostrophes e.g. wouldn't.

An example is:
elongated = long,
where the second word can be formed by removing certain letters from the first word, and retain somewhat the original meaning.

A list of such words would also be cute.


texts:
Singularity
Duplicity
Triplicity
Quadruplicity
Quintessence
..... what comes after quintessence? I used to know the name but now I cannot remember and it isn't easily googleable.


texts: Apostrophe in "Play is our brains favorite way of learning."?

texts:
Should there be an apostrophe in the following sentence. If so, where?

"Play is our brains favorite way of learning."


texts:
"The two countries enjoy economic advantage complementarity, high degree of converging interests and broad prospects for cooperation."

I checked the Longman dictionary and I guess that "to have a particular ability or advantage" may fit this? But I'm not sure about this, because in the dictionary all subjects are humans, which makes me wonder if it's okay to use it in this way.

Does this sentence make sense in English? Can I use "enjoy" in this way?


texts: What part of the sentence is "you" in "telling you who that is"?

texts:
The object is "who that is", right?  And the verb is "telling", but what is "you"?

Further sentences:

Did they give 'him' a reward?
Will you be able to find 'them' a home?
I have given 'her' a lot of money, and she has shown 'me' nothing in return.
I want to buy ink from 'them'.  Not from 'them'.
My girlfriend gave 'me' a delicious bag of curry crackers, and I gave 'her' a delicious, curry-flavored kiss.
His chariot sent 'him' airborne, and the tumble against the ground
gave 'him' a cracked rib.


texts: What does "throw in the fact" and "the escrow" mean?

texts:
I came across the following dialogue in an American TV show, but I do not understand the parts in bold.

(A is a 40-year-old divorced woman who is trying to hide her real age and pretends to be 26; she couldn’t afford her house in New Jersey and the bank has foreclosed on it. B is a friend of A. Josh likes A and thinks she is 26)

  [A and B are in a car. A is driving. A receives a text on her phone]

  A: Will you check that for me?
  B: Ooh, hotty hotpants alert. It’s from Josh.

  [The text from Josh says: “don't make me wait till tomorrow, come over tonight”]

  A: Oh, nice. What should I text back?
  B: How about, “The escrow on my suburban New Jersey home is closed, and I’m on my way to tag everything for the movers”?
  A: Why not throw in the fact that I’m 40 and a baby’s head came out of
  my Frida? [laughs]

I’m guessing throw in the fact that means ‘telling the fact directly’, but I’m not sure it’s really throw in + the fact. Am I misunderstanding this?

When I looked up escrow in the dictionary, I got the following definition:

  Money, property, a deed, or a bond put into the custody of a third party for delivery to a grantee only after the fulfillment of the conditions specified.

I’m guessing it must have another meaning here than what I found, because how can money be closed? What does it mean that the escrow is closed?


texts: Different way to say "You are in charge of it now"

texts:
I read a foreign manga and in it there's a circumstance where a boss gave one of his subordinates a job/task, and said something like "You are in charge of it now."or"It's your job now."
Is there any more colloquial way to express the same meaning in English?What sentence do people usually use when they hand over a job to someone?


texts: A Filipino teacher taught that "women are treated unequal"! Right or Wrong?

texts:
A Filipino teacher taught that "women are treated unequal". I think it should be "unequally".

Is there any structure "to treat someone adjective" in English?

Does "to treat me bad" make any sense?

Searching "treat her bad" & "treat her badly" on Google returns more than 50000 & 48000 results respectively


texts: What is "Web Copy" and why does everyone refer to it without an article?

texts:
I recently read a blog post that talks about "Web Copy".

I have never heard of this term before, so I did some searching around. I'm still not sure what the meaning of this is.

What bugs me is that everyone who uses it refers to it without the use of an indefinite or definite article before. For example, in the blog post mentioned, the author says "How do you learn to write web copy?" instead of "How do you learn to write a web copy?". Other places use it in this 'proper noun' usage (though it isn't capitalized).

Can someone please define the term and explain why there is no article?


texts: An adjective meaning that someone's act in a very kind, unexpected way

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective that means that someone's act in a very kind, unexpected way.

Few examples:

You cold-mail a very famous, busy person and ask him to meet for a coffee, and he replies with "sure, is [some date, some time] ok?"
You're in a foregin country, can't find your way to some destination, and then someone approaches you and spends the next 15 minutes to make sure you understand how to get there.
You're over-70 and with certain health conditions, so you're self-isolated at home to prevent yourself from catching the coronavirus, and your neighbour goes to the grocery store every day to get things for you whenever needed.

Can the one being helped in each of these 3 scenarios react with "thank you so much, this is so unobvious"?
The sound of it doesn't feel right to me, so I'm looking for another word.
Also thought about nontrivial, but still, it doesn't sound right.

What's the right word here?


texts: I see Bethesda Softworks, a well-known video game publisher, uses the word as a part of its name, and I'm pretty sure it's made up, but I like it. I would like to use it in the same sense as they do, to describe what my studio focuses on, software. Am I "allowed" gramatically to use the word as a reference to software work? Is it frowned upon?


texts:
$900 billion is still considerably larger than most can comprehend, but the actual return on investment for space exploration is considerably higher than any other existing industry.

In this sentence, is "for" the correct word?

Should it instead be:

  ... the actual return on investment in space exploration is ...

or

  ... the actual return on investment on space exploration is ...

In this case, "return on investment" (ROI) is an economic phrase, and I think that's what has me confused.


texts: How do you pronounce the english surname of a famous artist-Derges


texts: Using the word 'having' despite the fact it is a state verb

texts:
I have read somewhere that 'have' : is a state verb, so we don't add '-ing' to it.
For Eg: 'I am having a car' seems okay to non-natives like me . However, I know It is incorrect to say that. My question is,if that is so why do we say
'having said that.....' or I am having to work hard.


texts: fewer vs less, when concurrently describing countable and uncountable things

texts:
Which is more correct?

