texts: What do you call a number with no repeating digits?

texts:
A word with no repeated characters is called an isogram.

Is there a word for a number with no repeating digits?

For example: 123 is a ____.

To clarify further, for a decimal number system the number could never be longer than 10 digits and for any other base number system the number could never be longer than the total number of distinct symbols in that number system.


texts:
Where does the phrase "to wash up" (equally "to clean up") originate from?

Particularly the word "up", how did that enter the phrase?


texts: The exact meaning of "Enquiries Over $xxx,xxx"

texts:
I often see "Enquiries Over $xxx,xxx" in real estate ads, e.g. "Enquiries Over $500,000".

Does the "over" literally mean offers should be above the figure (or don't bother approaching the seller), or "around" the figure (i.e. the figure is provided as a guideline, not a minimum)?

Does the same apply to "Negotiate Over"?

Please note that it is the exact meaning of the phrase I am asking, not enquiry / negotiation tactics.


texts:
"Even the most hard-charging operator puts on the post-frogman fifteen
when they slow down."

Is there a special meaning for 'put on someone fifteen'?
Or is it a military word?
Please somebody help me understand this line.


texts: Meaning in context of "to fold something together"

texts:
“Add the option -f to fold upper and lower case together, so that case
  distinctions are not made during sorting; for example, a and A compare
  equal.”

  Excerpt From: Brian W. Kernighan. “The C Programming Language, Second
  Edition.

I am not sure what this means exactly. I was thinking about two options:

convert all uppercase to lowercase letters or vice versa
keep the cases as they are and merely treat them as equal

Does the expression to fold something together  in this case have a specific meaning? Or am I free to choose an interpretation?


texts:
The term tariff has come a long way before entering the English language. Its derives from Arabic ta'rifa, Italian tariffa and ultimately from French tarif:

  From French tarif, from Italian tariffa..... from Arabic تَعْرِفَة (taʿrifa).

(Wiktionary)

Has  the presence of the double final  f something to do with pronunciation given that   the French original spelling consists of only  one single f?


texts: I am looking for a word to describe a large underground library many times the height of an average person. The word "edifice" means a large, imposing, and important building. However, I feel like this word does not imply that the library is underground. Does anyone know of any better words to describe this library?


texts: Ambiguity of "Dogs must be carried on this escalator"

texts:
In the words of the old joke, I wanted to go up to the next floor of a department store, and I saw an escalator with a sign saying

  Dogs must be carried on this escalator.

But I didn't have a dog, so I had to use the stairs.

Nobody is in any doubt about what was meant, but would you say the sign was ambiguous or (technically) mistaken? And if the latter, how should it be reworded?


texts: Terminology for a continuous period of time

texts:
Is there a phrase or word that best describes a continuous chunk of time , say from Nov 2012 to Dec 2016.

Another example is the blocks of time (dates: start date to end date) that you specify in a Resume when listing work experience in a chronological order.

What could such a word or phrase be ? I am thinking of "duration", maybe, but what other verbiage I can use.

Thanks !


texts: Right after a game, is there any difference whether if one says "I win" or "I won", or "I lose" or "I lost."  I know people usually say "I win!" Do people also say "I lose." right after the game?


texts:
What does "neato burrito" mean?
Where is it coming from and when is the right time to use it?


texts: What do the letters "Rx" have to do with medicine prescriptions?


texts: Just want a good word to use. :) I feel as if bounce back isn't really that..sophisticated, I guess of a word. Thanks!


texts: What do you call a reassurance that was given after a person has 'gone too far'?

texts:
I recently saw a snack container, where at the bottom - which you would see after eating the contents of the container - there was a label that read "contains no pig fat".  This label / warning was not visible from the underside... only after you ate the food.

If you had a dietary restriction on eating pork or fat, it's already too late... if there were any in the food product.

This is some kind of ... ex post facto notification.  I have heard people give 'warnings' like this after it is too late for the warning to affect behavior.  The cause of the tardiness is either absentmindedness or other mistake.

Does a name, term, or phrase exist for some kind of reassurance, that is in the style of a warning, but is too late to ever warn you?

Note: I am not looking for an idiomatic-expression.  The fact that this is a useless warning is important to me.  I think this is a mu-style question!

I am hoping for a term that describes this issue, in context to the kind of problem (i.e. a warning).  Neologisms are fine, if they do it right.


texts: How might I diagram this sentence? What kind of phrase is this?

texts:
I am trying to diagram this sentence

  Across the rolling sward,  toward the tree line where the moonlight could not penetrate, a gaggle of ghouls slinked slowly, a singular purpose driving them on their lumbering, protracted route.

and I do not how to diagram the last bit because I do not know what kind of phrase it is or what function that it specifically serves in the sentence.

Here is what I have so far:

There is nothing connecting this clause to the rest of the sentence. What could it possibly be?

Someone said that the last clause is ungrammatical, and that something like

  She ran to the forest, her heart broken.

is not correct, although I have seen this kind of sentence structure many times in literature and do not think it is wrong.

What is this kind of thing and how do I diagram it?


texts: How can I say that I'm in progress of become a security analyst on a headline?

texts:
I would like to state on my LinkedIn's headline that I am in progress of become a security analyst.

How could I say it without use that sentence, because that is a sentence not a headline. I had thought on something like Security analyst apprentice but that sounds like if I had no experience, doesn't it?

PS: I don't know which tags assign to this question, feel free to add/remove tags more appropriate.


texts: What does "personally identifiable" mean

texts:
I was reading a booklet when I came across the phrase "personally identifiable". What does it mean in the following context (emphasis mine):

As the common household and business router will often display just one IP address for all of the people connected to it, the IP address will identify a group of people rather than just one individual. As a result, it is often hard, if not impossible, to be sure who exactly did what, purely on the basis of an IP address.
On the other hand, IP addresses are very often personally identifiable, and so, following a basic precautionary principle, must be treated as such unless they can definitively proven not to be.

First paragraph says that it's not easy ("often hard, if not impossible") to identify the exact person who did something behind a router shared with others. But "personally identifiable" in the second paragraph seem to say the opposite. I think I'm missing a nuance here.
Update: The booklet can be downloaded from http://www.edri.org/files/2012EDRiPapers/how_the_internet_works.pdf It does not define "personally identifiable".


texts: What topicalizing role does "do" play in "Only now do we have what we need to move forward"?

texts:
In the sentence "Only now do we have what we need to move forward", the word do clearly has some emphasizing meaning.

But I would like a more precise understanding. Topicalization and  fronting are somehow involved .

Is do turning the verb have into the topic? But do is not a placeholder in fronted position for the main verb have, is it?

What is going on in this sentence?


texts: Is "completabilty" an actual word, and if not, what's a valid replacement?

texts:
I'm looking for a word for the ability of something to be completed, or fulfilled. My situation is specifically about sales orders.

I found completability, and wiktionary.com says it's a word, but none of the dictionaries referenced at dictionary.reference.com include it.

If it is indeed not a valid word, what would be a suitable alternative?


texts:
If a criminal is bailed but goes on the run instead of returning for trial, they are said to have "jumped bail".

  2 - jump bail
  informal - Fail to appear for trial after being released on bail:
  he jumped bail and was on the run until his arrest

When was "jump" first paired with bail to create this phrase?

None of the dictionary definitions of 'jump' carry the sense of avoidance other than to perhaps skip over something, whether literal or metaphorical.  Even then, it would seem that it is not the actual "bail" they are avoiding; more like they are 'extending' their bail illegally?


texts: What do you call a sentence with only one word?

texts:
If someone answers "Yes, I am." to some question of mine, I might say that she gave a monosyllabic answer.

If someone answers simply "Yes." and I want to emphasize that her answer consists of only one word, would I say that she gave a monoword answer? Or something else?


texts: What term refers to "one's personal definition of what is polite or rude"?

texts: People tend to have their own feelings about what behavior or conversation subjects are polite or rude. Is there a specific term to refer to a person's personal definitions of this? The terms "ethics", "morals", and "virtues" don't seem specific enough in dealing just with this sense.


texts: Word for something (e.g. a group of friends) being male-dominated?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that can sum up something that is largely defined by and composed of - but not restricted to - men.

For example: "My first month at university has been ________; I haven't made any female friends."

Another idea that comes to mind is the movie industry, but that's male-favoring, which I'm not exactly looking for. I'm looking for something that doesn't favor males, but just happens to have drawn in a lot of them, or rather, not drawn in any females.


texts:
As plural nouns, I'm struggling to see the distinction. Wiktionary gives:

esoterica (plural only)
Things that are esoteric; things that are impractical or specialised.

And claims that esoterics is a plural of esoteric:

esoteric (plural esoterics)
An esoteric doctrine or treatise; esoteric philosophy.

That would settle the argument, but is also says that esoterics is a different word altogether:

esoterics (uncountable)
The study of esoterica

So what would I use if I wanted to say something like, "I would be good at the English language, but I've yet to master its [blank]"?


texts: Is there a better way of saying "writing for fun"?

texts:
As in "...written several pieces for fun."

Writing "for recreational purposes" doesn't sit right, and I can't think of anything else.


texts:
Is the sentence....
XYZ (n) is undergoing ABC syndrome. Right?


texts: Meaning of "couple o' pins" in this poem by Tolkien

texts:
Here's part of a poem from Tolkien:

  'For a couple o' pins,' says Troll, and grins,
  'I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.
  A bit o' fresh meat will go down sweet!
  I'll try my teeth on thee now.

When you check up the meaning of "pin" in a dictionary, here is the usual definition (all the following definitions are from Google):

  a thin piece of metal with a sharp........

The usage in the poem definitely has nothing to do with the previous definition. I suspect it has to be either this:

  a person's legs.

Or this:

  a half-firkin cask for beer. (British)

It could easily be neither of those as well. So folks, do you have anything to offer ? What does "a couple o' pins" mean in this context ?


texts: I don't understand the word "however" in this context

texts:
In the years since transgression I have sought no absolution, only bare forgiveness. In good faith I have removed myself from all temptation, sacrificed to prove my commitment however I can imagine.

