texts: Common expressions of surprise in American and British English

texts:
I'm trying to learn English and I would like to know what are the expressions of surprise with positive meaning (slang or not, but not vulgar) currently used in spoken English for USA and Britain.

Is "whoa" correct? Or is "wow"?


texts: Any single word to denote the maximum possible deadline

texts:
I am not a native English speaker. So my explanation might not be clear. Still I will try to explain. Please forgive my bad English.

When I was writing an email, I want to convey this meaning:

"We can plan to complete this by Monday or if in case it is not completed on Monday(which is not desirable, but can be tolerated in a worst case scenario. But it is a must that it should be completed on Tuesday), then the maximum time we can wait for the completion of the task is Tuesday".

How I can write this concisely and in a less complicated way. Something such as:

We can plan to complete this by Monday or ----- by Tuesday.

Is there a single word that I can use to fill in the blanks, that will convey the meaning that the task must not be extended after Tuesday? I thought the word lately will fit there, but it has somewhat opposite meaning.


texts: Word for "food eaten only partially out of hunger"

texts: Is there a word in English for a food eaten only partially out of hunger and largely for taste? Or perhaps for the act of eating for flavor rather than to satisfy hunger?


texts: Proper punctuation for joining pro-sentence with independent clause

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I recently said the following in chat:

  Do you mean 90 cents, or 9 cents?
  90 cents.
  Okay, you left out the zero so I wasn't sure.

Afterwards it occurred to me I could have replaced the comma with a semi-colon. This led to a discussion with @ArdaXi over what the correct punctuation mark to use in this situation is: a comma, semi-colon, or period. The uncertainty arises from the fact that okay is a pro-sentence.

What is the proper punctuation to use when joining a pro-sentence with an independent clause?


texts: Comma usage when a question appears at the end of a quotation, at the end of a subordinate clause

texts:
What would be the correct way to punctuate the following sentence?

  Rather than thinking, "am I being a jerk?", Johann cut to the front of the line, as he did every Tuesday.


texts: Differences between dyke, levee and berm?

texts:
Referring to watersheds here, not sexual orientation.

I discovered the word berm for the first time yesterday. This leads me to believe that it is more common in US English than in British (and related nations') English.

I am familiar with the term dyke - originally from Dutch, using which they segment sections of fields and buildings to protect against flooding in the lowlands of Holland, often below sea level.

I also know the term levee - a primarily US term (Southern, French) for a watershed that specifically keeps a river in check, I believe.

Structurally, they appear very similar. Is a berm much the same, or is there a subtle difference in connotation? The only difference I can see is that definitions for berm tend to focus more on the flat section thereof... yet it is also used to describe the entire raised, ridgelike structure.

Are these terms just coincidental occurrences that originated in different geographical locations? Does English need all three?


texts: What phoneme symbols does Google show in its search results?

texts: I'm familiar with the IPA characters, but google shows other symbols in its search results. What I want to find is an equivalence table or something to get the IPA characters of any particular word than I'm interested in. Or a tool that brings words as quicky as typing "define book" in my browser's address bar, which is how one can get the Google's result for any world.


texts: Can I say "in one respect..in other respect"?

texts:
It is clear that there is only one legal system, which in one respect
  should be designed rationally and discreetly, not conflicting with
  each other, in other respect should be good in the sense that good
  laws create good citizens, so that it is not subject to the danger of
  being violated.(self-made)

I tried "on the one hand...on the other hand", but I soon realized that in my sentence there is no such strong sense of contrast. So I chose "in one respect", and "in other respect". Does that usage make sense to you?


texts: is this expression "think big and take risk rather than think small and take safe" ok?

texts:
I want to express this sentence

  Should young people think big and take risk rather than think small and take safe?

So, think big >< think small & take risk >< take safe

So, is the above question ok or not ok?


texts: Is "Can I have a cup of coffee?" polite?  What if I ask a store employee, "Can I have something?"


texts:
It was a dark night, a prisoner of war who had intended to escape killed the guard and changed into his uniform.

Why not ‘It was a dark night. A prisoner...’?


texts: Can the unexpected validity of the literal meaning of a phrase on top of the usual figurative sense be considered a pun?

texts:
This is from the transcript of an episode titled Leela and the Genestalk (WARNING: very badly formatted wiki page) of the popular cartoon series Futurama.

(Background: a character named Mom has created a flying laboratory on a fake cloud to perform genetic experiments which are illegal on the ground.)
Mom: Yes, you've discovered my floating genetic engineering facility. Our
experiments would be illegal on Earth, but up here, I'm above the law.
(Laughs)
Son1: (smirks) Nice pun, Mother.
Mom: (angrily) It's not a pun, it's a play on words! (slaps Son1) [video]

A few minutes later...

Mom: You've got some freaky DNA, and I want to see what's in your genes. [genes ⟷ jeans]
(Son1 snickers)
Mom: (angrily slaps Son1) Genes with a "G"! (sudden realisation) Ow! Now, that's a pun.

Is Mom correct in the first scenario? Can the phrase above the law in that context not be considered a pun?
As far as the definition goes:

a clever and amusing use of a word or phrase with two meanings, or of words with the same sound but different meanings. (Collins)
a humorous use of a word or phrase that has several meanings or that sounds like another word. (Cambridge)
the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound. (Merriam-Webster)

Disclaimer
I have already asked a (10k only) similar question some time ago which got deleted. There the phrase in question was building a road to bring two (enemy) states closer.


texts: Is there a single word for "never fails"?


texts:
Should this question use the definite article before "media"?

  Does the media influence us?
  Does media influence us?

Are these both OK? I have seen both being used.


texts: Is "When I lived in Berlin, I had seen the movie three times" grammatical?

texts:
Today I read the following description of preterite perfect in The Cambridge Grammar of English Language.

The distinction between the present perfect and the simple preterite is neutralized elsewhere in the verbal system, so that when have carries any other inflection than the present tense the perfect may correspond to either a present perfect or a simple preterite. Compare, for example:
i(a) He has lost his key so he can't get in his room.
i(b) He had lost his key so he couldn't get in his room.
i(c) He seems to have lost his key so he can't get in his room.
ii(a) He lost his key while he was running home.
ii(b) He had lost his key while he was running home.
ii(c) He seems to have lost his key while he was running home,
In [i] the non-present perfects had lost and have lost correspond to present perfect has lost, while in [ii] they correspond to the simple preterite lost.

Then, can i(b) and ii(b) be rephrased as i(b') and ii(b') below respectively?

i(b') He has lost his key so he couldn't get in his room.
ii(b') He lost his key while he was running home.

And this is my main question. Is the following sentence grammatical?

(1) When I lived in Berlin, I had seen the movie three times.

I thought had seen should be replaced by saw to make it acceptable.


texts:
Why is the expression "Speak of the devil" and not "Speaking of the devil"? For me, the -ing would make more sense because you're currently talking about someone, when he/she appears.

For example, if you're talking about something, and that subject made you remember something else, you would say something like:

  Speaking of groceries, I have to go to the supermarket in an hour.

but you wouldn't say:

  Speak of groceries, I have to go to the supermarket in an hour.


texts:
As an ESL teacher, I am currently teaching the topic on nouns as adjectives. Some examples are shoe shop, boat-race, apple tree, etc. One of the rules of nouns as adjectives that I have learnt is that when nouns are used an adjectives, they are usually in singular form. Some cases that seem like exceptions but aren't really, are news reporter and sales manager, as we all know that news and sales are really singular nouns ending with an s.

But for these other job titles, Systems Analyst and Systems Manager, could anyone give me a clear explanation on why we use the plural form systems instead of its singular form before I resort to telling them it's an exception?


texts:
Little story first: every time someone asks me for my sexuality I either say bisexual (cause it's the easiest to explain) or that I don't label myself. Now this is not exactly accurate because I simply don't know a fitting word.
I know that there is a word for being attracted to someone smart but I've never found one for being attracted to someone who can simply talk well. (Especially teachers)
A friend and I were joking around the other day, and she made up the word "eloquentsexual-but-mainly-for-teachers", which is kinda funny but sounds really stupid.