Requested data must be 19 characters or fewer
Requested data must be 19 characters or less

There is a comparison between the actual and expected character counts, which is a countable thing. +1 for fewer.
There is another comparison between the actual and expected amount of data, which i use as an uncountable collective noun, "some data". +1 for less.


texts: What is the offline equivalent of "clickbait"?

texts:
There is a common Internet marketing strategy called clickbait or clickbaiting which involves:

  Provocative or sensationalistic headline text that entices people to click on a link to an article, used as a publishing tactic to increase webpage views and associated ad revenue. Source

This is commonly used in advertisements (such as the one seen below) to generate views, even though the product itself will likely not be purchased and may not even exist. It is also frequently seen on YouTube, either in titles or thumbnails, to generate views for the uploader.

However, clickbait also exists in physical form, for example newspaper headlines, magazines and pamphlets. Obviously, the term clickbait originated on the Internet (hence the "click"), so is there a word or idiom referring to physical clickbait and what would it have been called before the advent of the computer?

Mandatory usage example:

  Ralph didn't take the newspaper headlines seriously; he knew they were just ________


texts: "Living in the South" or "Living in the south"?

texts:
The sentence I'm wondering about:

  Living in the [S/s]outh during the early 1900’s, the most decisive
  factor of a man’s life was determined at birth: the color of his skin.

Should South be capitalized because it's a noun?


texts: Whence come "Alaskan" and "Hawaiian" as adjectives?

texts:
Ross Douthat, writing in the New York Times, refers to "Rubio’s lonely Minnesotan triumph." This just sounds wrong to me. Is "Minnesotan" ever used as an adjective? Garrison Keillor frequently invokes "Minnesota nice"—a phrase which seems to imply that the word for "of or pertaining to [State]" is "[State]."
See also "New York minute," "California Dreamin,'" "Oklahoma crude," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," etc.
On the other hand: "Alaskan king crab," "Hawaiian Punch." But I'm having a hard time coming up with other counter examples. It's pretty clear that Douthat's usage would require Rubio to be a Minnesotan to be correct.
Can anyone explain the reason for the "Alaskan" and "Hawaiian" anomalies?


texts:
I have a question about a phrase (an idiom), which can be roughly said as:

  You have only one life (to live) and it's not going to happen again.

I'm not sure if it's correct, most likely not. What I want is a meaning of this phrase, not said like "You have only one" but like "Life is just one" or "One has only one" if you know what I mean. Not saying to someone: "You have" but saying it like a general statement ("One have" or "There's a..."). Something like:

  One has only one life and it's not going to happen again (or repeat).

I thought about replacing the part "happen again" with something like "repeat" which would suit better from my point of view but as far as I searched the web, it's not used in this kind of phrase.

Suggestions for more less widely used or known phrases welcomed.


texts:
Consider the word quasi-first-class. Are the hyphens used correctly? Should the two hyphens be of different length to denote the distinction of the hyphenation? Is there a general rule to deal with such doubly hyphenated words?

This tells me that I should avoid an en dash in this case.


texts: a person who calls out for eliciting ideas from others and does what he wants

texts: What expression would you use for a impressionable person (a decision maker like a boss or potential customer) who comes to your facility (office, shop, garage, showroom) makes you do all the leg work for an critical suggestion/advice, promises you of a deal and then just for a sake of second opinion goes with his chosen/favorite dealer having contradicting advice and placidly comes informing you of superseding deal blissfully oblivious of his misconduct.


texts: Word for opposite of *prerequisite*? Something that is possible because of another thing?

texts:
Prerequisite describes something that must exist before another thing. Is there a word that describes an opposite, that is, something that is made possible because of the existence of another thing?

For example, in Carl Sagan's famous quote "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe", inventing the universe is a prerequisite of making an apple pie from scratch. Is there a word that works when we switch those two subjects: making an apple pie from scratch is a(n) ______ of inventing the universe?

I know that I can rephrase the sentence, or use multiple words to express the meaning, for example, "making an apple pie is one of the things I can do after inventing the universe". I can also use a made up word like postrequisite (although that exact example may not fit, as I understand it means something that must be done afterwards). I would like to know if there is one word, that is used widely, that means the same.


texts: How do I call a word for audible equivalent of visualize?

texts:
I was looking for a word that would convey a similar meaning for "audio" as it is for "visualize." I ran into several suggestions, but as a former musician, I personally prefer the word - "audiate" from "audiation." However, when checked in google, the Wiktionary describes it as a sound that one hears without that sound physically present there.
It is funny that there is no word in English to describe it adequately, and even Google does not register such.


texts: Is there a word to describe limbs or other body parts arranged in sets of 5?

texts: Specifically, I was looking for a word to describe Lovecraft's Elder Things: "The top appendage was a head adorned with five eyes, five eating tubes... The bottom appendage was five-limbed... The beings also had five leathery, fan-like retractable wings and five sets of branching tentacles that sprouted from their torsos."


texts: What kind of humour is the antonym of "dry humour"?

texts:
And what are the different characteristics of these different forms of humour?

Having looked at the near duplicate question, it does raise some interesting material and supplies possible answers to the question. However it has also made it clear that this is a far more complex subject than I made it sound, and merits a far wider conversation than is possible on this site. The whole question of what we laugh at, and what defines humour needs to be considered.

But for anyone interested I recommend reading the duplicate question, and the responses thereto.


texts: Using the definite article with acronyms and initialisms with a number in front of it

texts: I understand that using a definite article with an initialism. For example WKC for World Kendo Championship needs "the" if it pronounces "double-U kay si." I want to know if "the" is still need if it accommodates with number in front of it as 18WKC "Eighteen WKC." My understanding is no definite article required. Am I right?


texts: How to use "moving" at the beginning of a sentence?

texts:
"Moving to an iphone from a normal phone is easy."

Is this sentence grammatically correct?


texts: How should we treat a plural term that refers to singular term?

texts:
I'd like to better understand  why is the following grammatical:

  One of the problems is flags.

Here flags refers to the flagging system. However, flags is plural and the flagging system is singular.

I would consider the following alternatives grammatical:

  One of the problems is the flagging system.
  This is the actual meaning.
  One of the problems is the flagging.
  This would be best option if the problem is in the process of flagging.
  One of the problems is caused by the flags.
  Best if the problem was with displaying the actual flags, but avoids the [singular] is [plural] pattern.
  One of the problems is “flags”.
  Quoted to denote unusual usage.