I cannot understand the last part "sacrificed to prove my commitment however I can imagine", so could you explain this sentence to me?


texts: If you wanted to describe the sound of a small brass bell that you can hold in your hand (this is an example image of what I mean - what word would you use? Brrring? Bling?


texts: Many more vs much more / many fewer vs much fewer

texts:
This year there were:

many more people
much more people

Alternatively:

many fewer people
much fewer people

Which is considered better English?


texts:
On another SE site I frequent, in a question a non-native English speaker used "pink glasses" where they clearly meant the idiom "rose tinted" or "rose coloured" glasses.

The meaning of "looking through rose tinted glasses" is to see only good things, only the best parts of the view, only the positive attributes etc., as supported by this www.thefreedictionary.com definition:

  rose-tinted glasses
    (British, American & Australian) also rose-tinted spectacles (British)

  if someone looks at something through rose-tinted glasses, they see only the pleasant parts of it She has always looked at life through rose-tinted glasses.

However I started wondering how this idiom came to be. Certainly, to some dispositions, seeing the world with a soft pink glow (though not all roses are pink, to be sure), might count as comforting and "nice".

Google did not provide anything other that definitions of the phrase and looking for "rose-tinted glasses" in etymonline resulted in a most curious selection of results (possibly NSFW depending on your text filtering)

How (and when) did this come to be a widely accepted idiom for "only seeing the positive", with shades or subtext of naiveté?


texts: Do you say "apart of course" or "of course apart"?

texts:
When phrasing a sentence that goes like this:

  Max gambled all his money away and lost it, <apart of course/of course apart> from his pending multi-million dollar inheritance.

Do you say apart of course or of course apart?


texts: Alternative phrase for "makes sense" (used in arguments)

texts:
An idea I have for an alternative is 'is consistent'. But I'm looking for something that's better.

I am looking for a succinct answer that implies consistency, and to be used in arguments.


texts: Does the "close quote" go before the in-text citation?

texts:
Where does the close quote (") go with a in-text citation?

  “Did that really happen?...No, but it could have (p. 10).”

or

  “Did that really happen?...No, but it could have" (p. 10).


texts: Answering a multiple choice question with "yes"

texts:
Is there a word and/or neologism that describes the act of answering a multiple choice question with "YES" or "NO" to imply both(none) or either(neither)?

Example:
Q: Do you like Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt?
A: YES


texts: Can "man" always be used to mean both men and women?

texts:
According to the dictionary, man can refer to both men and women. Take this example:

  Understanding the laws of physics allows a man to understand the world around him in profound ways.

Is this considered wrong English these days? Or just old-fashioned? Would it be frowned upon? Would the following be better?

  Understanding the laws of physics allows one to understand the world around him in profound ways.

Again, according to the dictionary, him can refer to both sexes.

Any more alternatives I should consider?

The reason I'm asking: I really dislike the use of the overly lengthy him or her. (Not to mention using just her—that's just plain wrong according to any dictionary, if one is referring to both sexes.) I'm trying to simplify my writing as much as possible.


texts: Meaning of "all shelves about me towards the worse"?

texts:
"Here am I now upon my high place," he said to himself. "Life may be no better; this is the mountain top; and all shelves about me towards the worse. For the first time I will light up the chambers, and bathe in my fine bath with the hot water and the cold, and sleep alone in the bed of my bridal chamber." The Bottle Imp by R.L. Stevenson, 1895

I simply can't figure out what this sentence means.


texts: What is the correct use of "at the age of" or similar for describing a group of people?

texts:
Recently, for a scientific publication, I wrote something like the following:

  The sample consisted of all students at the age of 13 years or older.

However, I received this back from the language check changed into the following:

  The sample consisted of all students who were 13 years of age or older.

While I see that the second versions indeed sounds a little nicer, I was wondering if the first version would be correct from a grammatical point of view when it is used for describing a group of people as opposed to, say, for describing the age of a person at which an event has occured.

Can I use "at the age of" for describing a group of people? If not, would anyone able to clarify the correct use of this phrase?


texts:
What is the difference between these phrases?

  Please, do it very quickly, since the deadline is approaching.

and

  Please, do it ASAP, because the deadline is approaching.


texts: "I look for a place where I be free" — subjunctive or just bad English?

texts:
I'd like to know whether the phrase "where I be" is grammatically incorrect or whether it is correct if in the subjunctive mood. If it is in the subjunctive mood, what exactly would it mean?

The entire example sentence is:

  I look for a place where I be free.


texts:
What is the correct punctuation in English:

  There are two types of insectsXX

  a) white
  b) black

Should the punctuation at XX be “;” or “:”?


texts:
I recently started reading a strange little book from 1929 called Breaking Priscian's Head, or English as She Will Be Spoke And Wrote, by a Scotsman named J. Y. T Greig. In a passage about how some words drop out of the language because the things they describe are no longer in use, Greig mentions the words "hansom", "four-wheeler", and "D.O.R.A.", expressing considerable happiness at the disappearance of that last one.
So, it turns out that Greig was absolutely correct about the disappearance of "D.O.R.A", and I haven't the faintest clue what it could possibly mean. A quick Google search yields nothing that seems applicable to the 1920s. Do any of you have any ideas?
Here's a picture of that page, by the way:


texts: "Member FDIC" instead of "Member of FDIC"?

texts:
For several years now (as long as I've paid attention) almost every ad or commercial for a bank or credit union says they are Member FDIC or Member NCUA.  Where is the of?  Why are these not Member of FDIC or Member of NCUA?

I've never heard somebody use the term member without of or some comparable preposition.

  Tom, are you member Costco?  Yes Bill, I am member Costco.

I've never seen an instance of this.  What gives?


texts: Opened many doors - "for me" or "to me"?

texts:
I'm trying to say that some event in my life has made many achievements in the future possible for me.

Do I say

  it has opened many doors for me

or

  it has opened many doors to me

?

Thanks a lot!


texts: Is weary a common portmanteau of "wary" and "leary"?

texts:
In a comment on a different SE-page, someone misspelt (or intentionally used a different word?) wary, using weary instead:

Someone else jokingly pointed this out, the original commenter then claimed that weary is a very common portmanteau of "wary" and "leary", and that everyone knows this.

Considering that I had never heard of this before, I attempted googling for weary + portmanteau, but so far I can't say I have found any results indicating that it indeed is a portmanteau.

In addition, neither the M-W's, Cambridge, or Farlex dictionaries have any definitions or mentions which support the claim.

Am I missing something about how portmanteaus are listed in dictionaries, as to me the aforementioned points strongly suggests that weary is not a common portmanteau of wary and leary? Is it indeed a portmanteau?


texts: But you got to make me change my mind. - what usage of "get" is this?

texts:
I am trying to understand the usage of the "get" in the sentence:

  But you got to make me change my mind.

I guess it is not "have got".


texts:
I'm having a hard time telling if my wording is correct or not. In the following sentence,

"...a job like that would be the first of its kind I will ever have worked,"

does it make any difference if "ever" comes after "have" rather than before? Is one wording better than the other? Or, alternatively, are they both examples of faulty ways of phrasing it?


texts:
In the blank below:

  Everyone likes you but _____.

Should I use "her" or "she"?
I think both of them are okay. If "her" is used, I'll perceive the sentence as "Everyone likes you, but everyone does not like her"; using "she", I'll perceive the sentence as "Everyone likes you, but she does not like you."
Please tell me which one is correct, or if neither of them are correct.


texts: When can "because" introduce a non-restrictive clause?

texts:
Even if rare, when can this happen? Any trustworthy examples?

11. Do Not Use a Comma Before “Because”

Do not use a comma before “because” unless “because” introduces a nonrestrictive clause. That rarely happens.

Incorrect: This is contradictory to the common practice, because, according to that practice, the title

227

of ownership will not be transferred to the buyer until payment is completed.

Correct: This is contradictory to the common practice because, according to that practice, the title of ownership will not be transferred to the buyer until payment is completed.

Bahrych, Merino. Legal Writing and Analysis in a Nutshell 5th edition (2017). p. 226-7.


texts:
I'd like an explanation of this Blaise Pascal sentence: "The will never takes the least step except to that end."

Context:

  All men seek happiness. There are no exceptions. However different the
  means they may employ, they all strive towards this goal. The reason
  why some go to war and some do not is the same desire in both, but
  interpreted in two different ways. The will never takes the least step
  except to that end. This is the motive of every act of every man,
  including those who go and hang themselves.

There are two questions that I want to ask:

i)what does the sentence mean?

ii)is using "to" after except a requirement? Couldn't we use just "except"?

I'd appreciate a clear explanation. Thanks.


texts: Debygawd Cap-en! Where does this phrase come from?

texts:
I sought out this site because I need help finding the origins of a word/phrase that my family uses. We are from Southern Maryland, USA. The exclamation in question is 'debygawd.' I do not know how to spell it. I cannot find any version of it on the internet. My mother has provided a sample definition;

Debygawd (pronounced Dee-by-gaud)- word that provides emphasis to any declarative sentence. Usually followed by "captain" but pronounced "cap-en." Used in a sentence - "Debygawd cap-en them crabs is runnin today! Picked up a bushel and a half in the first 30 minutes.'

We are from the Potomac River/Chesapeake Bay area. I would say old maryland families, generally 'waterbillies' use this term. Tangier Island and Smith Island both come to mind as potential originators.


texts: Standard (legal?) phrase for a clear mind

texts: Is there a standard (possibly legal) phrase to denote that a person has a clear mind and is capable of doing things well and understanding the consequences of their actions (as opposed to being e.g. drunk, high or sedated)?


texts: Do words "iron" and "irony" have anything in common?

texts: I understand that the word irony comes from Greek eironeia and iron comes from Old English isærn, but there should be something more to it. Why are both words so similar in modern English? Any thoughts, theories?


texts: Is there an English term for being enraged by injustice, or having an extreme emotional stress because of injustice?

texts:
Imagine two people had some agreement, maybe involving money, and then one of them feels that the other person wronged him. The person feels an extreme anxiety because of this, and blinded by anger does something disproportionate and unreasonable, for example, kills the offending party.