So my actual question would be: Is there a word for it?

If there isn't - which I suspect - I'd like a suggestion for a word. Eloquentsexual doesn't really feel right.


texts: Incorrect gerund to simple past conversion?

texts:
I'm a non-native speaker of English, so this might or might not be something very basic. Nonetheless, it's baffling me and I'd love some help.

A friend of mine wrote this sentence in a story for which I'm a pre-reader:

  They crossed a highway along the river shore and then a bridge, leading them to a dirt road winding down a thin peninsula that jutted into the river.

In my mind, based on how my native Portuguese phrases things, I felt that "leading" gerund there could be replaced by the determiner plus simple past "what led", and the phrase would "sound" better:

  They crossed a highway along the river shore and then a bridge, what led them to a dirt road winding down a thin peninsula that jutted into the river.

The "what" in there is supposedly a determiner referring to and meaning the whole of "They crossed a highway along the river shore and then a bridge".

However he told me, and I quote him, "your suggestion in this case would cause the sentence to make absolutely no grammatical sense whatsoever."

I'd like to understand why that's the case, what the exact rules are, and whether there's a correct way to do a gerund to simple past conversion in this and similar cases.

Thank you very much!


texts: English equivalent to "grandecito" in Spanish?

texts: What is the equivalent to "Grandecito" in English? At first it seems redundant because in English you cannot say, "big-small" or "small-big".  I have heard, "its biggie". I also have heard, "biggish", but the latter seems to be tied to more of a "kind of big" but not "big".


texts: A Single Word For Person without any bad habits

texts:
A person without any vices is known as....
A person without any bad habits is known as or called as.....


texts: "Should be done by" or "should have been done by"?

texts:
Which of these should I use?

  My test result should be done by last Wednesday.

or

  My test result should have been done by last Wednesday.

What is the difference in meaning?


texts: Is the word "beginning" here a gerund or a present participle?

texts:
Is the word "beginning" here a gerund or a present participle, and why?

On June 22, 1941, the armies of Nazi Germany crossed the Soviet border, beginning a war that would claim the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians alike.


texts: Phrase or way to say 'thought should be given'

texts:
Is there a better way to say 'thought should be given'?

For example:

  Thought should be given as to how to decrease the deficit.

What is a better way to say that?


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Mental energy is a vital element needed to be able to concentrate one's attention and maintain a positive mental attitude.

The question I want to ask is how the section in bold is functioning over here. It is acting like a complement or it is modifying some word? Please could you explain   the structure of the sentence?


texts: Should Chartered Accountant be capitalised in a professional profile or CV

texts:
I regularly prepare professional profiles for a client to use in proposals and on their website. They work in a sector where excessive capitalisation is endemic, so I often have to explain my reasons for changing all kinds of words to lower case.

For example:

  John is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Institution of Chartered Accountants.

vs.

  John is a chartered accountant and fellow of the Institution of Chartered Accountants.

My client has said that they capitalise phrases such as chartered accountant 'because they mean something specific'. I don't think that this is a justification for capitalising a word, but I'm ready to be told otherwise!

Can someone, with better grammatical knowledge than mine, explain which form of capitalisation is correct and, just as importantly, why?

In case it makes a difference, I am writing in the UK for a British audience.


texts: What does "purchasers of a new tablet won’t ‘end up with a doorstop’" mean?

texts:
Washington Post (June 17) reports Barnes & Noble’s offer of tablet software update at
a surprisingly cheap price under the title, “It’s official: Nook Tablets are now ridiculously cheap."

It says:

  “(There are) rumors that the company might pull back on hardware in
  favor of selling content for other companies’ gadgets, and therefore
  (lots of folks) wonder if it’s holding a fire sale so it can exit the
  tablet market. Could be. But it’s also possible that B&N is trying to
  clear out its stock because it has new models in the works.

  In either case, I don’t think people who buy a Nook HD or Nook HD+ are
  going to end up with a doorstop. Now that the tablets work with Google
  Play services, they’ll be useful no matter what Barnes & Noble ends up
  doing.”

I can’t pick the exact meaning of “end up with a doorstop.” "Doorstop" must be a metonym of something. I first took it for “doorstep.”

Does it mean a makeshift solution for sweeping out the company’s surplus inventory? Is this a set of phase? What does it mean?


texts: Are "smell like" and "smell of" the same?

texts:
Is there any difference between smell like and smell of?

I came across this sentence in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary:

  My hands smell like (US) / of (UK) onion.

But I'm not really sure about it because in the Longman Advanced American Dictionary, I came across smell of.

Does the usage have anything to do with whether the smell is of a real thing or something similar?

Like when you say "My hands smell of onion", it means that you have touched an onion and that's why your hands smell, and when you say "The food smells like rotten meat" it means that the smell of the food is similar to that of rotten meat, though there might be no meat in it?


texts: Difference between "pardon me" and "I beg your pardon"

texts: What is the difference in meaning between "pardon me" and "I beg your pardon"?


texts:
Is there a word or term for this?

To survive due to sheer will; against all odds.

Example: The polar explorer survived because of sheer will. He could have given up and succumbed to the cold, but he forged on until he reached his destination, despite the grim odds.


texts:
"All of them, that is, but Storm."

Is the above line a sentence fragment, and if so, why?

Thanks.


texts: Alternative term for a story within a story

texts:
I am trying to find the term for a story that exists on the side, in the background, or margin of another story but may or may not be related to it. The only examples I can think of are in comics or TV.

 Cartoons by Sergio Aragonés  that appeared within the margins of Mad Magazine and are referenced by Wikipedia as "Marginals".
The ongoing saga of Itchy and Scratchy that exists within each Simpson's Episode, I guess could be called a "Running Gag".
Another one is the Thomson & Thompson "side story" that usually appear in Tintin Adventures, although those are generally still related to the main plot.
The best and most precise example of what I am trying to term is the Belgian comic Leonardo, which have a cat and mouse character that engage in their own story in each panel completely independent of the main story.

I am looking for an alternative term to Marginal, Side Story, or Running gag if one exists that could define all of these variants.

If anyone has better examples in writing or other media, I would appreciate it.


texts: Present Perfect usage instead of Past simple

texts:
I cannot understand why tutorials, examples, etc. contain examples like this:

I have played

or

Have you been to Moscow?

Why Past Simple cannot be used in these sentences? Where is the "border" when I can use Past Simple?


texts:
I just read this lady's profile.

The following sentence has drawn my attention:

  I'm not above occasionally bending or breaking a grammar rule for good
  cause. But I do believe clear, persuasive communication requires
  sensible, well-respected language conventions.

What does "above" mean in this context? I've rarely seen such usage before, nor have I been able to find anything online. My best guess is it might mean "against". Or could it mean "free from"?

EDIT: so "not above" means "no better than"?


texts: Whats a word for making amends for a wrongdoing but with ulterior motives, ie not altruistically. Does anyone know of a word


texts: the word "partner" in business situations

texts: In business situations, is it acceptable to introduce a business partner as simply "my partner" or is it necessary to specify "my business partner"?  I have seen both used and the issue seems to revolve around ambiguity surrounding the increasing use of "partner" to allude to a romantic connection.  Does it matter if my partner is of the same or opposite sex?


texts: What's the difference between "recall" and "remember"?

texts:
As an example, in a legal setting:

  Do you recall what color the car was?
  Do you remember what color the car was?

Which would be more appropriate?


texts: Word order: Can a sentence start with its object?

texts:
Can the following sentence be considered as grammatically correct? :

"That(,) he doesn't need any more."


texts: Is it "following up on" or "following up with"?

texts:
Which of the following sentences would be correct?

I am following up with a purchase.
I am following up on a purchase.


texts: Is subjunctive the correct description for what's going on in this sentence?

texts:
In this question, two examples were given:

It never crosses my mind that he is lying to me.