The original is semantically clear to me, but I am unsure if it is grammatically correct.

NOTE:
This is related to the following question and this answer. There is already a short answer there, but I wanted more details and references to grammatical rules that govern this case (so I can further explore on my own) and thought it would be noise over there.


texts: One word for having the right to rule on a case before anyone else

texts:
I recall that there is a word used in law to refer to the right of a certain court to take up a case before a subordinate court can.

For example, if only the Supreme Court has the right to rule on a case related to terrorism (and not any other court), we say that the Supreme Court has a ______ on cases related to terrorism.


texts:
In the following line of a song, can you please explain why the article should be used here? And why article the not a or nothing?

  And I don't say the hook unless I wrote the hook

From Eminem's song, Kamikaze


texts: Source and meaning of the proverb “Milk says to wine, Welcome friend”

texts:
While investigating an unrelated expression, I came across the following proverb in George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum ; or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, Etc., second edition (1651):

  Milk says to wine, Welcome friend.

I checked a number of other proverb collections, and found several that include this saying (often with a citation to Herbert’s book), but I couldn’t find an earlier source for it.  My questions are:

What is the origin of  “Milk says to wine, Welcome friend”?
What does the proverb mean?


texts: Correct way to phrase something that varies by type and degree

texts:
In the first instance, what are the grammatically correct ways to phrase the statement below?
Second, if more than one is correct, which one seems the more appropriate or natural-sounding?

  Typhoons [differ/vary] [in/by] the degree and variety of damage (they
  cause)"


texts: Term for maladaptive animal behavior that will lead to their demise?

texts:
Moths to a flame.

Is there a term for such a behavior?


texts: When does it become "long enough" to use the term "always"?

texts:
This BBC page caught my eye: "Physicists had always believed". Except they hadn't. Its a very recent belief, probably under 30 - 40 years old.

We often use "always" without thinking, to make a point or  as shorthand for "some kind of  significant time". But what sort of criteria do people instinctively use for "always"? At what point do people tend to slip from a specific time, or some measure of time, to the claim that its always been so?

For example, one would never say, "England has always been at peace with Germany", even though it is at peace and has been for far longer than the above statement (1945 vs 1980s - 1990s?).

Clearly there's something about the context -- either of the subject matter or the question - which has an effect. But do we know more?

Note, I'm not after examples so much. Examples probably exist all over the place for usage. More looking for research or understanding what sort of criteria are being used, when that decision to use "always" happens, if there is any. Its probably related to didactic or intent or sense of time or... but I have no real idea and am curious if anyone knows.


texts: Is micropreneur or micropreneurial correct as an adjective?

texts:
A micropreneur is basically an micro-entrepreneur.  In the following phrase, is micropreneur or micropreneurial correct?

  A micropreneur software company


texts: Word for going to a university class but without being enrolled?

texts:
Not sure if this only happens in my country, but a university student can go to a class without actually being enrolled. The student is either there because he wants to "try" the class first, or because the registration capacity is full.

What's the word for that?

Example:

  Mary wasn't sure whether to take the biology course, so she went to
  [...] first.


texts: Difference between "memoir" and "biography"

texts: I am an avid reader, and noticed that books I checked out from the library lately seem to use "memoir" and "biography" interchangeably, although they are all shelved as "biographies". Is there an actual semantic difference between "memoir" and "biography"? Or is it just something that comes down to personal preference?


texts: What does "conditionalities" mean in this article from The Hindu?

texts:
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/reimagining-the-niti-aayog/article28118992.ece - In this article, I did not understand what "conditionalities" meant in the following sentence from the 6th paragraph:

In short, the NITI Aayog should be engaged with the allocation of “transformational” capital in a formulaic manner, complete with incentive-compatible conditionalities.

My understanding is that it means that the organization NITI Aayog should incorporate measures that could be conditionally applied and that could be incentivised. Can someone help me to clarify the meaning?


texts:
Do you prefer to stay home, or do you want to come with us?
  Should I prepare dinner, or are we going to go to the restaurant?

Are the questions correctly written?
Is there a preferred way to write such questions?


texts: "There was Minta, wreathed, tinted, garish on the stairs..."

texts:
This is part of a sentence in Woolf's To the lighthouse. Minta is in a different state of mind from her husband, she's back at 3am after a party while he went to bed early and sternly:

  There was  Minta, wreathed, tinted, garish on the stairs about three o'clock in
  the morning. Paul came out in his pyjamas carrying a poker in case of burglars. Minta was eating a sandwich, standing half-way up by a window, in the cadaverous early morning light, and the carpet had a hole in it.

Obviously, the first two adjectives are used in a figurative sense which is not recorded in the dictionaries I could check—and I suspect this sense is very special to Woolf. As a non-native speaker, I'd like to have your "feeling" about them: is "wreathed" used as a way of being in high-spirits or could it rather refer to some physical appearance (clothes or motion?), could "tinted" allude to some tipsiness (although this is probably French only, some may "tint" water with some wine, hence my supposition) or again to spirits...?


texts: What's a positive word for "disruptive"?

texts: When talking about disruptive business practices, we are speaking of things out of the ordinary or off the expected trajectory, which typically leads conventionally minded people to think it's a bad thing. However, in the case that the status quo is insufficient for the future, disruptive forces would be a good thing. Thoughts?


texts: Is it common to write only one "as" in a comparison?

texts:
This is a bit hard to explain, so here's an example:

  Hanging above the door was a huge smiley face put there to greet
  visitors. I hoped the people inside were just as friendly.

Is this a common or grammatical construct? If not, what's a better alternative?


texts: When someone asks a question but actually just want to answer it themselves

texts:
Is there a term for when someone asks a question but you know it’s only because they either want you to ask them it back, or they want to answer it themselves?
Hope I’ve explained this properly!


texts: What is the origin and meaning of "coyote ugly"?

texts: I overheard two scoundrels discussing one of their dates as being "coyote ugly".


texts: "a wottle of bine", "a can of boot reer" and "holed and sealed" - What types of speech errors are these?

texts:
People often make these mistakes in speech on purpose, just for amusement. Sometimes, however, they are unintentional and prove even funnier.  In this case, is there a specific term for them?

e.g.