Sounds like a common theme of many crimes. But does this sensation of rage caused by a real or imaginary injustice have a name?

There is the term irresistible impulse, feeling of injustice might cause an irresistible impulse to do something unreasonable.


texts: Can adjectives be placed in front of verbs, e.g. “The duck was busy diving for food”?

texts:
The duck was busy diving for food.
  The duck was busily diving for food.

Are both sentences grammatically correct?
If the first one is correct, does it mean that adjectives can be placed in front of verbs?


texts: Is there a single word for a decision that hasn't been made yet?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word (a noun) that indicates a decision that has not been made versus a decision that has been made... a single word for "pending decision" vs. "concluded decision".

To better understand why I'm asking, please consider the following verbs:

"We need to make a decision" vs "We made a decision"
"We need to decide" vs "We decided"

I'm looking for a single word replacement for decison-to-be-made in the following:
"This is the decision-to-be-made"

Many dictionaries define the noun decision as both a conclusion that has been reached and as a process for deciding. For me it's always troubling when a form of the word is used in the definition of the word.


texts: Someone with opposing personality traits

texts:
I'm looking for a word for someone with personality traits that oppose each other. Not someone two-faced but more like someone who is two sides of a coin but a the same time; like shy but outgoing, dominant but submissive, selfish but generous, or vain but hates them self. A walking-talking oxymoron but that's not the word I'm looking for either. It was used by a teacher to describe me but I cannot remember it.

Its either adj or n but I cant quite remember the context; something like:

  You have a very insert word personality, or
  Your conflicting personality makes you a insert word.


texts: Word to mean hating/disliking a particular country?

texts:
So my friend and I were making jokes about a particular country, and then when attempting to describe the behavior, we realized there was no word for it. Racist is not the correct term because countries can have many different kinds of citizens. Also, we were making fun of the place, not the people that lived there. Nationalist is also not the correct term because that implies a particular fervor for one's own country, but not necessarily a distaste for another one.

In summary, is there a word in the english language that describe a disdain for a particular geographic region/country? The closest thing I could come up with was too specific, like "Anti-American", but nothing that could be applied to a general place


texts:
What is the meaning of medical personalization in this sentence?

  AI is driving the adoption and implementation of precision medicine:
  an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes
  into account individual variability in genes, environment, and
  lifestyle for each person. Think of it as a type of medical
  personalization. For example, around 25,000 people in the US are
  diagnosed with brain tumors every year. Traditionally, they might all
  be given the same course of treatment to see what might work in a
  one-size-fits-all approach. Precision medicine will allow doctors and
  researchers to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention
  strategies for a particular disease will work in which groups of
  people.

Here is the link below from this paragraph is taken

  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/artificial-intelligence-will-change-the-world-heres-how

/


texts: How to shorten "Helping People with Disabilities Live at Home" to 40 characters

texts: I'm looking for a shorter way to state the phrase "Helping People with Disabilities Live at Home", it's 45 characters, which is too long for a Facebook tagline.


texts:
In what contexts are those two words used?

It's been a while since I've read the grammar books and I don't exactly remember the definitions of a few terms like adjective, so I would really appreciate it if the answers didn't leave it off by saying x is verb and y is adjective - I learn more by practical examples.

Please do mention similar words as well.


texts: Prime of your life vs prime time of your life

texts:
Is there any difference between prime time of your life and prime of your life?

For example:

  30s is the prime time of your life.
  30s is the prime of your life.

Englighten me please.


texts: Why does the word "school" contain an 'h'?

texts:
Considering the low prevalence of words in English written with the letter combination "sch", why is the word "school" written the way it is, rather than simply "scool"?

As far as I could tell, the origin of the word is the Latin word "schola", however this appears to have developed into the High English "scol". So where and why did the 'h' come back after it was previously dropped?

Hoping any etymology experts here can help.


texts: ... "through thick and thin", which is which?

texts:
When they say, they'll be with you "through thick and thin", which one of these two is the tough one to test your relationship and which is the rosy one?

  If you support or stay with someone through thick and thin, you always support or stay with them, even if there are problems or difficulties
  (C.D)


texts: Okay, so I have a question regarding quotations and commas

texts: Basically I was writing a small prompt about relationships and was thinking about the general rules (I mean professionally writing not in the British way), you put a comma inside quotation of a quote but outside for a phrase if I’m not wrong. So here’s what I wrote: [[ there’s the phrase, “there’s plenty more fish in the sea”, ]] You get the point, I wasn’t clear whether that saying is a phrase or a quote and also if the comma goes inside the quotation. Thanks otherwise.


texts:
Is it grammatically correct to say the following?

  I am optimistic that compilers will improve their error messages in the future.


texts: Help with the difference in the meaning of the phrases

texts:
What difference is between these phrases?

be going to do something
be out to do something
intend to do something


texts: Where and when did the phrase "turkey of the year" originate?

texts:
Was it intended as a denunciation, a serious insult, a jocular dig, or something else? Does it have the same meaning today as it had then?"

Definitions of “turkey” (when used to refer to a person)

Slang.
a person or thing of little appeal; dud; loser.
a naive, stupid, or inept person.http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/turkey

A stupid or inept person.http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/turkey

Several decades ago, when I was training in an academic environment in the U.S., one fellow was elected “Turkey of the year.”   He looked like a very popular kind of guy and was awarded a beautiful life-size golden turkey at an informal gathering.  When I asked one of his mates what it all meant, I was told it was an award for being a failure, a screw-up at some of the several tasks they had had during that term.  It puzzled me because there was no hostility, the recipient was applauded, laughed a lot, and seemed to enjoy it.  I just recalled it recently and thought I might ask it here.
My search for “turkey of the year” wasn’t productive and only returned newspaper texts saying who had been elected where.


texts: "On the other hand" without the first hand

texts:
I have been criticized by colleagues in the past for using "on the other hand" as an alternative to "however" at the beginning of a sentence, because they said that you could only use it if a previous sentence featured "on the one hand".

My question is: while their argument is logical, is it really followed by usage?


texts: The first latin script which consisted of both majuscule and minuscule letters (lowercase and uppercase, or small and capital letters) is Carolingian minuscule. It is a fact. But what is unknown to me (and as far as I know is unknown to all scholars) is the first purpose or first use of capital letters. Does anybody know any clear evidence that reveals the first application of capital letters. Was it used, for the first time, to distinguish the word and the names of God? Is it a biblical and christian effect? Or was it used to apply clarity for dividing sentences and paragraphs? Or the first use of capital was to highlight all proper names? Which of these applications was the first one?


texts: Does "who does what" work in this sentence?

texts:
I am interested in knowing whether one can say "who does what" in the following context:

  All estimation methods are not yet on hand in standard software. For an overview of who does what, see (place reference here).

edit according to andrewdotnich's comment

The reference is the chapter of a book that describes a list of software that are able to deal with one or more of the estimation methods.


texts:
Is there a term for hatred or fear of difference? Not necessarily limited to differences between people.

All I could think of was 'heterophobia' but that doesn't sound helpful


texts: So, we don't have "can have + PP" in English, do we? but we do have "can't have +PP", don't we?

texts:
Modal verbs like can, could, may, might,.... are very difficult & arbitrary.

According to this site:

  can't have + past participle: I'm fairly sure this wasn't true

  Ex: She can't have stayed at home yesterday.

I would say that we don't have "can have + PP" in English, we have to use "could have + PP" instead.

So, we don't have "can have + PP" in English, do we?


texts: "Send tell" aka PST and similarly Mt is commonly used in video games and online chat programs. To me, it sounds like something out of the renaissance.   What is the origin of the phrase?


texts: Why are integrated circuits called "chips"?

texts:
Integrated circuits (IC) are called by many chips, and as a particular case, microprocessors are also nicknamed chips. The same happens in Hebrew, where ICs are called "shvav" (or "shvavim" in plural), which is the Hebrew word for a chip.

What is the source for the nickname?


texts: Is it "on top of sth" or "in top of sth"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is it correct to say “the bird is in the tree” or “on the tree”?

I have always been inclined to use the preposition "on" rather than "in" but I've come across a usage that made me feel a little perplexed.

  Now, I should like men to have strong and rooted conceptions, but as for their lunch, let them have it sometimes in the garden, sometimes in bed, sometimes on the roof, sometimes in the top of a tree.

From Selected Essays by G.K Chesterton


texts:
How would one parse the sentence

Woe betide anyone wearing the wrong colour! ?

Betide is clearly the main verb, meaning happen;  as in they waited wondering what might betide.
But clearly betide is not conjugated like other verbs, otherwise it would be woe betides. But in this usage of woe betide..., it doesn't even seem to me to be acting like an indicative verb. It is most frequently delivered as an imperative warning, a bit like look out.
Should the full form be Woe will betide anyone....?


texts: What is the opposite of "free," as in "gluten-free/free of gluten"?

texts: I am looking for a one-word antonym for "free" in the context of "a lack of something." For example: "pain-free/free of pain," "error-free/free of errors," "gluten-free/free of gluten"? To say "full" isn't quite right. If a forty-page text contains 1-2 typos, it is not "error-free," but it is also not "full of errors." What about "gluten"? If a pizza isn't "gluten-free," what is it? Gluten-full? Gluten-regular?


texts:
I know that "among others" is used when we mention one or more than one person. But still, I am a little confused.

For example: "Among others, Adam and Smith supported me at the meeting."

(I am quoting this sentence from this link in the same site https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/37772/the-usage-of-among-others")

Does this mean that Adam and Smith are the only ones who supported me at the meeting? Or does this mean that Adam and Smith along with other people that I don't want to mention supported me at the meeting?