It never crosses my mind that we might lose.

I believe that #2 works better than #1, and that #1 could be fixed by changing "is lying" to "might" or "would".
Why?  What's going on, grammatically?  I think it has something to do with the subjunctive, but maybe my understanding of Spanish grammar doesn't carry over to this as well as I imagine.


texts: Short expression to convey "but consider the source"

texts:
Is there a short phrase (one to three words), Latin or otherwise, that conveys "but consider the source"?

For example, "I heard that pigs fly on television (your phrase here)."

I'm thinking perhaps a phrase that begins with the Latin word "caveat".


texts: What's a term for appetite apart from hunger or pathological cause?

texts:
When I see or smell or think of something delicious, I feel a motivation to eat it. I may be hungry or I may be not hungry, it does not matter. Nor do I suffer from pathological polyphagia.

How to describe this kind of appetite in English?


texts: Omitting articles when contrasting people or things with "and"

texts:
There's a rule that says articles can be omitted when nouns referring to two contrasting people or things are joined by 'and'.

  The independent allowances for husband and wife will both be
  available.

  ...the natural relationship between father and son.

  In a formal sense, the main difference between teacher and student is the amount of education.

  ...as the distinctions between employer and employee are
  gradually eroded.

  ...with little gardens between river and road.

  There was a pause, and doctor and patient looked steadily at each
  other across the quiet room.

Does the same principle apply to nouns that by default have the definite article? If so, are the sentences below correct? Why is the definite article in sentence 3 omitted in the phrase "whereas for past tense"? Shouldn't it be "the past tense"? Is the definite article in "past tense" omitted because there's also an element of contrast?

  The relation between the sexes has always found its cosmic expression
  in the relation between moon and sun. (I'm talking about the earth's moon and sun)
  Even as the French king was hatching plans to destroy and annihilate a nascent coexistence between English language and
  English national identity, the supremacy of French culture was
  preserved by the language in which late medieval England conducted its
  official business. (Can the definite article in "English language" be omitted?)
  For English, Huddleston and Pullum (2002: 143) point out that the difference between present perfect and past tense is that in
  the present perfect the primary focus is on the present moment,
  whereas for past tense it is on the past.


texts:
Last week I had a test and there was a confusing question: we had to put the bare verb in the brackets into the correct forms and that question was:
""When I woke up last night, it .... (rain) heavily."
I filled in the gap with "had rained" but the correct answer was "was raining". Can anyone explain why I was wrong? Thank you!


texts: Simple phrasing of "free and without restriction"

texts:
I'm making a deck-building card game that has a player acquire cards. These cards have costs and requirements for acquiring them, so if the player does not meet the card's requirements or does not have enough to pay for the card, they cannot acquire it.

I am trying to phrase an effect that allows a player to acquire a card without paying for it even if they do not meet the requirements for acquiring it. I've spent too much time trying to come up with an elegant way of phrasing this, so I have come here for help.

"Ascension" is a card game with similar acquisition elements, however its cards have only costs. This game uses the phrase "acquire [the card] without paying its cost." I like this phrasing because its clear, concise, and is not childish as "for free" might sound. Adding card requirements to this is resulting in long or clunky phrasing.

In short, I'm looking for a nice way to phrase this:

  Acquire a card without paying its cost, regardless of restriction

I've thought of and rejected these phrases:

  Acquire a card without cost and restriction.

This seems to wrongly imply that one can acquire only a free, unrestricted card.

  Freely acquire a card without paying its cost

"Freely" is too vague in meaning. It could mean "at any time" or "as you please."

If there is no good phrase for this, then I am open to adopting a keyword to take the place of this meaning (a common practice in card games). If I should take this route, what keyword would be both appropriate and "catchy?"


texts: What is it called when you add 'im' to 'possible'?

texts: I took the ESL certification test and I was wondering: what is it called when you add 'im' to 'possible'?


texts: Is the usage of the idiom "Move Over" in this passage clear on what side to move over to?

texts:
Consider this passage in the Georgia DDS 2010 Driver’s Manual: on page 40:

The Georgia Move-Over Law requires
drivers to move over one lane when
possible if an emergency vehicle with
flashing lights is parked on the
shoulder of the highway. If traffic is
too heavy to move over safely, the law
requires drivers to slow down below
the posted speed limit AND to be
prepared to stop.

Without knowing why to move over, does the "Move-Over" usage above make it clear to where?
This law is a safety law, but if someone doesn't know that, is there a grammatical support to it?
If instead of "Emergency vehicle... of the highway" it was "an Emergency vehicle is flashing its lights behind you" it might have been understood as move to the left, Therefore the only clue to the understanding of where to move to is common sense and meaning and not sentence grammar.
Note that it is phrased "Move-Over ... if an emergency vehicle ..." and not "Move-Over ... for" one
So can it be understood by any reader, that it requires to Move Over to the right and not the left?


texts:
A sentence that does not seem right on account of syntax

Not only are verbs largely uninflected in English, but also nouns, pronouns and adjectives.

This sentence seems very unusual although it is understandable. I can't  tell what is wrong with it, if anything is. Possibly the adverb "only" is not properly positioned but I can't assert that.
Would someone confirm that there is a problem and explain what is wrong? Otherwise, can someone show that there is no  problem?


texts: Word/phrase to describe something popular due to its availability

texts:
How can I describe something (tool, method, etc.) that is common in use but not necessarily for its quality, unique features and effectiveness.

In fact, it is kind of popular because it's easy to obtain and highly available.


texts: What does it mean if a person tells one else to "Just shuck it"?

texts: Ok so obviously this is a new thing. Before school let out for the summer I picked my nephew up from school and when he got in the car we started to talk then he told me that another kid told him to "just shuck it" at first I thought he meant "suck it" a vulgar slang but he said "no it's shuck it" I told him I had no clue what that means. Later the same day I tried to look it up but found nothing online to explain what it means when you tell a person to "shuck it" now as of yesterday my nephew and son invited a friend of their's over they were playing a video game and my son told their friend it was his own fault the soldier on the game shot his character then their friend told him "oh shuck it" I heard it and asked what that means and they only told me "it's just something us teens say" but can anyone explain what in the world it means? Is "shuck it" bad grammar?


texts: How to describe three alternating options in a sentence?

texts:
I am trying to describe three alternative options in one sentence. Lets say the below sentence:

"By tuning its parameter, the network can become either A-centric or B-centric or even it can maintain a balance between the two."

or,

"The network is capable of becoming either A-centric or B-centric or it can even maintain a balance between the two by tuning its parameter."

How to write this sentence properly? Thanks.


texts:
The word bus, is derived from the word Omnibus in Latin since it means for everyone.
Over the years this probably got shortened down to bus.

Similarly, the word car is derived from the word Carrum which literally means wagon in Latin.

However, why is auto used to describe this vehicle used in India when it actually means self in Latin?


texts: Another way to express "ignore the pain"

texts:
Jim had ignored the pain thinking it was nothing.

What are some word choices for ignore?


texts: What is a single word for a ruling representative of a supreme leader who carries out his orders?

texts: What is a single word for a ruling representative of a supreme leader who carries out his orders and at the same time has almost complete rule over the portion of the earth in which the supreme leader has placed him?


texts: If one were to try and compare mixed food with food and a side which would you use? For example, what is the difference between "Green Salad with Dressing" and "Green Salad and Dressing" and which one would you use to imply the dressing was on the side?


texts: What is the correct term to use if telling someone to make sure his/her  document/record/sign has the most current information. Should it be "Keep your document updated" or "keep the document up-to-date"?


texts: If the prefix "a-" means not, shouldn't "await" or "awaiting" mean, "Not waiting?"

texts:
If:

Apolitical means "not political"

and

Amuse means...well, it should mean, "not thinking"

then why does await or awaiting not mean "not waiting?"