  "belly jeans"  for  "jelly beans"
  "a can of boot reer"  for  "a can of root beer"
  "a wottle of bine"  for  "a bottle of wine"
  "holed and sealed"  for  "soled and healed"
  "cling spreaning"  for  "spring cleaning"


texts: Is there a term for what 'sheveled' is to 'disheveled'?

texts:
Is there a term to describe an unprefixed term like sheveled that is used less or not at all compared to its prefixed relative disheveled?

  My word Helen, you look very sheveled today!

Edit: Below Malvolio brings up the example of kempt which is another example of what I'm talking about.  A word that has both prefixed and unprefixed forms in English, but the unprefixed form has mostly fallen out of use.


texts: which is correct "at the following" or "on the following"

texts:
i use it when i send link (URL for file or something) for some one, so what is the correct to say

Please find file on the following link
OR
Please find file at the following link


texts: Is there a shorter alternative to "server connection configuration"?

texts:
I am trying to find a name for a variable that contains the hostname (node45.service.com), the port (9984) and the server name (US Salami Server) of a service I want to connect to and looks something like this

class server_connection_configuration
     string server_name
     string hostname
     integer port

At the moment it's called server_connection_configuration. Is there a shorter alternative for that? It must encompass that it is a set of parameters that are needed to connect to a server. I understand that the server name does not really fit here.

I can't use server_connection because this implies that this would be the object that models the connection (a handle). I also can't use connection_configuration because in that context other connections exist as well.

I don't want to use abbreviations because it would contradict clean code principles.

What word(s) could I use instead?

I tagged single-word-requests but maybe there is a better tag for this question.


texts: Looking for Samples of Canadian West Coast Accent

texts:
If this is not the right place to ask, then feel free to redirect me to a more appropriate site.

A long time ago I learned English in British Columbia and adopted the local accent. Since I am immersed in a more British-English speaking environment I long lost it, or even the ability to use it on purpose.

Could you please recommend any movies or audio-books, that could help me get it back into my ear? The more the better.

Thank you very much


texts: How is “to be standing” used in this paragraph?

texts:
I found this paragraph in one of my reading. Why did it use “to be standing” and how do I use this structure?

  The crowd, I noticed, was mainly old ladies of the blue-haired type, the kind that play bingo and drink Bloody Marys at Sunday brunch, though I could see Eric sitting with all my friends near the back row. It was downright eerie, if you know what I mean, to be standing in front of them while everyone waited for me to say something.

Still, please explain why it used "to be standing" instead of using "to stand"?


texts: What does 'contrasting' mean. in this case of 'must draw their examples from contrasting markets'

texts:
I am asked and have to answer the question below.

  The candidate should give examples of existing restrictions on free trade that wine and spirits producers face today. Candidates must draw their examples from contrasting markets around the world.

This question is all about the drink industry but
I do not understand what implies "contrasting markets" above.
Should I show some examples that exists as restrictions by contrasting which is of another markets? or still in the drink markets, or any other meaning?

Sorry that I am not sure this type of question is appropriate in here or not.

Thanks a lot.


texts: What's the earliest attested use of "there're"?

texts:
I've tried searching for there're online, but I haven't been able to find any good information. Most sites assume I'm looking for they're. Wiktionary claims there're was coined by Bob Dylan, but I find this highly unlikely.

I tried Google's n-gram page for there're, but when I checked some of the early results in Google books, they didn't mean there are, many instances being mismatched by the software.

What's the earliest attested use of there're where it's intended to mean there are?


texts:
This is how I say it:

“You have twice the experience I have”

to me it feels right, but searching examples on the net, I don’t quite find a similar example. I could rephrase. I think these are safe:

“You have twice more experience than I have”
or
“You have twice as much experience as I do”

but back to my original way of saying it, is there something missing before “I have”?

“You have twice the experience that I have”

It sounds better without the “that” to me.


texts: Meaning of "in the way their culture dictates"

texts:
Please tell me the meaning of in the way their culture dictates in the following sentence:

  In this documentary we meet many girls from across the world, as they come of age in the way their culture dictates, we see remarkable heart-warming stories of bravery and humor.


texts:
Gingrich was deposed as Speaker of the House after the election in 1998.

In the above sentence , can we write "deposed as a Speaker"? Or can it be "deposed as Speaker" only? Which one is correct? Please explain.


texts: Emphasis is put on relation of A and B, instead of/on

texts:
Having the following sentence, I'm not sure how to use prepositions after 'instead':

  The emphasis is put on the relation between A and B, instead of on A
  and B themselves.

Is "instead of on" correct? Also not sure about the usage of "themselves here".


texts: Do complex sentences omit verbs in dependent clauses?

texts:
1.An event came before another event.
2.The earlier event did not happen before the later one.
3.Something had happened before something else.
4.It had not come before the subject.
5.One event happened earlier than the other.

I need to know are these complex sentences with omission of verbs on italic sentences like the below?
1.An event came before another event came.
2.The earlier event did not happen before the later one happened/did not happened.
3.Something had happened before something else happened/had happened.
4.It had not come before the subject comes/had not come.
5.One event happened earlier than the other happened.

Please correct my question if any wrong found, and feel free to answer. Thank you.


texts: Exemplification of 'being not idiomatic'

texts:
apple: a round fruit with firm, white flesh and a green, red, or yellow skin.
If I use 'apple' as 'a round fruit with firm, white animal flesh and a green, red, or yellow animal skin,' is it grammatically and semantically right at least in imagination but not idiomatic?
I wonder because I want to use anthropomorphism, and it needs not only to be like animals, but also to be an animal, so I want to use this word in a unusual sense.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Should I put a comma before the last item in a list?

Sometimes, I see an extra comma before an "and" but I don't know when I should and should not add a comma before an "and". For example:

  There are apples, oranges and pears in the basket.

In this sentence, I don't think that there is no need for a comma before the "and pears". But sometimes, I see sentences having commas before "and". For example:

  I have eaten my dinner, and I am ready go out.

In this case, is the comma before the "and" necessary? In longer sentences, I often see a mixture of with and without comma before "and". In what scenario should I then add a comma before the "and" in a sentence?


texts: What is the correct word to use instead of else’s?

texts:
If I am trying to say, “That problem that belongs to someone else,” then what is the correct word to use in this sentence:

  That is someone else’s problem.