Hope is not a dumb question, Thank you!


texts:
I'm having some problems determining which of the following is more grammatically correct:

  The season that I like the best is Winter

or

  Winter is the season that I like the best

I know that both are technically correct, but when would you use one over the other?


texts: What are some idioms for actions of sabotage that convey helplessness and frustration more than petulance or malice?

texts: I am thinking, for instance, about how many commentaries have framed the Brexit vote or the Trump victory as a counterintuitive and perhaps self-defeating vote by the working class in an act of sheer frustration against an establishment perceived to be repeatedly failing them. What is this act of sabotage? How does one characterise the action of those Rust Belt voters or Labour voters who threw a Molotov cocktail at the liberal establishment for it to wake up? It is surely a counterintuitive measure of the last resort because they have voted against those very parties that forge them a safety net? Is it putting "a spoke in the wheel" or "a wrench in the works" of the establishment so that it wakes up? Is it tossing the chessboard (?) in the face of defeat? None of these seem right to me. Are there better expressions which, while they gives a sense of deliberate sabotage, should also convey helplessness and frustration more than petulance or malice?


texts: "The number of students are larger" vs. "The number of students is larger"

texts:
What is the correct verb to use, is it is or are?

A) The number of students are larger than before.
B) The number of students is larger than before.


texts: What is the phrase for "plan it after it already started"?

texts:
I need a phrase for what I approximate by "plan-while-do":

"Do you need anything else?"
"I can't say yet, that will be a plan-while-do project: I get started and come back to you if there are any questions."

My intention is to communicate that I will not take the effort to check for possible questions upfront, as that would be futile.


texts: What are the differences between "go to school happily", "go happily to school" and "happily go to school"?

texts:
There are three similar phrases which I would like to know the differences between:

  go to school happily
  go happily to school
  happily go to school

I have long been confused by the placement of adverbs. From my personal view, there are definitely tiny differences, but I'm not sure what exactly they are. Please explain in detail!


texts: when is it appropriate to use double prime for inches in measurements

texts:
What is the correct usage?

10 × 10″
10″ × 10″

That is, is the double prime supposed to be on the first number or is it assumed to be the same as the second number when conveying measurements in inches?


texts: Temporal value of a present tense verb in a predicate nominative statement?

texts:
Does the present tense equative verb ("is") in a predicate nominative construction necessarily have temporal value, or does it depends on the statement itself?

For example, "Lebron James is the best player in the NBA," might be applicable now, but the time will come, once he retires, when the statement no longer applies. At that point we would say, "Lebron James was the best player in the NBA." So, does this mean that the present tense verb "is" in the first statement is both equative and has temporal value?

On the other hand, the statement "Denali is the highest mountain in North America" will (presumably) be as true in one hundred years as it is today. So, does this mean that the verb "is" in this statment has no temporal value, but simply equates the subject with the complement?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.


texts: Do phrases like "the 80s" take singular or plural subject-verb agreement?

texts:
Which is correct:

The 80s is returning
The 80s are returning.

If you say "are returning", then why do we say, "The 80s was a time of....." ?


texts: Which reflexive or intensive pronoun should I use for an unknown person (himself, herself or itself)?

texts:
I want to reffer to a person whose gender I don't know.
Should I say a person himself/herself or a person itself?
Two examples below:
Reflexive: If someone wants to kill somebody else, then do it him/herself.
Intensive: I need to run a mask detection, but I just need to use someone's head or face, not the person himself/herself.


texts: Is "take a knee" primarily used only in American football/sports?

texts:
Is the expression "to take a knee," meaning to kneel on one knee, an idiom that is mainly limited to American football and other sports (as well as, perhaps, military jargon)? Has it primarily been limited to use in American English, or is it also used outside the United States?

example:

  A day after most of the N.F.L. engaged in at least some form of demonstration during the national anthem, the Dallas Cowboys, along with the team’s owner, Jerry Jones, linked arms on the University of Phoenix Stadium field Monday night and collectively took a knee before the anthem was played.

From www.nytimes.com


texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  Based on the laboratory experiments, the strength of the sample was found to be 30MPa.

or

  Based on the laboratory experiments, the strength of the sample found to be 30MPa.


texts: Word to describe one who loves friends more than family

texts:
Is there a word to describe someone who loves his friends more than his family?

For example, my brother is a sort of person who seems to be only interested in his friends (not me nor the rest of the family). I'm looking for any words and/or idioms to describe my brother.


texts: Does double negation turn "neither" into "either"?

texts:
Peter Guess posted tongue twister with a construct where something occurs that creates what looks like a paradox to me.

  neither either...or...or nor neither...nor...nor are either particularly wrong or strictly right

stripping of tonguetwisting:

  Neither A nor B are either X or Y.

like in:

  -- You have a van and a truck. Do you have any red or yellow cars?
  -- Neither the van nor the truck are either red or yellow. They are both blue.

(meaning both A and B are not X, and they are not Y too.)

But following the common, intuitive usage of:

  A is neither X nor Y.

this would seem like the sentence should read

  Neither A nor B are neither X nor Y.

What rule is applied here that the negative (neither X nor Y) turns into a positive (either X or Y)? Is the double negation unrolling double-"neither" back into "either"?


texts: (Complex sentence) Using the word "and" right before a subordinate conjunction

texts:
I have a few questions about complex sentence

Here are the examples:
Because I had to catch the train, and as we were short on time, I forgot to pack my toothbrush for our vacation.

I gave strength to her and that enabled her to perform better.

Which in parts of speech is the word "and" ?
Can we use "and" right before a relative pronoun or subordinating conjuction?
What is the purpose of adding the word "and"?

Thanks!

The sources of the examples given above:
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/complex-sentence-examples.html
https://www.csgenerator.com/complex-sentence-examples


texts: What is differences between "Dear and Darling"?

texts:
What is differences between them? Are they similar or not?

  Dear Mrs. Smith.
  John, darling, could you pass me the sugar, please?
  Johnny dear, please listen up.
  May I introduce my dear wife / May I introduce my darling wife

What is the difference between those last two?

Are the two interchangeable, or not, or sometimes?


texts:
I was just discussing oddities of English with a friend, and I realized something that neither of us could explain.

A podiatrist is a foot doctor.
A podium is something you stand behind when giving a speech
A pedometer is a device which counts
your steps.
A pedophile is someone with a sexual interest in
children.

So what the heck?  Apparently pod and ped are Latin and Greek respectively roots for "foot", so that I get.  But then apparently pedo is Greek and is "a combining form meaning “child,” used in the formation of compound words".  So uh, huh??  I mean, why isn't a pedometer a device for measuring children and a pedophile someone with a foot fetish...?


texts: In this question we learned that the common portrayal of pirate English is not historically accurate. Given that they were professional sailors, they probably had a wide store of nautical jargon; but what would be an example of speech that would typify a pirate, such as Blackbeard? Would the captains and officers have notably different speech from the rest of the crew?


texts: Is it correct to say "aging X years or more"?

texts:
Hundred participants (aging 18 years or more) were selected from
  each of the  cities.

Is the phrase within the parentheses correct? Any suggestion to better express the idea will also be appreciated.


texts:
Disclamer: English isn't my first language.

I learned during my English courses (a few years ago), that there is, as in French (which is my first language), a comparative and superlative version for each adjective. And for the adjective good it goes like this:

  good, better, best

The thing is, when I listen to different English people speaking (videos on YouTube, conferences, etc.) I often hear something like

  the better solution is...

This doesn't translate well in French (actually, if you translate the word as is, it's a huge grammar error) and most of the time I thought it was just the speaker making a mistake (which could be considered as not that important in English). Instead I would expect either

  the best solution is... [superlative]
  a better solution is... [comparative]

and not the use of a comparative as a superlative.

But recently I've started to listen to a course from Shelly Kagan, a professor of philosophy in Yale University, who seems to use this same construction.

Now, I wonder if what I was taught wasn't completely correct and indeed "the better solution is..." is correct, or if professor Kagan, and everybody I heard saying that, is making a mistake (of course this doesn't affect the quality of the content or the skills of the speaker).

If it is indeed a mistake, is it considered as an obvious one, or is it not that noticeable?


texts: What is a plausible etymology of "dosh", a British slang word for money?

texts:
Neither Wiktionary nor The Online Etymology Dictionary seem to know anything.

UPDATED (October 25 2015)

  dosh (uncountable)

  (Britain, slang) Money

  Etymology Unknown. Possibly a combination of dough and cash
  Wiktionary


texts: I'm trying to articulate a question on stackoverflow. In the question, I state that I'm designing an API, and I want to minimize "misusability" within that API. "Misusability" is not a word, as far as I know, so I'm asking whether there is another word that can communicate something along the lines of "misusable" or "not misusable".


texts: Only if-conditional sentences and inversion

texts:
As I was studying for my upcoming grammar exam, I stumbled across the following sentence:

Your membership will only be renewed if you pay your subscription within the next seven days.

Is it also okay to use “if only” + inversion in this case? Isn't the following the more logical sentence?

Only if you pay your subscription within the next seven days will your membership be renewed.


texts:
I'm not sure if this might be a math question, but are the following phrases equivalent, or do they differ in nuance:

"Students are tall, on average"

"The/An average student is tall"

I found these questions examining the "an"/"the" nuance: " 'an' vs 'the' average of..." & " 'the' vs 'an' average person". But that doesn't transfer to "the/an" vs "on".

This one ('an' vs 'on' average) seemed similar, but something didn't quite sound right, to me, about the way those two statements were phrased; and there weren't any explanations; just suggested rephrasings.

Thanks.


texts: What is it called to argue in favor of something one actually opposes

texts:
What is it called when someone pretends to support ideas they oppose in order to ridicule those ideas and cast them in a negative light to others?

For example Stephen Colbert used to argue in favor of very Conservative political ideologies. But anyone watching knows that his true feelings are the polar opposite to those of his onscreen tv persona.