I read this earlier question (Is there a real difference between wait and await?) but this seems interested in the meaning.

One co-worker passed it off as "another example of why English makes no sense."

I'm hoping for a better explanation or at least some literary historic context.


texts:
I rather like to use the word thorough, but was recently informed by a reviewer that it was "archaic". Indeed, Merriam-Webster lists it first as an archaic spelling of through, with the familiar definition only as a secondary one.

Is this specific to American spellings, or is this a general trend?
What should I use instead?
Saying "painstakingly" might be all right, but it seems odd to say "He was very painstaking.".


texts: I am trying to find a name for packages received from carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc. Is it correct way to name it as "postal package"? I can't name it just as Package, because it is used for warehouse packages and I want to distinguish between them


texts:
And this guy was a man of the earth, so to speak.

What does it mean to say someone is "a man of the earth"?

This is said by Martin Scorsese in an biography book called "Conversations with Scorsese" by Richard Schickel. I don't have any idea what it means. A bit more context - which I'm not sure can help - is: "Anyway, the landlord may have felt that my father was involved with underworld figures, which he wasn’t really, but he behaved maybe a little bit like that; my father always liked to dress, you know. And this guy was a man of the earth, so to speak. And I think also his wife liked my father. So all this resentment was building up. And then there was a confrontation."


texts:
There was the following sentence in the New York Times (February 8) article titled, “Azerbaijan is rich. It wants to be famous.”:

  “Oil-rich, velvet-rope-poor Azerbaijan, a country about the size of
  South Carolina on the Caspian Sea, would very much like to be the
  world’s next party capital.”

Curiously enough, none of Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam-Webster online dictionary and English Japanese dictionaries at hand carries the word, 'velvet rope' under the heading of velvet as I checked, though some include 'velvet carpet' and 'velvet glove.'

I understand velvet ropes are seen in airports, hotels and event arenas as well as a red carpet to receive dignitaries and stars. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

It seems to me that Velvet, the symbol of the rich and Poor seem contradicting each other.

What does “velvet-rope-poor” mean?


texts: SAT grammar question: Why is this "them" incorrect?

texts:
SAT grammar question:

  There are (more than) 300 million English speakers (in) India, most of (them) acquired English (as) a second language. (No error)

The parentheses designate areas where the grammar of the sentence may be incorrect.  You have to select the area which is in error (or select "No error" if there is no error in the sentence).

(Them) is the error in the sentence.

Can someone explain why (them) is incorrect?


texts:
I came across a new word while reading Newspaper - chow-wow.  This context is a Cooking Fiesta workshop happening in the city.

Excerpt from the Newspaper:

  . . . . . "Well, you'll just have to invite me
  over for dinner so I can check if  you're as good as you claim to be!"
  piped chef Nikhil in jest, much in keeping with the chow-wow of
  the event.

What does chow-wow mean here?


texts: "In undertaking a review" vs. "by undertaking a review"

texts:
In undertaking a literature review,  it became clear that not always is there coherence between the principles...
  By undertaking a literature review, it became clear that not always is there coherence between the principles...

Is there any difference between using by and in here? The literature review has already been carried out, if that matters.


texts: Word that means "obsession with publishing"

texts: I once heard a word, derived from Latin or Greek elements, construed to describe a person who has an obsession with being published. What word might that have been? For example, what would you call some who has an inexplicable need to blog?


texts: Which houses (are/is) this road connected to?

texts:
We are having a debate at my work on if "are" or "is" is the right word to use in the above sentence (actually, a similar sentence which is work-related).

I am aware that there are other ways of rewriting this sentence which avoids this confusion, but keeping the sentence structure in-tact, what is the right word to use here? and why?

  Which houses ____ this road connected to?

  are
  is

First time poster here. Be gentle.


texts: Is "German measles" regarded as offensive?

texts:
Google NGrams indicates that "rubella" has been more commonly used than "German measles" since approximately the end of the WWII, and that it isn't because people have used "liberty measles" instead.

Is it because "German measles" is regarded as offensive these days? (For what it's worth, Wikipedia states that it got its name from German doctors discovering it)


texts: Word for a problem that goes away when a larger thing changes?

texts:
What is a word or expression for a problem has effectively gone away because of a larger change that makes the problem no longer a problem?

I'm thinking "obviated" or "made unnecessary," but it sounds awkward to me.

For example: The problem of the dripping faucet I meant to fix was "obviated" by doing a gut renovation (with all new plumbing) of the whole bathroom.

Or: My need to find a ride to the airport was "obviated" by my getting sick and cancelling the whole trip.

Or: I'm not fixing a typo in a certain draft of a document, as it was made unnecessary by having wrote a new draft of the document from scratch.


texts: "Noise" is to "Hearing" as ____ is to "Touch"

texts:
If you hear a lot of things, that's hearing noise
If you feel a lot of things, what is that?
For example, if you can feel wind brushing against your skin, sunlight on your face, the weight of a blanket on you, that's a lot of what?

Also, I just realised I can't think of a word for it, but is there a better word for "feeling" something that's more specific to the sensation of touch? Using "touching" seems to imply an action, while feeling seems to vague.


texts: What do gunslingers do with their hands?

texts:
In movies and games with cowboys when they are in a duel their fingers are almost about to get their guns, but then their fingers just start wiggling.

IN this specific motion what are gunslingers doing with their hands, especially their fingers? Is there a specific word that describes this motion?


texts: When, and why, did breaks become brakes?

texts:
Reading an account of the Round Oak Train Crash, I came across this passage:-

  A good deal of suspicion, to say the least of it, must fall upon the
  hind guard, Frederick Cook, as to the mode in which the break of the
  last van was employed on the journey towards Worcester; and this
  suspicion is by no means lessened by the circumstance that he
  permitted half-a-dozen passengers to ride with him in his van, and
  that he employed one of their number, according to his own admission,
  to take the break off in two cases.

And later

  In descending the incline from
  Round Oak to Stourbridge, there were four persons acting as breaksmen
  in different parts of the train...

which fixes the spelling break in 1858. But no dictionary definition of brake I have been able to find mentions this older spelling. Does anyone know when and why the spelling changed? Is there some etymological reason for this?


texts: Which term was coined first? "England" or "English"?

texts:
I've looked up the etymology of both words, and here they are:

English : "people or speech of England," O.E. Englisc, from Engle (pl.) "the Angles," the name of one of the Germanic groups that overran the island 5c., supposedly so-called because Angul, the land they inhabited on the Jutland coast, was shaped like a fish hook
England: O.E. Englaland, lit. "the land of the Angles"

Both, as you can see, do not list the dates on which they were coined. My question is, was as one word was coined before another, which was coined earlier? Does anyone have any definitive information regarding this?


texts: How recent is the use of "so" as in "I'm so full", and did it originate in US or UK English?

texts:
On another site somebody has claimed that "so" in constructions like "I'm so full" is "modern California-style young people's colloquial English".

But is it? I'm over 50, I'm a native English speaker, and I'm not American. It doesn't strike me as recent or American, but maybe I'm wrong.


texts:
I am planning on get squiffy this evening, and then I wondered where that word had come from.

Oxford Dictionaries has the following:

  British informal
    1slightly drunk:
      I feel quite squiffy

Can anyone shed any light on this word's origin?

Online references I've checked have nothing more than possibly mid-19th century.


texts:
The problem with this generation is they take everything for granted, their parents are never at home when needed and the little time they spend together is wasted in meaningless text messages and Facebook updates

In the sentence above, the nominal predicative of the problem with this generation is literally the whole sentence minus the problem with this generation, right?

Should I bother adding that before each independent clause (?) or noun. By the way what do call these type of clauses that look like independent clauses but they are not  I mean they all are connected by and. Are they noun clauses?


texts:
The New Oxford American Dictionary defines one sense of drag to be:

Clothing more conventionally worn by the opposite sex, esp. women's clothes worn by a man: a fashion show, complete with men in drag | [as adj.] a live drag show

Now that second bit saying that it is an adjective raises my eyebrows a bit, because that example doesn't look like an adjective to me.  I parse that as
a     live  drag show
det.  adj.  noun compound

And I feel this interpretation is vindicated if we contrast sentences like

The show will be so extravagant.

with

*The show will be so drag.