My spell checker says else’s and elses are not words and does not have a correction suggestion for it. What is the correct word to use?


texts: Euphemisms for pornography, violence, and hate

texts: My company is creating a website and we want to say that uploading of pornographic, violent, and hateful content is prohibited. Some people at the company think these exact words are too direct, so we want to replace them with a euphemism. Does "adult content" or "mature content" encompass porn, violence, and hate? Personally, when I think of adult or mature, I only think of porn. I think it's because American culture these days has played down the effect of violence and hate. It's okay for kids to watch Iron Man beat up other people, but not okay for them to watch Playboy. So in effect, you don't need to be adult or mature to watch violent and hateful content.


texts:
I have written this paragraph as part of a review. I believe it is correct grammar but can't pinpoint the logic behind the use of the comma or the it is.  I don't know the name of this kind of structure or usage. Can anyone help?

A black comedy that at times evolves into a tense thriller and at others shows hints of horror, it is an original, gripping, and disturbing tale of pervasive class tension, oppression, and helplessness.

Thanks a lot in advance.


texts: Can we use “elder to” as a comparative adjective?

texts:
As I understand, in comparative form of Adjectives, elder is used of persons, and older is used of both persons or things. One other feature of elder is that it is not used with than. However, it is not clear to me whether it can be used with to. For example, while the following are most likely correct

X is my elder brother
X is older than me

is it okay to use elder to in the following way

X is elder to me

While we are on the topic, I would also like to get some advice on how to use them when specifying the age. Like, what is the proper way to write the following sentences
When using elder

X is elder to me by 2 years/X is 2 years my elder

When using older

X is 2 years older than me/X is older than me by 2 years

Sorry if this comes across as too confusing.  I tried my best to make it as clear as possible.
Thanks


texts: Is there a word for this opposite reaction you can have when you meet someone after a long time?

texts:
These are the feelings/emotion I would like to describe with a word:

You have been really a close friend of another person for many many years, and then you stopped hanging out together and even calling at telephone. Then you suddenly met at a party. You manage do to only small talk and nobody knows really what to say. There's a general embarrassment and you end up without speaking too much.

The opposite situation is when you meet at a party somebody who you weren't in touch with for so long, and both are more than happy to met, and it is as only a few days have passed since the last time.

How would you name these stuff?


texts: In literary terms, what's the best word to describe a collection of locations?

texts:
I'm translating a book I wrote some years ago from Portuguese to English, and there's a section that describes the locations, spaces and factions from a specific fictional work.

Whats the best word to use for this chapter's title: "Locations & Factions" or "Spaces & Factions"?


texts: How to use the infinitive in this sentence?

texts:
I am doing documentation for a web application issue and I'm not sure how best to word what I'm trying to say:

  "This appears to work no longer in any web browser."

  "This appears no longer to work in any web browser."

  "This appears not to work any longer in any web browser."

Which is most correct, or are they all equally correct?


texts: Confusion about a stanza from Rudyard Kipling

texts:
Following is the stanza:

  Teach us delight in simple things,
    And mirth that has no bitter springs;
    Forgiveness free of evil done,
    And Love to all men 'neath the sun!

What does second line and third line mean?
And does the last line mean love to all people who work hard under the harsh sun?

A brief explanation will suffice.

(I hope that this is not a subjective question!
Also, please change the tag; my reputation is not quite enough to create new one.)


texts: Is the sentence "What is the biggest car Joe can buy?" correct?

texts:
I am not sure about correctness of the sentence:

  What is the biggest car Joe can buy?

Should there be a comma?

Does it have the same meaning as

  What is the biggest car that can be bought by Joe?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.


texts: What is the word that defines walking confidently, coldly and calmly?

texts: Is there a word for walking confidently, coldly and calmly...but not angrily, frustrated or in a rush. And not a fake self-confident walk to make people believe you are an important person.


texts: What is the formal way to say ``clumsy text structure''?

texts: Suppose we modify a constituent (e.g., noun phrase) with multiple modifiers of the same type (e.g., prepositional phrase). Can we say that this expression ``clumsy''? What's the formal word choice?


texts: Flatland -- What does the author mean by "only hard"?

texts:
In chapter one , "Of the nature of flatland":

  very much like shadows — only hard and with luminous edges

What does he mean by "only hard"?

I just find it a little difficult to associate "shadow" and "hard", but maybe I am misunderstanding something.

Here's a longer quote to provide more context (emphasis mine):

  Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows — only hard and with luminous edges — and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas, a few years ago, I should have said "my universe": but now my mind has been opened to higher views of things.


texts: En dash with compound adjectives (problem)

texts:
I frequently encounter cases, such as the ones below, where you seemingly have two hyphenated compound adjectives modifying a noun. I know that in such cases that you should join the compound adjectives with an en dash.

However, in case (1) the author later wrote "...dual-hop MARNs...", using the initialism to denote the noun; thus, illustrating that "Multiple-access" is not a hyphenated compound adjective. Hence, my problem is what should be done in case (1). Should the noun be hyphenated right the way through to show that it is indeed one unit, as in "Dual-Hop Multiple-Access-Relay-Networks", or is their another way?

(1) Dual-Hop Multiple-Access Relay Networks

(2) Semi-definite Programming-based Approach

If you write (1) as "Dual-Hop(en dash)Multiple-Access Relay Networks, then I think this implies that "dual-hop relay networks" exist and that "multiple-access relay networks" exist independently of each other, which may not actually be the case.

Please help me out here because these things crop up so often in my work.


texts: When can a "first conditional" be mixed with the "second"?

texts:
From my own research, I have seen people say that the first conditional cannot be mixed with the second, or the zero with the second. I have some example sentences, however, which I took from an essay about the pros and cons of having a small family. This was written by a native English speaker:

If a parent wants their children to have a university education, tuition fees would have to be paid for each child in order to be fair.
If a person has a larger family, by contrast, then more members would be able to work and generate more money.

Are these sentences grammatically correct? What is the meaning of using the present tense in the first clause, and would in the second?


texts: Can someone help me diagram this sentence?

texts:
I'm trying to do a sentence/phrase analysis of the following sentence. I just can't figure out, what would “No matter the season” be (Adv. of ...) in terms of sentence elements.