Or in a less obvious example: There was an advertising campaign a while back supporting the closing of public libraries and the removal of books to make way for something else. The people responsible for the campaign were really trying to garner public interest in saving these libraries by playing the part of the villain. They relied on the public to take an active interest in saving something by pretending to seek its demise.

Whether an obvious mockery of a position as in the first example or a more cunningly executed maneuver as in the second, is this type of argumentative / persuasion tactic known as something specific? And if so what is it called?


texts: What is the construction of this long sentence?

texts:
No presumption in its favour, therefore, can be drawn from the fact of its existence. The only such presumption which it could be supposed to have, must be grounded on its having lasted till now, when so many other things which came down from the same odious source have been done away with. And this, indeed, is what makes it strange to ordinary ears, to hear it asserted that the inequality of rights between men and women has no other source than the law of the strongest.

This "this" is the same as "to hear it asserted....the strongest"?

Source


texts: Words for people who are neither ancient nor contemporary

texts:
The phrase "People in old times" sounds  clunky and "ancient people" sounds remote and ambiguous.

I'm looking for two terms, one for people about the age of our grandfathers or great grandfathers but who might not be our biological ancestors. And one for people who lived in earlier times but had  a profuse cultural or significant history of art development.

The "old times" does not necessarily refer to the west. For example could I say the following?

  Our Tutankhamun's forebears


texts: How to suggest plurality of a generic word?

texts:
There is a basket of oranges kept in the middle of the room. A child comes in and kicks it. I want to describe the action but want to use the generic "fruit(s)" in the sentence. It does not seem to fit in properly though.

Sample Sentence : Groaning, the child kicked the basket of _______
away from her.

The options I can think of are -

Groaning, the child kicked the basket of the fruit away from her.

This seems to imply there is only one orange inside the basket.

Groaning, the child kicked the basket of fruits away from her.

This seems to imply more than one fruit - apples, bananas, etc.

Groaning, the child kicked the basket of fruit away from her.

This, to me, seems to be the best option but feels a bit ungrammatical when I say it out loud, and can also imply that there is only a single fruit in the basket.

I have tried searching with each phrase but am getting reasonable responses for each so am not sure how exactly to find the correct answer.


texts:
Background:

I'm writing a professional (technical) report in which I want to express the following in one simple sentence: The whole report is written based on a certain assumption, except one part that's based on a different assumption. (Let's say a battery has 10 Volts in parts of the report, and 12 Volts in another part). This means that one part of the report is "wrong". I want to express that the way I'm doing this has been "approved" by our client. The part in parentheses is just to illustrate the context.

  (In most of the report 10V has been used. However, the voltage is actually 12V.
  12V has been used in chapter 2 only.)

  The usage of a different voltage in chapter xxx only, is done in
  agreement with client name.

However, the last part of that sentence doesn't seem good to me. I think it's grammatically correct, but not something a native English speaking person would write. Can I say / write: "... is done in agreement with"?


texts: would the phrase "i'm hydrating" make sense? because the word hydrate in definition means: cause to absorb or combine with water. so is it actually correct usage of the word when said the phrase "i'm hydrating"?


texts:
How common is the word insult in the sense "[cause] bodily injury/trauma" in modern day English?
Is it chiefly medical speak, or has it spread into general print that even the layperson knows what it means?
insult

:  injury to the body or one of its parts; also :  something that causes or has a potential for causing such insult : pollution and other environmental insults
:  injury to the body or one of its parts : repeated acute vascular insults; any insult to the constitution of a patient suffering from active tuberculosis—Journal of the American Medical Association

M-W

n. NAm: Med: blessure; lésion (du corps)
v. NAm: Med: foods that insult the body, nourriture qui nuit à la santé (lit. foods that ruin health)
insults the body Google Search
insult the body Google Search

Source: Harrap's New Shorter French and English Dictionary, Ed. 1985

In medical and scientific jargon, often means "something that disturbs normal functions; a trauma"

Source: Garner's Modern American Usage, Third Edition - Oxford University Press (2009)


texts: English word or phrase that is a more general version of "forge" or "foundry"

texts:
I have been google searching and racking my brain trying to think of a word or phrase that captures the essence of "a place the specializes in making things". I like both the term forge and foundry, but they are specific to blacksmithing and metalworking. My particular instance is for a place where people go to get software made, so it probably doesn't matter but any suggestions or unusual words for a "maker space" would be great.

The first part of my desired title is a common noun that is often found in groups, so or example: "ant forge" makes me think we are crushing up ants and shaping them into new things (roughly desireable), but ant factory seems like we are mass-producing ants.

Ideally the noun would correspond to a place or operation that exists or existed in the past, and isn't taken by some other tech buzzword. The heuristic I am going by is in paragraph 2. Basically does ant + word suggest that you are making ants or Making something with/out of ants? The latter case is the one I am looking for. My top choice right now is "Ant Foundries"


texts:
Is this a run-on?

  By 1990, it was even easier to make bottles and paper products quickly; as a result, competition among companies grew and stores featured products with increasingly interesting and colorful labels.

Independent clauses:
(1) competition among companies grew
(2) stores featured products with increasingly interesting and colorful labels

So, is the sentence correct, or should there be a comma before the 'and'?

Also,

  Pancakes, perhaps the standard American breakfast, are losing a rapidly increasing number of calorie-conscious adherents.

Shouldn't the 'are' be 'is' because 'Pancakes' is singular because one eats pancakes and not a pancake? I don't know.
These questions were from the Princeton Review 11 Practice Tests for the SATs book.

Thanks so much.


texts:
I have entered the marks of Maths in the booklet.
I have entered the Maths' marks in the booklet.


texts: "True" is to "false" as "truth" is to... what?

texts:
If I were to reverse the sentence, "I care about the truth" I would want to say:

I care about the false.

Is that correct? It seems awkward at best:

He speaks the truth! / He speaks the false!
This one truth is important to all / This one false is important to all


texts: Meaning of expression: "After the powder, the jam"

texts:
In Agatha Christie's novel "Hickory Dickory Dock" there is a scene between "employer" and "employee", where the former one begins by criticising heavily the practices of the latter but ends on a very positive note as by saying how invaluable that person is and what a great character she has. At the end of the speech, the "employee" says "After the powder, the jam".
My understanding of the phrase is that is used to criticise this bittersweet, hot-and-cold behaviour. But I was wondering whether anyone had any idea where this expression is coming from.
My search led me to equivalent phrases, such as "to blow hot and cold", "to give with one hand and take with the other".

Is this a reference to baking perhaps, where adding jam to a mix would undo the effect of previously adding the powder to it? Is it a gun reference, where you first powder (load) the weapon but at the last minute it jams and the victim is saved?

I'd love to hear your input and possible explanations.


texts: "Will there be a certain number of essays we are expected to send in per week?" is accurate?

texts: "Will there be a certain number of essays we are expected to send in per week?" Is this grammatically incorrect? Is there a mix in the tenses?


texts: adjective for something bad that one did not deserve

texts:
I need an adjective to qualify something bad that one gets but one did not deserve.
It's used as following

"One single action of hers had freed her from the chains of [adjective] ignominy"

I can think of misplaced, ill begotten, unearned, but none quite fit the bill here


texts: Is "most pleased" pompous or condescending?

texts:
Is using the phrase "most pleased" considered pompous or condescending?

  I am most pleased to extend the invitation to so-and-so...

This was used in a formal dinner invitation sent to a relative of mine, who is a traditionalist in his usage of English. He was discussing it with me and thought that the writer overdid it with "most pleased". He even suggested it made the the writer sound like royalty.


texts: Is there a specific term for the short descriptions of a movie or TV episode present in TV guides?

texts:
In TV guides, there are often short descriptions of movies or episodes of a TV series, like the one pictured here:

Is there a specific term for this kind of text?


texts: "Straight down that way, then a *hard* to the left" : noun, or rather adj of elliptical material?

texts:
From Shameless US, season 9 episode 5, minute 20:12:

  Straight down that way, then a hard to the left.

Here is a transcript of the episode.

Is hard here a noun, or rather adj of elliptical material?


texts: Definite/indefinite articles in front of trade names that are used as attributive adjectives

texts:
Every time I have to refer to some products, I am not sure what article (if any) has to be used. For example, there is a company called Contigo, which makes termo cups. In order to refer to those cups, some writer said:

Contigo cups are....

As far as I understood, in case of other products, I would say Tupperware cups, Nivea creams, Cannon cameras, etc. But what about the singular? A Tupperware cup? A Nivea cream?

However, I have noticed, that some companies add the article the before the name that is used to refer to their products. Say there is the trademark Hello which stands for a computer program, and in order present it to the reader, they say the Hello toolbar is this and that Why the article the is used in front of the noun phrase? If I am offered to use the product of Hello, should I say I installed Hello toolbar or Installed a Hello toolbar? I got absolutely confused and cannot understand how/when/why the definite article the is used before the trade names.


texts: Verb agreement for something that was discussed in the past, while the issue still exists in the present

texts:
How do you write something that was discussed in the past, while the issue still exists in the present?

  The discussion resulted in the committee members highlighting crucial areas that need to be addressed.
  The discussion resulted in the committee members highlighting crucial areas that needed to be addressed.

......................

  1'. The discussion resulted in the committee members highlighting crucial areas that need to be addressed if one is to achieve the desired outcome.

  2'. The discussion resulted in the committee members highlighting
  crucial areas that needed to be addressed if one were to
  achieve the desired outcome.


texts: Is this sentence correct? How can I convey its meaning better?

texts: "There are 8000 clauses in Yili corpus with 5000 clauses as training corpus and 2000 clauses as testing corpus, and there are 6000 clauses in Zuozhuan corpus with 4000 clauses as training corpus and 2000 clauses as testing corpus."


texts: "First year birthday" or "first birthday"

texts: What should I say to refer to the baby's first year birthday? The baby turns one year old on that day. Is it correct to say first birthday party or should I say first year birthday party?


texts:
As well as the standard oratorio repertory, she sang solo recitals, her dazzling smile and enchantingly ingenuous personality creating an instant bond with audiences. TELEGRAPH

I am a little bit confused about the definition of ingenuous on OALD:

  ingenuous: honest, innocent and willing to trust people

What I am wondering about is honest in that definition. In my understanding it does not match with innocent and willing to trust.