Here I replaced an adjective (extravagant) describing a "show" (the same noun in the sentence provided by the dictionary) with "drag" and got a sentence that seems to me to be ungrammatical.  If "drag" were being used as an adjective in the example sentence then it should be separable from the noun it modifies, and it seems to not be.  And this evidence is completely congruent with a noun compound understanding of the phrase.
Now to be a little less naïve, I do definitely see how one could think that drag is an adjective in the sentence.  My perspective is quite different from a monolingual English speaker who did not spend a large amount of time in school diagramming sentences.  It is a word right before a noun that modifies it, which is basically how adjectives work most the time.  And I could definitely see it being a pragmatic choice on the part of the dictionary to cater towards a simpler more approachable understanding.  However the issue I see with this is that English allows noun compounding with basically all nouns.  And the NOAD does not list every noun this way.  So there must be something special about the word it is trying to tell me, but I don't know what it is.
So my questions here are: What's going wrong?  Have I misread the dictionary?  What is the dictionary trying to tell me.


texts: Formal way to say "if it doesn't work out for you, then never mind"

texts:
I am writing an email asking for a change of meeting time. The recipient is a very important client who I've never met. And here is what I wrote:

  Please ignore the request if it causes inconvenience for you, and I will meet you at the originally scheduled time.

I would like to know if this is formal enough, and whether if it expresses my idea clearly. Thank you!


texts: "Workforce" - but with a more white-collar connotation

texts:
I'm asking for exactly what I stated in my title. The problem with "workforce" is that it denotes a blue-collar, manual labor kind of image. Is there a similar single noun word that might infer more white-collar-like image?

Sample: "I'm looking to re-enter the workforce again very soon!"


texts:
Consider:

  ‘Why what else are you?’ returned John, looking down upon her with a smile, and giving her waist as light a squeeze as his huge hand and arm could give. ‘A dot and’—here he glanced at the baby—‘a dot and carry—I won’t say it, for fear I should spoil it; but I was very near a joke.  I don’t know as ever I was nearer.’

What does 'a dot and carry' mean in this context?


texts: Is it "we kept a safe distance from each other" or "we kept a safe distance away from each other"

texts:
Is "we kept a safe distance away from each other" incorrect or less correct than "we kept a safe distance from each other"?

First time asking on this stack exchange -- apologies if I am not adding enough detail!


texts: Referring to an author of an academic paper whose gender is unkown

texts:
Suppose you are writing an academic paper.
When referring to an author of a paper whose gender is unknown, what pronoun should you use?
"He", "she", "he/she", "they", etc?
Maybe you think this is a trivial question if you refer to the author only a few times.
But what if you have to refer to the author 10 times or more?

Remark(Nov. 14, 2015)
My question is different from the question with respect to the following points.

1) You are writing an academic paper.

2) You have to refer to the author of a paper whose gender is unknown 10 times or more.


texts: Can the verb "intake" be used intransitively?

texts: Can a combustion engine be said to intake oxygen?


texts: Difference Between Since and For When Referring to Past Event

texts:
I'm a pen pal with a couple of native German speakers.
We correct each others mistakes and try to explain why they are mistakes if it's not a cut and dry solution like conjugation etc.

There is a common error they make when they try refer to an event in the past that continues to happen.

Instead of using "for" when appropriate, they use "since".

Some examples:

  the most popular band within germany since years, when it comes to
  alternative rock and pop music
  Yes, I play FF since two years, but not very serious.

One of the reason I think this is common is that in German the conjunction "seit" would be used. It is a cognate with a very similar meaning and I think that is contributing to the reason this mistake seems common among them.

After a little internal reasoning this is the answer I have assembled:

  You made a small mistake I have
  seen several German speakers make with whom I have communicated with. You
  used “since” as the conjunction instead of “for.” You probably used
  “since” because in German you would use “seit” (I think) and they
  sound the same and have very similar meaning in both languages.
  However, “for” is the correct word. Both conjunctions point to a
  moment of time in the past and indicate whatever is referencing that
  moment in time is continuing to happen. To know when to use one or the
  other, think of it this way: “For” is used when a measure of
  time(minutes, seconds, hours, seconds) is used in the to describe the
  length of time and “since” does not. Examples: Since I was a boy….
  Since I began to….. Since she told me…… For a few days……. For several
  years……..

I want to be sure that what I have told them is correct. If I'm missing any piece to this answer, then please let me know.

I found this previously asked question here: Is there a difference in meaning between "from the beginning" and "since the beginning"?

I didn't think it answered the question fully enough, so I wanted to ask it with some more clarity.

Thanks for any feedback you may give.


texts:
With no prior conversation, person A says to person B: "Your mother would've been very proud of you."
Person B then says: "You didn't know my mother very well then."

Does "then" work here?
It doesn't seem right.

This is a video of the interaction I'm talking about (Between two video game characters)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqIKRL_5f6o&feature=youtu.be&t=90


texts: Best word to describe “historically used formally but no longer acceptable”?

texts:
What is a good word to use to describe a word that was used in history but now is becoming obsolete in literature because of its racial, cultural, or ethical bias implications?
For example, what is a good word to use to describe:

Virginity (associated with the commodification of people especially women in that those who have not had sex are seen as more pure and desirable)
Homosexual (appears neutral but is associated with derogatory projections of gay people. It is becoming replaced by the terms gay/same-sex orientation etc.)
Nigger (while used still as a casual slang term amongst friends, the word is no longer acceptable in any form of public writing except when it is brought up to be discussed for its historical context).

Thanks!
EDIT: I want to edit this so that it’s clearer that maybe “obsolete” is not the best word here, as simply “being driven out of usage by its traditional context in formal literature” may describe what I’m looking for better. The term may still be used in slang or whatnot, but would not be considered prudent or even be considered offensive in formal conversation or literature.


texts: Is "What's your Islam question?" grammatically correct?

texts:
The placeholder text in the title input box here reads:

What's your Islam question? Be specific.

Is that sentence grammatically correct? Islam being a noun.


texts: Is there a word for someone who annoys you on purpose so you eventually have to do their bidding?

texts:
Say, there's this person who is currently in disagreement with your decision. They know how to get under your skin, so they repeatedly did it on purpose in hopes eventually you'll give in and do what they wanted. I'm looking for a word that might fit this description, along with the confirmation whether this is considered a toxic behaviour or not.
Apologize for that, I had thought it might be a little out of scope. I wanted to look it up myself, but it's tough without a phrase to go with.
To add a little bit more context: they pester you by bringing up the topic every time they meet you in person or singing loudly nearby in order to to break your concentration when working, because they know you can't stand being in a constant presence of someone so noisy, and you give in to their demands only so they will shut up about it.
I intend to use this word in a character analysis, so this is a completely fictional situation.
Conclusion: There seem to be no exact word for this in English, so I will be satisfied with persistent, and manipulative if I feel like taking it up a notch. Thank you for everyone's input, I appreciate every word and phrase suggestions. Pardon me if, by any chance, I come off as obstinate and for not noticing there might be two characteristics in the above description.


texts: Why are ordinal numbers used to express fractions?

texts:
For fractional numbers other than n/2 and n/4 (which can also be expressed as n fourth/s), such as 1/3 (one third) and 7/10 (seven tenths), the denominator is expressed in the ordinal form of the number.

An explanation given on Quora is that it comes from "'a fourth part of a whole' (or, in general, ' part of a whole') which was a turn of speech that communicated clearly enough that you divided the whole into four (or n) parts and then you only took one of them." However this is unsourced.

French uses the same system but I did not find any source on any potential connection, and I have no idea where the French got the way of expression from.


texts:
There is a question/answer paragraph with misty meaning:

  Q:Are mom and dad still alive?