And the next question is about the PostM of the NP of the DO. “Found nowhere else in Britain” is PostM, realised by restrictive relative cl (with zero marker: challenge [that is] found ...) or not?

        ?                 S/NP                   P/VP       IO/PP           DO/NP

No matter the season,/ these combined features /present /to the climber /a uniquely varied and demanding challenge found nowhere else in Britain.


texts: In what situation "you will have shown" can't be substituted with "you will show"?

texts: My point is whether there is such a context, in which "you will show" would really change the meaning if it is substituted for "you will have shown".


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "Crazier than a sh*thouse rat!"?

texts:
I can't seem to find an origin to this particular phrase.

Can anyone shed some light on what makes sh*thouse rats particularly crazy?

I also wonder about the origin of the similar *Bat-shit crazy".

My suspicion is that someone coined them both because they sounded funny, but I was wondering if there was a better explanation?


texts:
I find the construction "in the case in which" slightly cumbersome. Is there any alternative I can use in the following sentence:

The third research question was posed in order to find alternative solutions towards safer learning in the case in which the approximate dynamical model is unavailable.

In addition, in the original formulation, I used "in the case when". A colleague of mine says this is incorrect. Anyone can explain why? British National Corpus online [1] finds both examples, although very few.

Thanks for help!

[1] http://bncweb.lancs.ac.uk


texts: Filler-gap dependencies and recoverability of meaning

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  In my head, there is nothing more wonderful than [] understanding how someone else feels and [] choosing to [] take action to [] resolve it.

It contains multiple verb phrases whose subject is "gapped" (indicated by []), and must be inferred from context. Additionally, it contains an anaphor "it" whose antecedent must be inferred from context.

In such a sentence, is it difficult for the average reader to resolve all of the necessary relations? If not, then why, and how could it be rephrased?


texts: Is there a word to describe somebody who disapproves of the overuse of buzzwords?

texts: I'm thinking something like 'pedantic' but I just can't think of it.


texts: which one is suitable ? I want to say that Jane is a good friend of mine and I know her very well

texts:
Jane is a good friend of mine. I know / have known her very well.

1) know
2) have known

Which one is suitable? Thanks


texts: What verb would you use to describe the sound tires make when they roll on the asphalt?

texts:
In a previous question, I mentioned an English teacher who changed the following sentence “…the rustling of tires." to “…the rustle of tires.”

It seems; however, that rustle has been assessed and rejected, so how would you describe the noise tires make on the asphalt? If they don't rustle, what do they do?

Would "swoosh" do, or is it too childish?


texts: API Queries/Requests/Calls in SaaS - What is the correct label/text?

texts:
I have an English-language related question about how to properly label "API requests" in SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) products. I see that various websites label them sometimes as API queries or API requests or API calls, and some websites even mix these labels. But what is the correct labeling in English language in the Information Technology / SaaS world? The point is to make it clear to the user as most as possible and use the same labeling everywhere.

For example, I noticed a website writes this in the pricing page:

"Buy 100,000 API queries"

But then it says this:

"The cost is $0.0002 per API request"

"Limited to 1,000 API requests per day"

To be honest, this can be confusing for some users, so why not write it using always the label "API requests"? For example I would have written it like this:

"Buy 100,000 API requests"

"The cost is $0.0002 per API request"

"Limited to 1,000 API requests per day"

Is the above example that uses only the labeling "API requests" correct?

Shouldn't the term "query/queries" be used only for search-related actions (i.e on Google)?

What label (API queries, API requests or API calls) would you use?

What's the difference between using API queries/requests/calls?


texts: Single word for a contributing part of a project

texts:
I am working on a project producing guidance - known as 'the guidance project'.

Within that project are individual pieces of work where guidance is produced on different subjects. These are unconnected documents, ie they stand alone and are not chapters or parts of a whole.

There is no foreseeable end to the guidance project, guidance will continue to be produced as and when it is needed. In effect, each document is a 'mini project'. I am looking for a word which encompasses all the work involved in the production of each document. Is there a single word which avoids repeating the word 'project'?

Edit
To clarify, I am looking for a term for the 'work in progress' aspect of the production of the guidance (consultation, draft, edit, sign-off) and not the finished product.


texts:
What does 'lump' mean in the phrase 'You can like it or lump it'?

As in the example: 'I am going on holiday and if you don't agree you can like it or lump it.'


texts: What does 'project-plugging' mean here? Also can any other constructions be formed using '~plugging'?

texts:
Guy Branum

  Awarding points for name-dropping, project-plugging and flirting with the host, the former Chelsea Lately writer's monthly Talk Show: The Game Show competition elevates self-promotion to performance art (think Graham Norton meets @midnight). Live, "Branum absolutely does not give a fuck," marvels ASpecialThing Records co-founder Ryan McManemin, whose label releases Branum's debut, Effable, this coming year. "His comedy is subversive, intelligent and filthy. One of the most unique voices in comedy today, both literally and figuratively." Up next: writing full-time for Comedy Central's Victorian faux-?
  reality show Another Period.

The above text is directly quoted from : http://www.laweekly.com/arts/10-comedy-acts-to-watch-in-2015-5268608


texts: What do you call the person sitting behind the driver on a bike?

texts:
I know pillion is a seat behind the rider of a horse or motorbike etc.

I would like to know the word for the person sitting on pillion.


texts: What do you call a blanket used for moving?

texts: When renting a moving van you can also rent or buy blankets to wrap around your furniture to protect them while moving. They are typically not too pretty, most often gray, made from cotton fibers from recycled fabrics. What are such blankets called?


texts: What is the verb that means something close to shout and call out to sb but quieter? I mean when you shout something to a person that is far away but you don't want anyone else to hear so you hush your voice (but still you shout). I've searched for "shouted in a whisper" but it somehow sounds strange to me.


texts: What do you call someone who decides to do something even though they know its wrong

texts: Is there a word that described someone who decides to do something even though they know it's wrong?


texts: "How easy is it to *verb*..." vs. "How easy is *verb*..."

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How does one know when to use a gerund or a infinitive?