Another definition on Oxford Dictionaries is less ambivalent:

  ingenuous: (of a person or action) innocent and unsuspecting:

But in the context above honest would make sense and, in any case, more than being naive. Moreover my favorite translation service provides some translation in meaning of being frankly so I suppose that ingenuous has two meanings: naivety and frankness.

What is the meaning of ingenuous in the given context and what is the precise definition in general?


texts:
In Robert Conquest's limerick

  There was plenty of good-natured chaff
  When I popped in to fuck the giraffe,
  And the PRZS
  Could hardly suppress
  A dry professorial laugh.

what does PRZS mean?


texts:
I tried to find a single word that means "most important", but I couldn't. I want it to be able to express what's missing below:

  If you get hurt, the _ thing to do is to stay calm.

It would need to describe something as being the absolute, single most important thing as opposed to just very important.

I did find the word "quintessential", but I think that word also has another meaning which is used more frequently.

I thought about making up my own, but I couldn't find a prefix that means "most".

I feel kind of silly, but I think I have been looking for a word based on a concept that doesn't exist in English. I was looking for a word that could never be used to describe two things as both being the most important. I think some of these words, like 'imperative,' express necessity as opposed to importance, but I may be wrong. The word 'key' expresses importance, but it, like 'important,' could be used to refer to multiple things. The two most important players are Sam and Ashley. The two key players are Sam and Ashley. I was thinking of a word that would describe importance as 'best' describes 'goodness,' but I'm realizing that that doesn't really make sense because even the word 'best,' though I think it tends to often describe only one thing, is often used to describe two things. The two best players are Sam and Ashley.

I guess, with the superlative, if you take any adjective and put the noun it's modifying in a singular form, it implies that that noun is the single strongest possessor of that adjective. I could just say "The important thing to do is to stay calm," and I think that would imply that that is the single most important thing to do because the word 'thing' is singular.

I think the fact that the same word can be used to describe the single strongest possessor of a trait (the tallest person) and multiple strongest possessors of a trait (one of the tallest people) kind of rubs me wrong. If anyone's curious, I was thinking of inventing the word 'monobest' or 'unibest' to mean single best. This way, you couldn't say "one of the monobest" because 'mono' means one, and something can't be both both multiple and one. Similarly, 'monotant' or 'unitant' could mean single most important (I've shortened the word 'important').

Thank you all, and sorry if this question was misleading.


texts: What does “We should feel a ‘proxy regret’ for someone / something” mean?

texts:
I was drawn to the usage of the word, “proxy” in the following sentence of the article introducing the life and work of Vivian Maier (1926 -2009), a street photographer who took more than 150,000 photographs in her lifetime, while working as a nanny approximately 40 years in Chicago.

  Some tellings of Maier’s story suggest that perhaps we should feel a
  proxy regret, that we should feel sorry about her solitude, her rages,
  her dark edges, her impecunious existence. Shall we make her a martyr
  or can we allow that she may have had the life she wanted? How did she
  see herself? We know that she was looking at that, too—the copious
  self-portraits prove it.
  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/05/vivian-maier-and-the-problem-of-difficult-women.html#slide_ss_0=1

CED defines ‘proxy’ as:
noun.c.u. Authority given to a person to act for someone else, such as by voting for them in an election, or the person who this authority is given to.

OED also defines it only as a noun meaning;

The authority to represent someone else, especially in voting.
A person authorized to act on behalf of another.
A figure that can be used to represent the value of something in a calculation.
None of the above definitions seems to be applicable to the phrase, “feel a proxy regret.”

Is ‘proxy’ in the above quote used as a noun or adjective? What does it mean? Is it like ‘a sort of’?


texts: Is it correct to say "affect my passion"?

texts:
I want to say that I continued teaching even though I was sick. So, is the following sentence correct:

Getting sick did not affect my passion to teach.

"affect my passion" is correct?


texts: Hyphen in the noun 'switching-off'? Or gerunds of compound verbs, more generally?

texts:
I'm currently proof-reading my girlfriend's Ph.D. thesis (neither of us are native speakers) and I came across the following sentence snippet: "the switching-off induces eddy currents", and the word 'switching-off' struck me as odd.

I think it should be written without a hyphen; my reasoning is vague, but seems to hinge on the distinction I feel there is between 'the turning on' (i.e. 'the activating') and 'the turning-on' ('the causing of arousal').

A quick search in my Concise Oxford Dictionary hasn't given me any ideas, so my question is: What's the correct way of writing the gerund of compound verbs?

Any online resources going into this would also be much appreciated!


texts:
The Swiss bridge is also longer than the so-called "footbridge in the sky." This bridge, built in 2014, is part of the Sochi Sky Park in Russia. It spans 439 meters and includes observation platforms looking on the mountains and the Black Sea Coast。
  source link

What does look on mean in the case highlighted above?


texts:
This image-stabilising system for a hand-held camera, developed by cameraman Garrett Brown in 1973, offers (...)

Wouldn't it be more correct to write "the cameraman Garrett Brown"?

Is omitting the "the" generally acceptable (outside newspaper headlines)?


texts: My mother language is Arabic and the second language is English

texts:
1: Why are the four seasons in small letters, while the days of a week and the months of a year are in capital? (summer vs Monday)

2: What is the difference between the possessive case and the genitive case?

3: What is this case called? The long-legged man. The white-faced girl...

4: Why do we use -ing after to in this case:  I am looking forward to seeing...

5: What is this case:  You are a good boy. Aren't you?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the origin of the word “wog”?

I was listening to a song the other day, and it featured the words "woggy dago".

Now I did manage to find out what dago means, but I'm still not clear about woggy.
It isn't in the dictionary, and while I could find it on the net, none of the apparent meanings fit the context in the song.

I also googled for "woggy dago", but then nothing turns up, except for the lyrics to said song!

So, what is it?


texts: Are 'should' and 'be supposed to' interchangeable?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why do we say “supposed to” for “should have”?

I guess I really can't tell if 'should' and 'be supposed to' are interchangeable from the definitions of the dictionaries. Can anyone prove they are synonymous or not, with evidence?


texts: If the article title ends in closing punctuation, do we still add a period in an APA reference?

texts:
I have a question about citing a reference in APA format.  The following reference was created by one of the members of my school group for a paper we are working on (let's just dismiss indentation on SE); I do not yet know if it was created manually or generated:

  The Standard Group. (2012, September 12). Is Ghana the next African economic tiger?. Retrieved July 19, 2014, from http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000065384

The title of the article "Is Ghana the next African economic tiger?" ends in a question mark.  As shown in the reference, there is a period appended, "Is Ghana the next African economic tiger?." Two questions:

Does the period still get appended to the end?
Is the period supposed to be italicized?


texts:
I'm not satisfied with any of the suggestions for the antonym of revoke as given in http://thesaurus.com/browse/revoke.

None of the suggestions capture the meaning of "re-approving something that initially taken away due to infraction."

I am working on a web application where I have administrators revoke a user's privilege, and I use the word revoke to disable certain activities the user used to be able to perform.

When I want to give back the privilege, what word should I use? Grant? That seems like I'm giving the privilege in the first place. Reinstate? So far, this seems to be the best word, but I'm not sure if it's appropriate. Restore? I'm not sure if this word is specific enough.


texts: Which (if any) is correct: est., estd., or est'd.?

texts:
A business founded (or a building built or a monument dedicated) in 1854 might have a sign or plaque reading "EST'D 1854" or "EST 1854" or "ESTD 1854", or some other combination I haven't seen or heard of.

What is the correct way to abbreviate the word "established" in this manner? What is the correct way to capitalize this abbreviation?


texts:
I'm not a native English speaker. Maybe you can help me with this sentence, I just want to know, what does it mean?

  I just am not big on tucking my shirt in or ironing it or shaving.


texts: What are the differences between "has" vs "has been"?

texts:
In past tense when is it better to use one over the other?

has been [verb] vs has [verb]

For example:

  Your order has been shipped vs. Your order has shipped

Is there a difference between the two?


texts: What does 'whose' mean in this sentence?

texts:
Nimzowitsch did not write a simple handbook of opening lines, but a manual of chess. The opinions, ideas, and generalisations that he describes gave rise to a true revolution, whose consequences we can correctly evaluate today.

I can't understand what 'whose' mean in this sentence. Is it Nimzowitsch's consequences? or the consequences of the opinions, ideas, and generalisations?


texts: Is there any difference when I say I wish I were rich or I wish I had been rich?


texts: Would you say "it's impolite" to your kids?

texts:
Would you normally say "it's impolite [any continuation or no continuation at all]" or the word impolite is too formal for kids and you would rather choose to express the same thought in a different way?

The reason I asked this question is because the other day I witnessed this scene: A mother (Asian) in a restaurant was correcting her child's behaviour saying, "Don't put your feet on the couch" when her child asked her why she was not allowing him to do so, she said, "because it's impolite." Her friend who was sitting next to her (obviously British, judging by his accent) said, "We wouldn't use the word impolite when talking to children, it's too formal."