  A:Actually, you turned out to be Batman, so we had to have them put
  down for story-line purposes.

What does the last phrase mean?


texts: have done something at one specific point in the future

texts:
I'm wondering whether this is grammatically correct?

I'll do something when I have done something else

have done something else hasn't happened and will be some time in the future


texts: Describing how a contained object/subject limits the minimum size of its container

texts:
If A is inside B, it might be said that the size of B constricts the maximum size of A. What is the word to describe A's limiting effect on the minimum size of B? What I'm trying to describe is how an increase in size of A affects B.

For added bonus, a better word than 'constricts' is also useful.


texts:
I’m looking for a word (or literary/biblical reference) that means “a high place close to power and/or god.”
As in “the stage was her ___, where she felt as if she could conquer the world.”
Right now I’ve settled on “dominion,” but that doesn’t quite capture the spatial connotation I’m after. “High ground” is better on that front but lacks the immense power connotation I need.
I swear I’ve got one on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t quite reach it.


texts:
A friend of mine bought something on Groupon, and received a mail about how to use the voucher.

It says:

  Open the pdf file attachment
  Print voucher
  Take note of the fine print
  Redeem your voucher

The 1 and 2 are obvious, and 4 seems obvious as well, but what does the 3 mean?


texts:
He has no patience for the view that instead of raising interest rates his next move will be to cut the trendsetting overnight rate.

I'm not a native English speaker. I read the above sentence in a paper and understood all the words. But I am confused about his standpoint. Does "he has no patience for the view" mean:

He doesn't like people's view about such? (meaning he doesn't support the idea)
He can't wait to say his view about such? (meaning he supports the idea)


texts:
I have an English name but that English name is not shown on my passport or birth certificate. However, I would like to be known by that English name. How should I show people that I would like to be know by that name?

For example, my legal name is Jia Wen Lee. If I want to be known by my English name, can I put my name as Jia Wen Lee(Jane) ?

Thanks for reading through and helping me!


texts: Can "quinquagenarian" be employed for something else than a person?

texts:
Many dictionaries' definitions of "quinquagenarian" suggest this adjective should be used only when referring to a person.

My question is: can it be used for anything else? For example, is it sound to talk about a quinquagerarian book?


texts: Another way to say “when we send you there”

texts:
I’m looking for another way to say ..

  When we send you there

It’s referencing an introduction in a website context; When you click the link we will let the destination know that you’re with us. Think of it like an introduction.


texts: Is "at all" necessary in the following sentence?

texts:
My body was totally anesthetized at the time. It was a miracle I had
  managed to get an erection at all.

Is the at all at the end neccesary?


texts:
I went to the dentist half a year ago, but when I mentioned that to my girlfriend, I said that I went there "the other day." She said that events which happened such a long time ago definitely did not happen "the other day", but this violated my understanding of the phrase; I would use it to refer to any event that happened in the relatively recent past—maybe at some point in the last two years. My girlfriend would not use it to refer to any event that happened less recently than last month. Neither of us is a native speaker of English, so I would like to ask:   which understanding is closer to common English usage?   When is an event so old that the phrase "the other day" no longer applies?

Note: I understand that phrases like this are of course not clearly defined and usage may depend on the speaker and the context. But nevertheless there must be some kind of vague time frame at work here; one would not say that an event which happened twenty years ago happened the other day, but it would be fine to say so if it happened a week ago. So what I want to know is if there exists a bit tighter limit on this time frame.


texts:
This sentence comes from Active Skills for Reading 3:

In most parts of the world, storm clouds would be greeted with a frown. But in India, it's said that when the monsoon rains come, a billion people smile.

Why has the writer used would and not present simple (i.e., are greeted)?
Grammar books say we use present simple for general statements. Why isn't the present simple used here then?


texts: Correct tense to express one's holding a professorship from 2007 to June 2012

texts:
When editing for a valedictory occasion, I came across this: "Prof. Li holds the XXX Professorship from 2007 to 2012."  It is the tense of "holds" that baffles me.

If the sentence was one of the following three, then I would not have been baffled:

(1) "Prof. Li is holding the XXX Professorship."

(2) ""Prof. Li holds the XXX Professorship."

(3) "Prof. Li has been holding the XXX Professorship from 2007." -- this means his is still holding it and the sentence does not tell when this holding of Professorship will end.

But the situation is that Prof. Li's XXX Professorship will end with his leaving the university in June -- the duration of his Professorship is(was?) from 2007 to June 2012.  So what tense should I use.  I am doubtful that "Prof. Li HOLDS the XXX Professorship from 2007 to 2012" is correct.


texts:
DCR(Dark Current Rate) represents the base noise level of a SPAD caused by parasitic avalanches happening in the dark due to thermal noise and band-to-band tunnelling effects.
I don't understand why the author wrote caused instead of writing is caused in the above sentence. Please explain how to use and form such kinds of sentences and what are they called?
Please explain it with some examples if possible.


texts: What does the phrase "to create a new national majority" refer to?

texts:
I'm confused by this passage:

  Roosevelt revolutionized the art of political campaigning, revitalized the Democratic party, and created a new national majority that included those previously cast aside.

Could someone please do me a favour to explain the phrase in bold? In particular, can you explain how one could  "create" a majority? What does the phrase "a new national majority" exactly mean?


texts:
Reading following sentence on the website of a Japanese company, I felt somewhat odd with the usage of "begin(or begun in this case)" as there are no words or phrases indicating “timing” in and around the sentence. I imagine you might unconsciously try to find “when” it began(begun), too. Is my feeling or understanding correct, or you can use “begin” without implication of “timing”?

“Not content with merely managing our forests appropriately, we have begun initiatives to utilize them for a range of beneficial purposes.”


texts: What is the category name for words like notwithstanding, forthwith, etc...?

texts: These words all have something in common: heretofore, forthwith, notwithstanding, therefore, etc... what are these kinds of words called? And where can I find a list of them?


texts: Is it correct to use the phrase "pay attention" with "that"?

texts:
Is it correct to say "Pay attention that..."? or must I use "Pay attention to..."

For example: "An attention should be paid that this is a one-way street".


texts:
This is an argument I had with a colleague of mine.

We're trying to say that all the comments have been cleared, as per the client's requests.

He issued a report to a client, on which the client had some comments. Can you then, for example, send him an email saying "this is the report after vanishing all your comments"?

I tried to argue to th[e] effect [that vanish doesn't work because it means something like disappear], but he just referred me to another synonym for "vanish" which is "to clear something".

Could that be considered a correct usage of the word, even if uncommon?


texts: See you on 7th October or I am seeing you on 7th October

texts:
I am about to say goodbye to a friend that I know that I’m going to meet again on the 7th of October.

Before leaving should I say “See you on the 7th of October", "I will see you on the 7th of October” or “I am seeing you on the 7th of October”? My doubt is, if it is a fixed plan, why not use the present continuous form, I am seeing you..?

And in case I am looking at my schedule and someone asks me when I am going to see someone (for example my mother), can I say, "I am seeing my mother on the 7th of October"?


texts: Historical grammatically of “Do not go gentle into that good night”?

texts:
I am not by any means a poetry expert, but I know a bit about grammar and writing. Ergo, I can say that in Dylan Thomas’s most famous poem, Do not go gentle into that good night, the refrain that the poem takes its name from is ungrammatical. The grammatically correct way to write (or say) this would be “Do not go gently into that good night.” What I want to know is as follows:

a) Is there a historical usage of “gentle” as an adverb and b) if there isn’t, why did Thomas determine that it was okay to use an adjective adverbially? Or is there some poetry-grammar exception that I am unaware of?


texts: What do 'en.' and 'more'n' mean in this passage?

texts:
The passage, from The Invisible Man by H.G.Wells, is following:

"'Tas sperits," said Mrs. Hall. "I know 'tas sperits. I've read in papers of en. Tables and chairs leaping and
dancing..."
"Take a drop more, Janny," said Hall. "'Twill steady ye."
"Lock him out," said Mrs. Hall. "Don't let him come in again. I half guessed—I might ha' known. With them goggling eyes and bandaged head, and never going to church of a Sunday. And all they bottles—more'n it's right for any one to have. He's put the sperits into the furniture.... My good old furniture! 'Twas in that very chair my poor dear mother used to sit when I was a little girl. To think it should rise up against me now!"


texts: Im looking for a word that describes someone being intentionally critical after you have forced them to do something

texts:
Im looking for a word that describes someone who after being put into a situation they didn't want to be apart of they then get extremely critical of the person that asked them to do something.

in some ways they are being passive aggressive at the person. I do not think that fits as a one word answer.