What is the difference in connotation between

  How easy is it to "some verb here"

and

  How easy is "some verb here"

What is the significance of using "it" in the first example?


texts: Is "thank's" an alternative correct spelling?

texts:
My colleague who is American spells "thank's" (with an apostrophe) and when I ask him why he said because it's "more formal" and "he uses American English".

Is this true? Can you really spell "thank's" in American English and is it really considered more formal?

EDIT: Well, I do know it's not true. I just wanted to have someone native explain it so it is more persuasive. And I have seen this incorrect spelling so many time that judging just by usage - it is correct :) Just Google search gives about 2,500,000 occurrences... You may even be easily mislead by a dictionary title and it doesn't say it's wrong!


texts:
I am in need of a word to describe an old, bad conditioned car that is yet still running.

Ragged came to my mind, but it seems to be inappropriate for things not related to clothing.
Wrecked is also not what I'd like to use.

However, this shall be used in a work of literature, so a neat paraphrase would be fine.


texts: Is there a system for creating words for ordinal numbers?

texts:
I'm not sure if "sequential" is the right word, but what is the system for creating a sequence of numbers like this:

primary (as in 1st in choice or importance)
secondary (as in 2nd in choice or importance)
tertiary (as in 3rd in choice or importance)
???
PROFIT

What would be the following words after "tertiary" if there are any?


texts:
As a son of refugees from the North, Moon is determined to go his own
  way about it–tackling the Kim regime not by aggression but by
  measured engagement. The current cycle of antagonism helps no one, he says, least of all the long-suffering population of the Hermit
  Kingdom. “My father fled from the North, hating communism. I myself
  hate the communist North Korean system. That doesn’t mean I should let
  the people in the North suffer under an oppressive regime.” - Time(May
  15, 2017 - Asia edition)

This is an excerpt from Time magazine, which is about Moon Jae-in, then a leading presidential candidate, now the President of South Korea.


texts: What is the meaning, form and pronunciation for the items listed in bold?

texts:
Tide laundry detergent is meant to be used for household cleaning purposes, but thieves are turning it into something dirty. Authorities are reporting a spike in thefts of Tide, and in some cities they are setting up task forces where the detergent is sold to track the number of bottles in stores. Police believe thieves are using the soap on the black market, which retails for $10-$20, to buy drugs. On the black market, Tide is often referred to as "liquid gold" and can go for $5-$10 per bottle.
  Last year, in St. Paul, Minnesota, a man is alleged to have stolen $25,000 worth of Tide over 15 months before he was captured by authorities. Stores such as CVS have amped up security measures to prevent theft; at some locations the detergent is kept in a locked container and an employee must retrieve it for customers.
  So why is Tide the only detergent being targeted? Authorities have come up with several reasons: It might be because Tide is instantly recognizable because of its Day-Glo orange bottle; or it may be because it is one of the most expensive brands of laundry detergent or because it does not have serial numbers, so it cannot be tracked.
  On social media, people are calling the theft trend "bizarre" and many are blaming it on the tough economy and rising gas prices. One person tweeted that the thefts could “stem from inflation”.
  A spokesperson for Procter & Gamble, the manufacturer of Tide, called the thefts "unfortunate”.

I am trying to help my son.

I know he was captured by authorities is a past tense, passive voice, by authorities (because it's important who caused the action not who did it). But how would I write the form?
A spike in, is it an increase? A noun? Do you normally say this?
It might be, subject and verb?
Come up with, as in listed?

English is not our native language and I want to help him with his homework, but I don`t understand it myself.


texts: How would you name somebody that ignores something just because it's more comfortable or in their interest not to know it?

texts:
e.g. imagine somebody is looking for an apartment and needs it from September. They see a post somewhere that says "Crazy cool apartment available from August" and they just ignore the fact that it says "from August".
So when asked "Are you going to take this from August?" they just reply "Oh no I need it from September".

Is there a word for such a behaviour? I can't think of any in either english, italian, spanish or french. Even if you a slovakian word for it, I'd be really interested in it!


texts:
I'm wondering how to correctly use the idiom "in force". Often "active" can be used instead, but are there any situations in which "in force" can be used and "active" cannot, or vice versa? More generally, what are the idiomatic limitations of this expression?

To illustrate, I have the following example from a text I wrote (emphasis added):

  Each event has associated with it a tension weight. The tension at a
  particular point in the story is obtained by adding all individual tension
  weights in force at that particular point. [It is not specified] how to
  determine which tensions are in force.

In both cases, the sentence could be rewritten to use the word "active" instead, but is it incorrect to use "in force" here?

I found the following here:

in force

 In full strength; in large numbers: Demonstrators were out in force.
 In effect; operative: a rule that is no longer in force.

The second meaning seems to suggest that the above use of "in force" is ok.


texts: What does "intention-behavior gap" mean?

texts: I know what do these all words mean separately, but I don't understand the meaning when they're used together. Can you explain it in simple terms and give examples of using this phrase?


texts:
I saw a question while going through spotting error exercise.(See question) Book says to replace even can't with can't even.

He has been going to office/ for a year now and/ he even can't understand its working/No error.

But even can't is also correct???


texts:
I'm writing about cultural differences - not for scientific purposes - and am trying to find out about more and less formal ways of saying goodbye in English.

On a scale of formality (from least to most formal), where would you put "goodbye", "bye-bye", "bye", "take care" and "cheers"?
What would you use in a formal context (e.g. business meeting with 'important' people in the company/decision-makers, etc.)?

I'm mostly interested in answers relating to American and British English, but any other varieties are welcome as well.


texts: Is it correct to write: "I versus my family"


texts: spelling change from verb form to noun form

texts: Is there a reason why the verb is ABSORB but in the noun form the B becomes a P---ABSORPTION?


texts: Architectural term for places where water is used

texts: Is there an architectural term for places where water is used? If you wanted waterproof flooring for rooms with faucets, drains, etc., it seems like there would be a term for such places so you wouldn't have to write "kitchen, bathroom(s), and other places where water is used" every time.


texts: Word for someone who always corrects misspellings

texts:
Is there a specific word for the type of person who always corrects misspellings? Something exact, not something like perfectionist, grammar nazi or anal.