It seems to me that I have heard some native English speakers (I don't remember whether they were Americans or British) use this word when talking to their children. On the other hand, that mother's friend didn't need to lie. So I decided to ask this question here.


texts: Ideal synonym of "making survey" of thesis title

texts: I am thinking about correct thesis title and I can not find right word for phrase: "making a survey". Now my thesis title begins as: "Mapping people's awareness of...". I was thinking about word research, but my thesis is not actually research, it is just some kind of survey with questionnaire for people.


texts: Why did people sound differently when addressing the public in the early 1900s?

texts:
I notice that people used to speak not necessarily more clearly, or distinctly, but their voice had a certain 'choppiness' to it that you don't hear anymore... Unless the person doing the speaking is doing it purposefully to sound old-timey. (Think of the narrator in the movie UP by pixar)

Here is an example of the speech type I am talking about:
President Eisenhower ~1964

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cadillacsquareexcerpt.ogg

Here, in a 1950s newsreel, the newsman is speaking this way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2lYjgLwtII

It doesn't seem to be limited to just the United States either:

Various Newsreels - 1950s Germany, England, USA 220857-04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wW9CvJxuh8

I know that it can be attributed to 'times change', but I would just like to know why public speakers, and news anchors, etc have started using 'normal' sounding speech.  It is somewhat of a shame this type of speech is slowly going away.  The last place I currently hear speech of this type is during baseball games.


texts:
Is there a word for someone who has a perfect life?

By perfect I meant someone who is happy in life with the things he has, who has balance, maybe someone having a loving wife, and doing his dream job or maybe, someone successfully balancing his studies, personal life as well as his work.


texts: Word or phrase for someone accepting a story completely & unquestioningly

texts:
If someone accepts a version of a story completely, without questioning any part of it, they ..... what?

I'm looking for a word or a phrase or a more elegant, eloquent way of saying it.


texts:
I am confused by the meaning of the following sentence:

  This is only valid when the reservation status is not cancelled, departed,
  in-house.

what's the scope of the not in this sentence? Just "not cancelled", or also includes "not departed" and "not in-house"?


texts: What does the term "crack-a-lacking" mean?

texts:
In the Gorillaz song Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach rapper Snoop Dogg uses the term crack-a-lacking.

I've done some searching and can't find a reliable source for the origin and exact meaning of this term, but there are a few options. The term is not used in any specific context in the song.


texts: How to indicate that something happened at the same time as a prolonged event (a war) but not as part of that event

texts:
The U.S.S Pueblo is a US ship that was captured by DPRK forces in 1968, at the same time that the Vietnam war was going on. I wrote a comment about the time of the event on a question on Skeptics.SE but I am not pleased with the wording.

  [T]he U.S.S Pueblo was not captured during the Korean war, but in 1968, at the same time as the Vietnam war was going on

How to express that this happened during the time of the Vietnam war, but was not related (at least directly) to the war.


texts: How can I say the Italian term "dislivello" in English?

texts: I'm working on a brochure describing many hiking trails in my region (that is northern Lake Garda, Italy). I'm trying to find a good translation for the Italian word "dislivello", meaning the difference in height between a lower and an upper point of a route. As possible solutions I've found "difference in height", "elevation difference", "altitude gap", "difference in level" and many others, so that now I don't really know which is the most suitable in my case. Could you help me? Thank you so much!


texts: What is the grammar of these two sentence from 'The Economist'?

texts:
To arrive at an answer, Mr Harris combs through what remains of our pre-internet lives, separating the things we will carry forward into the connected world from the worthy things we may leave behind. Our insatiable appetites for information, stimulation, validation will come with us. But when all those wants are met no sooner than they have been felt, the knowledge of what it is to be left unfulfilled may not.

What does the last sentence ending with 'may not' mean?

  Only by doing this can the last generation to know a pre-internet world ensure that those who come after appreciate what has been lost.

Is 'to know' a predicate? Where is the subject after aux verb 'can'?
Where is the subject of predicate 'ensure'?

The grammar of these sentences is so tricky for me. Could any native speaker help me?
Are there any great advanced English grammar books can be recommended?

Source


texts: What is the correct punctuation of e.g. when used with a single example?

texts:
After e.g. do you always put a comma even if the example is only one thing? DO you write e.g., chicken soup or e.g. chicken soup?
My question refers explicitly to using just a singular example.


texts: I tried to spot errors within these questions, but I can't find any! They all seem like are technically correct?


texts: Word to describe a list of literature a person has read

texts: Is there a word to describe a list of the literature (i.e. novels, plays, poetry) you've read over your lifetime? Ex libris evokes the same idea, but isn't truly the mot juste, as it implies ownership rather than perusal.


texts:
It was drawing to an end now; but the evening was even warm, and I sat
  at work in the schoolroom (1) with the window open. (Jane Eyre)

  Presently the chambers gave up their fair tenants one after another:
  each came out gaily and airily, (2) with dress that gleamed lustrous
  through the dusk. (Jane Eyre)

The two prepositional phrases each have (1) a small clause (Bas Aart’s term), (2) a noun and the relative. How do you call these in grammatical terms?


texts: "A 1000-sqft room" vs. "a 1000 sq. ft. room"

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  This is a 1000-sqft room
  This is a 1000 sq. ft. room

Or perhaps neither is right and there's a better alternative?


texts:
What is the opposite of a followed link?

Is it an unfollowed link (Google says spelling error) or non followed link (sounds clumsy - possibly needs a hyphen)?


texts:
Do "older friends" mean senior friends here?

  S: Um...I'm thinking of going to Central University, because it's in my hometown. I've uh, been kind of homesick here this year, and I haven't made many friends...I just feel so lonely. So, I thought that uh, maybe, it'd be better to be closer to my parents and friends and all.
  S: Yeah, I know that. But I'm a little bit familiar with Central, 'cuz I had older friends who went there, and I visited it before I came here.


texts:
I'm trying to figure out an English expression for something that we have in my native language and I can't seem to find one.
When someone's speaking publicly, and says something wrong or something they're not supposed to, another person standing next to the speaker might give them a comical "elbow push", to signal (to both the person and the audience) that's one should correct themselves.
That's what we call it - "elbow push" - from where I'm from.
Here's a animated gif to illustrate the situation.
https://media.giphy.com/media/3oFzm6N9pmmtM7bq9i/giphy.gif
Is there an idiom for that?
UPDATE: edited the picture to avoid confusion


texts: "A" or "an" for symbols that start with @

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should I use “a” vs “an”?

I'm writing about concepts in programming languages, and for instance in the Java language, so-called annotations are declared with an "@" sign in front of them.

When such annotations are referred to in the text, is the "@" typically "pronounced" by the reader, or is it silent? That is, would you write

  Use an @SuppressWarnings annotation

or

  Use a @SuppressWarnings annotation

My gut feeling is that the latter variant is better, but then again, I'm not a native English speaker (nor a native Java programmer).

I would prefer to be explicit, and thus not to write

  Use a SuppressWarnings annotation


texts: Person, People, Peoples, and other linguistically similar words

texts:
Now, person is singular, and can decline to the plural persons or people, depending on region, level of formality, and nuance. Let's ignore persons for the moment and just focus on people. People, when used as a singular collective noun, can further decline to the plural peoples. For example, I could say that I am a person from Gillikin Country, which has many people, and all of them are part of the peoples of Oz.

Now, my question is this: are there any other words that behave this way? That is to say, are there any other words which have a singular, plural, and collective plural inflection?


texts:
There is a line I do not understand:

  The first editor died a year in, leaving chaos in his wake.

What does here "died a year in" mean? Is "in" here a preposition or adverb? Why is it put at the very end of the sentence?


texts: Site hopping, non-related subjects, wasting time on the internet

texts: What is the term for embarking on an internet search that leads from one website to another, to another, to a totally different site of non-related subject, based on information found in each subsequent search? Say, start looking at recipes initially and end up on Mediaeval monks, via early explorers, or whatever...hopping around all over the place and finding that a day has passed without your realising it.


texts:
To be "straight from the horse's mouth" is to be from the most reliable source.

I am wanting a title like "The horse's mouth" for my newsletter but I don't really want to call myself a horse. What other idioms are there that I could use?


texts: Using "nor" at the end of a list begun with "no"

texts:
Which is correct?

  "The book has no marks, tears, wrinkles or writing."
  "The book has no marks, tears, wrinkles nor writing."

(I understand the use of neither/nor and either/or.) In this case, I thought the first sentence "no/or" was correct, but was told that "no/nor" was the correct usage. Can you help?


texts: how do you pronounce a rolling "o" as in "so" or "no"?

texts:
I noticed that in New Zealand most people pronounce "o" at the end of "no" or "so" in a rather rolled manner - something closer to [our] instead of simple [ou]. For example, lady in this video does this at 0:07 . How do you make this sound?

For natives this might be a natural manner of pronoucing it, but I'm Russian and never heard it before :p


texts: Is it idiomatic to say "there are 5 Japanese tofus on the dish" to mean "there are 5 pieces of Japanese tofu on the dish"?

texts:
When you look for an English noun in an English dictionary, sometimes you see the noun being used as an uncountable and a countable noun. And normally, we use it as an uncountable noun when we want to talk about that noun in general & we use it as a countable noun when we want to talk about that noun specifically.

For example, in the dictionary

  cheese: [uncountable, countable] a type of food made from milk that can be
  either soft or hard and is usually white or yellow in colour; a
  particular type of this food

  Cheddar cheese

  (British English) goat’s cheese (= made from the milk of a goat)

  a cheese sandwich

  a piece/slice/block of cheese

  I had cheese on toast (= toasted bread covered in melted cheese) for
  lunch.

  a selection of French cheeses

So, we say "I don't eat cheese" (refer to "cheese in general")

But we say "there are some French cheeses on the dish" (refer to "separated cheeses")

However, "tofu" is only an uncountable noun in the dictionary

  tofu [uncountable] a soft white substance that is made from soya and
  used in cooking, often instead of meat

In this case, can we invent our own vocabulary, for example we can use "tofu" as a countable noun.

Is it idiomatic to say "there are 5 Japanese tofus on the dish"?

If that is not allowed, then we have to say "there are 5 pieces of Japanese tofu on the dish", don't we?


texts: Synonym for "academic year" when talking about primary/secondary schools not universities

texts: Academic years in my culture are specified using two-year format e.g. academic year 2014-2015 (which starts in September 2014 and ends in June 2015). The term "academic" bears, in my opinion, much of an academic context. Are there any alternative options to be used when referring to such a year in a primary or secondary education context?


texts: Word for a playing card that isn't a Joker?

texts:
A deck of playing cards usually consists of two jokers and fifty-two _____s.