I originally thought of Sarcastic but that does not describe the action correctly. I feel overly critical plays into the question.


texts: Suitability of "abstract" for describing an "alternative message to a long text"

texts:
I would like to know whether using the word abstract is suitable for describing a message going along with a longer text. I know in academia it is used for something very specific, but I'm more interested in its etymological value rather than its conventional.

This is for an application I'm making where there is a long text and then the author can provide a shorter text functioning as:

some parallel short message
short summary
essence of the text.

I hope the question make sense.


texts: What does this sentence mean in this paragraph?

texts:
It is often claimed-by mountaineers needless to say-that mountaineering has a more distinguished literature than any other sport or pastime.Certainly, the best of what is written in the major journals stands comparison with the best essays written in the English Language. Mountaineering has produced a huge library of books, and a significant number of them are of lasting importance. (Is mountaineering a sport? in Philosophy and Sport, ed. by Anthony O'Hear)

I do not understand the meaning of the second sentence at all. Also another parts of the article gives no hint about it; the author just presupposes that the reader should know what it means.

Mountaineering, in the eyes of this Oxbridge professor, is a real sport which is for fun and diversion.It is even the most gracious one.

Thus much I can say, please help me clarify what the second sentence means!


texts: Is there a passive form of “to masturbate”?

texts:
First of all, I hope this question does not get banned due to inappropriate content. It that is the case, I’d be glad to know how I can reformulate the question in order to stay within the rules.

Now, as I got into a discussion about sex, I got curious about this one thing:

There is an active form for to masturbate, which of course is that very form (I masturbate, you masturbate, he/she masturbates. . . .).

But since there are passive forms for

to shoot → to get shot
to wash → to get washed
to rob → to get robbed
. . . .

what about

to masturbate → to be masturbated?

It doesn’t actually matter if you use the word masturbate, wank, fap, or whatever words you know. What I mean is, I cannot remember ever having read or heard a passive form for to masturbate. But what do you call a “handjob” if you intend to use the word masturbate?

What would an author write, if he wanted to write something like:

  She went down with her hand and started. . . .

And again, if this should be inappropriate, please let me know if/how I reformulate this question to stay within the rules.


texts: What's a good word for "Expensive, but worth the money?"

texts:
I'm categorizing some products, and am lumping the cheapest ones together under "Budget-friendly." However, I'm having trouble with the high-priced group name.

Basically, I'm looking for a shorter (1-2 words) version of "Expensive, but so worth it!"

TIA,

JSB


texts: Single word for 'and thus', 'as such' or 'in other words'

texts:
I'm writing a list to describe a subject, like:

  He's handsome, articulate, immensely intelligent, physically fit, but spends most of his time tinkering in his garage … in other words, Tony Stark!

What single word can I substitute for the expression in other words, or to summarize, in sentences such as the above?


texts: Nailed, screwed, and hammered in one sentence

texts:
"Can someone be so "screwed" because someone "nailed" an argument that made him "hammered"?
Is my sentence correct? Can we use those three slangs in one sentence? I understand that these slangs have different meanings but can be used synonymously. But, can you give sample sentences using those slangs?


texts: What do you call a person who counts the favor he has done for you?

texts: Sometimes he/she rubs it in your face. What do you call the instance of this action? What do you call this action?


texts: What are the ancient (obsolete) names of the "book spine"?


texts: Why do we say latitude and longitude instead of longitude and latitude?

texts: Latitude measures degree from the equator and longitude measures the degree from the prime meridian, each corresponding to the x-axis and y-axis of the world. However, normally when we are talking about axes we say the x-axis and then y-axis, so it should be longitude and latitude, but we refer to it the other way. Why is this?


texts:
Why can someone be intrepid but not trepid ?

The Free Dictionary and Merriam-Webster both consider trepid to be a real word, but my computer’s little spell-checker program does not recognize it as such.

Why can’t someone be trepid, despite the fact that one can feel trepidation?


texts: Should there be a space before and after an ampersand when writing numerals?

texts:
How should one write "one and two" in short form - 1&2 or 1 & 2? Are there any particular rules regarding this?

In context:

  You may choose to do Information Technology Units [1&2/1 & 2] and then IT Apps Units [3&4/3 & 4] for VCE.
  Chapters [1&2/1 & 2] of the book give the reader an idea of the protagonist's personality.

I had a look at this question and, whilst it had helpful and informative answers, it did not provide any detail on the usage of an ampersand to combine numerals.


texts: Is there a difference between 'They all had done something' and 'They had all done something'?

texts:
So, I preparing for this test and one of the questions is this.

The teacher remarked that they all had done it very badly.

Why is this sentence structure wrong?
I found this question in English learner stackexchange that expands more on the position of the word all in a sentence.


texts: Is there anywhere that has a large list of phonological rules of Standard American English and/or other dialects?

texts: I'm looking for a giant list of phonological rules of American English. None of the reference grammars that I have looked at appear to include something like this. Any directions anyone could push me in? Thank you in advance!


texts: Should it be law, or laws? Or do both work?

texts:
In this sentence, should it be law, or laws? Or do both work? Also, if 'laws' is used, should it be 'is' or 'are'?

...because laws and enforcement is only used to establish fairness
...because law and enforcement is only used to establish fairness


texts: Meaning of "look as far off now as they did them"

texts:
"Well, Tormance is a big place. But I have an infallible rule, Corpang. As I come from the south, I always go due north."
"That will take us to Lichstorm."
Maskull gazed at the fantastically piled rocks all around them. “I saw these rocks from Matterplay. The mountains look as far off now as they did them, and there’s not much of the day left. How far is Lichstorm from here?”
Corpang looked away to the distant range. “I don’t know, but unless a miracle happens we shan’t get there tonight.”
[Source: A Voyage to Arcturus]

Can you please explain what you understand to be the meaning of "look as far off as they did them"? As is one of the most tricky words in English. I cannot understand the meaning of "as" here and "they did them" part. The context doesn't give a clue, either. Please help me understand.


texts:
Perceptions of threat are hypothesized to be influenced by one’s own vulnerability, and thus to be greater among those individuals who are
experiencing more difficult economic conditions or vulnerability.

At this sentence I couldn't understand what the meaning of the section ",and thus to be...". Is thus to be a phrase or something else?


texts: Can a courtyard be used to describe a place that doesn't have plants?

texts:
I am trying to describe an area like a square, but it is not square shaped. I was wondering if a courtyard is an appropriate word to use because I have seen people use it but when I tried to google it to see what results I would get. The places I found all had trees, so I was wondering if people imagine a place with plants when courtyard is used and what other word could be used to describe an area that is like a square but is not square shaped.

The place I am talking about is 400,800 square meters including the building the surrounds the area, I don't know how big the courtyard is but I know that it is huge, I apologize if that is not helpful, but I really don't know.

I don't know how to explain it, but it is like a square, and it doesn't have plants. It is a place that is open in the middle of the building where people can sit and relax or even play, but it is not square shaped.