Something that describes the person, like the word ultracrepidarian does for a person who gives advice outside their knowledge.


texts:
What does this "that" mean?
I don't think this "that" is both a relative pronoun and a noun clause.

  "Exactly how do I care about her, that I'm letting this weigh me down so much?"

Thank you.


texts: "Branching Factor" in military and industrial organizations?

texts:
In math, branching factor measures the (average) number of descendants in a tree; e.g., the branching factor of a binary tree is 2.

How is the same number called when applied to the military (usually three: 3 companies in a battalion, 3 battalions in a regiment, 3 regiments in a brigade/division &c) and industry (e.g., at least/at most/on average seven direct reports for each manager).

E.g., the book How Google Works recommends branching factor of at least seven, except that it does not use that expression.


texts: Words or phrases for someone that is ready to escape quickly, usually due to danger

texts:
I'm looking for a word or short phrase that describes a situation in which there is danger and you should be ready to move / escape quickly.

The only thing that comes to mind is "Pack Light" or "Sleep Light", but it's not exactly what I'm looking for. Any ideas?


texts: request: bragging & boasting but all made up of lies

texts:
This is a single word, idiom, phrase, expression request - so basically I'll take anything that fits the bill.

Basically I'm trying to translate the Chinese word 吹牛 - which dictionaries will tell you mean to brag & to boast - but it actually also refers to things that are usually all untruths and lies.

I thought, originally, that one of these would work: he's just bragging (i.e.: it's not, actually, true) - but Google only says:

  brag

  braɡ/

  verb

  ?verb: brag; 3rd person present: brags; past tense: bragged; past participle: bragged; gerund or present participle: bragging

  say something in a boastful manner.
  "he bragged that he was sure of victory"

  noun

  noun: brag; plural noun: brags

  a boastful statement.

and

  boast1

  bəʊst/

  verb

  verb: boast; 3rd person present: boasts; past tense: boasted; past participle: boasted; gerund or present participle: boasting

  talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.

  "she boasted about her many conquests"

  synonyms:  brag, crow, swagger, swank, gloat, show off, blow one's own trumpet, sing one's own praises, congratulate oneself, pat oneself on the back; More

  exaggerate, overstate;
  preen oneself, give oneself airs;
  informaltalk big, blow hard, lay it on thick, shoot one's mouth off;
  informalskite, big-note oneself
  "his mother had been boasting about how wonderful he was to all her friends"
  antonyms:   deprecate, belittle
  (of a person, place, or thing) possess (a feature that is a source of pride).
  "the hotel boasts high standards of comfort"

  noun

  noun: boast; plural noun: boasts

  an act of talking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction.

  "I said I would win and it wasn't an idle boast"

Not really seeing anything talking about lies.

Anything about bragging or boasting that involves lies?


texts: What is the name for the "minor" house on a property

texts: In my neighborhood, most yards have two houses: The major residence where the family lives (usually in the front), and then another house in the back. I thought the second house was called a "guest house" but that does not seem to be the case. When I lookup "guest house" the results do not capture the idea that the second house is smaller. So what is the proper name for those?


texts: Expressions for "something's benefits manifest only under certain conditions"

texts:
I want to express "something has benefits/advantages. But they manifest only when certain conditions hold or under certain restrictions or certain prices have to be paid".

Is there any terms/expressions/sentences for this?


texts: How to pronounce "p" in "hospital" and why?

texts:
I've pronounced "p" in "hospital" as "p" for many years and just noticed that some people pronounced it as "b". Please refer to Cambridge English dictionary for its pronunciation and this video on YouTube.
Which one is correct, "p" or "b"? Or maybe both of them are correct?


texts:
What's the right way to say it?

Without compromising on either efficiency nor accuracy,...

or

Without compromising on neither efficiency nor accuracy,...


texts: Meaning of new sub-entry added to the Oxford English Dictionary: “to have off”

texts:
I checked out the recent updates to the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) and noticed a new verb to have off that I couldn't figure out the exact meaning of.

My questions are:

Is to have off have the same meaning as to have away?
Can anyone tell me the usage of to have off in “real” English?

Note: I already know the meaning of to have it off.


texts: When do we say 'problem' or 'difficulty'; when do we say 'issue'?

texts:
My car has a funny knocking sound in the engine, so I telephone the garage. What do I say? 'I have a problem with my car'? or 'I have an issue with my car'?
My neighbour is suffering clinical depression. Is this an 'issue' or an 'illness'?
My computer keeps crashing. I call the support people. Do I say my computer has an issue or that it is not working properly?
The dinner is burning in the oven. Sorry, dear, there is an issue concerning tonight's meal? Right or wrong?
A child is being bullied at school by an older child. Is this a 'pupil relationship issue' or is it 'child abuse'?
My neighbour's dog keeps barking and keeps us awake at night, so eventually I go to the neighborhood mediator. Do I tell him there is an 'issue with the dog', or that the dog is driving us insane?
If there is dog's muck on the recreation ground where children play, is this an 'issue' or a 'disgrace'?
The word 'issue' has become ubiquitous, and things that were once 'problems' and 'difficulties', or needed fixing, are now 'issues'.
Sooner or later I am going to bawl down the phone at someone who says 'I understand there is an issue with a delivery of a parcel to your address'. Yes, there's an issue alright, it hasn't been delivered!
When is a problem a problem, and a fault a fault, a breakdown a breakdown, a failed delivery a failed delivery,  and when is it an 'issue'?
Your ideas please.


texts: Article use with job title (a sentence from a book)

texts:
The first sentence of the preface for a paperback edition of "The Witch" by Ronald Hutton (Yale University Press, ISBN 987-0-300-23867-9) reads:

Ronald Hutton is professor of history, University of Bristol, and a leading authority on ancient, medieval and modern paganism, <...>

Shouldn't it be either a professor or Professor of History?


texts:
I've heard several Americans say "everything's coming up X". Sometimes, it's a person's name, and sometimes, it can be anything.
Example: https://youtu.be/ivW7z3wGAl8?t=175

Everything was coming up fruity!

Everything was coming up berry!

What do they mean by this? "Everything is/was coming up..."? Where does it origin from? It sounds very strange to me.
I couldn't find anything on Wikitionary.