Is there a name for this that’s better than “cards with numerical values”?


texts: Is there a word that means “symbolic”, but works for sound or music?

texts:
Particularly in film and television, visual imagery can be used to convey additional meanings besides their literal ones. Is there a word for when the same is done using audio or musical cues?

I would like to say something like this

  The way the music changed key during this scene was very symbolic

But I'm not sure that symbolic is the correct word.


texts:
My first post here. Sorry if question is not appropriate.
What can be an academic synonym for "to-be-discovered" in "The issue can be examined through a variety of discovered and to-be-discovered methods?"
The point for using to-be-discovered here is that I wish to emphasize that in future there may methods that can examine better the issue even if current methods can not do so fully. So, the issue still deserves discussion.


texts: What's a word to describe topics that would be impolite to talk about?

texts:
What's a word for this? I thought of taboo (or from MW - taboo). But I'm not sure that this is the right word. Examples of this kind of topic include:

money
sex
other people not present

Is there a specific name for topics like this?


texts:
Will it be correct and sound natural to say:
"Complete the most exercises among 20 participants and become a winner"?

I am not sure about using "among" in this sentence. Does it sound correct or should I say "Complete the most exercises in the group of other 100 participants and become a winner."


texts:
I'm having trouble deciding whether the word 'name' can be used possessively.  Currently I'm thinking it's correct to say:

  Patients' names have been altered to provide anonymity

However it just doesn't look right to me.  Is the above correct for a group of patients or would any of the following be better:

  Patients names have been altered to provide anonymity
  Patient names have been altered to provide anonymity


texts: Is there a concise word or phrase for the feeling of being unsure if someone is kidding?

texts:
I'm searching for a word for the feeling of uncertainty as to the sincerity of another person's statements or behavior.

Or, the state of being that is to think someone is possibly putting on an act without knowing for certain.

"skeptical" is close, but I would like something focused on the sincerity or intent of the message rather than its accuracy or validity.

This may be theater-related, or perhaps more precisely defined in another language. I do not know if it is appropriate to ask for non-english definitions here, though I would be interested in them.

An example of a situation that might produce the feeling I am attempting to name:

Someone publicly declares that he or she has had a book published on snark and sarcasm. This person, contextually, is quite sarcastic but also a known published writer. To consider the statement true or false would be equally rational.

Another example:

A professional comedian known to be critical of news and media does an interview with a major traditional news and media outlet, and he or she is unusually cooperative, respectful, and accepting of the interviewers. He or she is friendly to the point that it is out of character. It could stand to reason they are being sincere to make a point, or insincere to make a joke.


texts: Phrase/word for situation of too many theorists/teachers but too few skilled workers in the economy

texts: Word/phrase expressing the situation where there is an abundance of teachers/theorists but not enough skilled workers?


texts: Using the word "maintenance" with "repair"?

texts:
I read a document and quoted one sentence.

  Yet even in the auto industry, the bulk of the work lies not in manufacturing but in maintenance —or its avoidance. In software, 80% or more of what we do is quaintly called “maintenance”: the act of repair. Rather than embracing the typical Western focus on producing good software, we should be thinking more like home repairmen in the building industry, or auto mechanics in the automotive field. What does Japanese management have to say about that?

Is this properly using the words "maintenance" and "repair" in the sentence?


texts: Capacious critical thinker - is this a correct usage of the word "capacious"?

texts:
I just read on some internet page that a distinguished History professor at a leading California university described one of her students as a "capacious critical thinker".

Other than from the context, I wouldn't have understood "capacious", so I googled it up for its precise meaning. What I found left me wondering whether the professor might have gone for bombast and ended up using a word incorrectly!

I think I understand what she was trying to say but if "capacious" means "having a lot of space inside" or "roomy", I wonder whether it would be correct to say that someone who thinks deeply or thinks a lot is a capacious thinker? Meaning that the person (rather than the mind) is capacious?


texts:
Should I use past tense to describe something of a permanent nature/situation?

  "The Taipei 101 stands at ... (height) is the most famous financial centre in Taiwan and it has 101 floor of storeys".

Since I'm writing an essay entitled "My holiday", should I write "The Taipei 101 stood at... was the most famous financial centre in Taiwan and it had 101 floor of storeys?"

  "The card access system is a fully automated system that links with... and then the data captured is..."

As I'm writing my CV, I just wonder I should use  past tense to describe the system/program that I had designed, but in fact they are still existing and running at present though I had left the previous company. Would it be more consistent with the text of other tasked performed if I write

  "The card access system was a fully automated system that linked with... and then the data captured was ..."

so that my whole text would be in past tense?


texts:
Wikipedia says:

  Bit rot, also known as bit decay, data rot, or data decay, is a colloquial computing term used to describe either a gradual decay of storage media or the degradation of a software program over time. The latter use of the term implies that software can wear out or rust like a physical tool. More commonly, bit rot refers to the decay of physical storage media.

The Jargon File adds:

  There actually are physical processes that produce such effects (alpha particles generated by trace radionuclides in ceramic chip packages, for example, can change the contents of a computer memory unpredictably, and various kinds of subtle media failures can corrupt files in mass storage), but they are quite rare (and computers are built with error-detecting circuitry to compensate for them).

When was the term bit rot (or bit-rot or bitrot) coined and by whom?

Edit: And do synonyms such as bit decay, data rot, data decay or software rot predate it?


texts: Can I say "the ballpark number is..." to talk about a number that I should know offhand but forget?

texts: Based on example sentences in several online dictionaries, I have the impression that "ballpark" is used in situations where you really don't know and can't know the exact number but want to make an educated guess. I'm not sure if it's accurate to use "ballpark" for a guess about a number we forget.


texts: Looking for a word meaning "two things maximally mirror each other in symbolism"

texts:
I am looking for a word to describe the situation where two things are highly analogous, or parallel in symbolism, meaning, interpretation or purpose.

In the field of biology, we say that two candidate phylogenies (genetic descendency trees) are "maximally parsimonious" when the trees closely align. However the common English definition of parsimonious is "unwilling to spend money or use resources; stingy or frugal". So I don't think I can use that word outside the biological context.

I want to be able to say something along the lines of "This metaphor is highly parsimonious to [or with] reality" or "These two parables are highly parsimonious" or "Both readers had a parsimonious interpretation of the poem", but using a more appropriate word.

Candidates include the following (but I have a gut feeling there's a better word, and can't put my finger on it): harmonious, concordant, accordant, resonant, in tune.


texts: Word for expressing pushing one's health limit as if overdrafting a bank account?

texts:
Suppose Tim is working very hard and constantly pushing his limit, at the cost of his health, by often staying up late and forgetting to take breaks.  This is similar to overdrafting one's bank account, but here he is "overdrafting" his health "account". So I wonder if there is a verb or an expression that closely means "overdrafting" one's health "account"?

Thanks!


texts: Should you use an apostrophe in this example?

texts:
I received an invitation to a meal, with the following sentence:

  Partners Welcome - Menu’s to Follow

The message the author was trying to get across is "the menu(s) will be announced at a later time".

Should "Menu's" have an apostrophe in this example?


texts: "Be the 1% that do not." vs "Be the 1% that does not." vs "Be the 1% who does not."

texts:
I'm stuck on which is the correct grammar to use in my ad copy. The first sentence is "99% of patients have to wait." which is followed by (one of the following):

"Be the 1% that do not."
"Be the 1% that does not."
"Be the 1% who does not."
"Be the 1% who do not."


texts: Name of wordplay similar to a pun but where one word is made up

texts:
An example would be most clear:

Let's say a company finds a new way to help people communicate.  They call their company kamunik8r

Since kamunik8r is a made up word that is meant to sound like 'communicator', does that make this a pun?  What is this?


texts: What's the word for someone who doesn't appreciate what he has and wants more?

texts: What's the word for someone who is ungrateful/ not appreciative of the things he has but wants more lavish things? For example, instead of appreciating the little things he has in his life, someone might go on and on, complaining about things like how the scratch on his brand new shoe ruined his day or who wants a new car while complaining about his old one.


texts: Do you need to "remember" a consideration?

texts:
I wrote an email and sent it out for review to my manager. My text was:

  An important consideration is that you may see multiple objects for a single user.

My manager changed it to:

  An important consideration to remember is that you may see multiple objects for a single user.

Emphasis mine.

A consideration is defined as a careful thought. Do you need to remember a thought? If anything, I think you need to keep a thought in mind. In other words, consider a consideration.

Anyways... this can be reworded as Something important to consider is... but I am wondering, between the two of us, who is correct?


texts:
I came across the phrase, “hoarse-throat tactics” in the Washington Post article (May 28) titled “GOP freshmen get a tough lesson in politics.” The phrase appears in the following sentence:

  “On Capitol Hill, the Democrats they bashed have turned the U.S. Senate into a black hole for GOP ideas. So the freshmen are left with political theater, voting for bills the Senate will ignore. And back home, the same hoarse-throat tactics that helped them bring down incumbents last year — attacks on a health-care plan, town-hall heckling — have now been used against them.”

I cannot make a guess about what “hoarse-throat tactics” means. Does it mean “Repeat Calls tactics,” implying “repeat calls till the throat dries out? Can somebody tell me exact meaning of this phrase?


texts: What are best words to reflect properties of time and being centralized or decentralized?

texts:
I'm trying to reflect my research contributions in a table in an organized fashion.

Assume that 4 derivations of problem P are defined (and solved) as follows:

Centralized solution to the untimed P
Decentralized solution to the untimed P
Centralized solution to the timed P
Decentralized solution to the timed P

I'm gonna design a table as below:

however, I don't know what terminologies are suitable for labeling the columns. The first column determines the dependency on time, so my initial guess is temporality; although, I'm not sure whether it is a good word or not.

For the second column, I have no idea at all!

Any suggestions are highly appreciated.