This is a link to the place I am trying to talk about:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Mecca

[image Wikipedia]


texts: I was having a conversation with a friend regarding smoking cessation. After mentioning that I began using an e-cigarette, he referred to it as a "healthier" alternative. I refuted by stating that it is a "less unhealthy" alternative. He agreed that I am correct, however stated that his use of "healthier" was also correct. His argument was that the baseline of health was not a constant in the situation, instead was fluid and moved to the mark of the level of health that smoking a cigarette is in comparison. My view is that "healthier" implies that it is on the side of the spectrum of positives, not being less negative. Am I incorrect in this view?


texts: Can "up to" mean neglecting, ignoring, excluding...?

texts:
In scientific writing my professor (not a native English speaker) sometimes uses "up to SOMETHING" with the intention of expressing that SOMETHING is neglected, ignored, or excluded (see the examples below). Is such usage ever correct? (It seems a bit contrary to the widespread use cases such as in "up to five" or "to be up to something".) Is there some other short expression that can be used to convey this intended meaning in general.

Here are the examples (First line: what is written. Second line: what is meant.)

  A fulfills the condition B up to corrections of order x^4.

  (A fulfills the condition B if we expand everything in x and neglect all terms of x^4 and higher.)

or

  A equals B up to C-effects.

  (A equals B if the effects of the phenomenon C are ignored.)

or

  A is fixed up to a phase.

  (We can determine the magnitude of A, but not the phase.)


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Capitalization for a bullet list

When using a list, like this:

first item
second item
third item

should the first word in each item be capitalized? I.e., is this better style:

First item
Second item
Third item

Does this depend on the content of the list, i.e. whether I use just keywords like in my example, or whole sentences?


texts:
In English class today, I wrote the following sentence:

  If Susan had told Tom the truth, he would not be so angry.

It seems to me that "so angry" is not really the best way of saying it. Is "as angry as he is" better? Or do you have any other suggesting?


texts: Can “to punt something” mean “not to do something”?

texts:
Somewhere, I picked up the use of “to punt something” (or “to punt on something”) to mean “choosing not to do something” or “choosing not to do something now”. Examples:

  The weather looks bad, let’s punt (on) the bike ride.

But I am having doubt that this is a correct use of the term, and I can find hardly any related references, so I am seeking clarification.

Also, is it to put something or to punt on something, or both?

Some of the possibly related references I found are:

  Let’s extend all the tax cuts and punt again. (source)

The free dictionary says:

  Informal To cease doing something; give up: Let's punt on this and try something else.

Multiple slang dictionarlies (this one and this one), which maybe indicates that this used in computer jargon, but not in general English.
According to Yahoo answers, it is also business jargon.


texts: Are "Creep up" and "Climb up" phrasal verb?

texts:
In the phrases "Creeping up the backstairs" or "Climbing up the wall",
is up  only a preposition, or is it part of a phrasal verb?


texts: "feline" is to "cat" as "???" is to "monkey"

texts: I have been unable to think of a word which describes this. Does someone know the answer? Is it simian?


texts: Does the Oakland Athletics logo misuse the apostrophe?

texts:
For years I have thought the Oakland Athletics baseball team has misused the apostrophe. I've always thought the "A" is an abbreviation for "Athletic" and the "s" makes "Athletic" plural. Is my thinking correct?

If not, why is "A's" an acceptable shortening of "Athletics"?

The same is true with multiple versions of the Baltimore Orioles logo.

I would like citations for reasoning.

Thanks.


texts: Acclamation vs. acclaim as nouns: When to use one or the other?

texts:
Back when life was simpler, the words “acclamation” and “acclaim” behaved within precise heterogeneous bounds. The first acted publicly as a noun and the second as a verb. I was naive, oblivious to “acclaim’s” notoriously promiscuous life. The bliss continued until one day I hovered over a gawky line in Wikipedia.

  “It brought acclaim for many Aboriginal artists.”

Reputable dictionary entries about “acclaim,” assign a slot at the bottom of the page to warn you that, indeed, the word may also crossdress as a noun. But my primitive non-Chomskian logic found it hard to agree. How do you bring “acclaim” and not “acclamation” to Aboriginal artists? I felt the word “acclaim” was too verb-like. So, I kept rewriting the line in my mind to say, “brought acclamation.” But, this combination yielded surprisingly few results in Google.

I had to switch to “praise,” one of “acclaim’s” relative words, to make sense. The grammar behind “brought praise” is native to the modern religious language of revivalism (Ngram). Though to me it lacked elegance when replaced with “acclaim,” I had to admit that the phrase was grammatically sound. The sources I consulted, however, offered limited user instructions. So, I still wonder.

  If as nouns they may behave synonymously, when should we prefer to use “acclaim” over “acclamation”?

I- Questions with some similarities:

1- Kudos?

2- Notoriety

II- Outside attempts to address the issue:

1- Differences between acclaim and acclamation?

2- Acclaim and credit


texts: Using the word "impressive" with a condition

texts: I want to say "it is impressive given that he/she did it only in 10 min" in an informal and short form. Is it correct to stay "impressive for a 10-min-work"? Thanks.


texts: Meaning of the word "gets" in this context

texts:
This month’s article comes from Cabinet Magazine and is rather peculiar — it elevates the discussion of something my 2-year old “gets” to the rarefied realm of academic prose.The article is about tickling — why we do it, and how it relates to the very essence of humor

What is the meaning of gets in the above para?


texts: What does the road name 'Meend' mean in English?

texts:
I live in a road called 'Kells Meend' and for years I've been trying to find out what the word 'Meend' means.

Here's the road name on Google maps.

And, on Streetmap (if you scroll around)you can see other examples:

Coleford Meend
Bream's Meend

The area (The Forest of Dean) used to be known for coal mining and timber production so it might have something to do with that.

The only reference I can find is wikipedia but that refers to - 'In Hindustani music, meend refers to a glide from one note to another' - which, I suspect is not the meaning of the word in this context.

Anyone got any ideas ?


texts: A list of places that you would go to for something you need

texts:
Like,

grocery store
utilities store
meat shop
car wash
bank

These are the places (unordered) I would normally go to regularly and possibly all of them in a single day. Is there a name for this kind of list? Or something descriptive along something common in each of those...


texts:
The case is:

  Most of the interviewed reported to follow some kind of religion.

It seems awkward to say that, but can it be said so? Are there alternative ways for it?

PS. I'd say something like: "... to take part in some kind of religious group."


texts: Synonym for "In the final phase of this study"

texts:
Can anyone give me a synonym for the phrase "In the final phase of this study"?

I have already used this phrase in my paper and now I am looking for a synonym without losing the real meaning of the phrase.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!


texts: Do you often don't know - do I need to use "do" 2x?

texts:
Talking to my UK colleagues daily in English, I have had no idea that such a sentence is possible " Do you often don't know where to put your arms".
What is the difference between:

  Do you often don't know...

and

  Do you often not know...


texts: What's another, neutral, way to call someone who continues a story?

texts: I am trying to label someone who plays roles in a story; for example, I want someone who makes the story happen. Beginning, middle, and end. I have Creator and Destroyer, but I need something in the middle that doesn't carry a negative connotation. I'm using aggravator, but that's negative.


texts: "Can't you see the person is embroidering?" - idiomaticity and alternatives?

texts:
Two persons, who were not privy to a scene, are now observing two others who are talking:

[...]
[one of the former, reacting to something that was just said]
-Why did she/he say that!? What is he/she talking about??
-Can't you see the person is embroidering?
-Oh, I see... [or]
-Where's the needle?? [or]
-Android-a-ring?? [!]

Is that idiomatical in AmE/BrE today? Is there another expression in context for saying that someone is making up details, or even embellishing a story - yet not necessarily lying - and which is related to some fine craft or technique(science, business etc.), while possibly being more idiomatic than to embroider(NED)?1 I'm looking at the description of the make up verb phrase but don't find it particularly insightful...

1. The archaic verb to broider is obviously very similar to the french verb broder, which also has that decorative needlework meaning(and the verb could mean upon something as well as the making up of the whole garment), but also figuratively speaking, with words or even music, bears this idea(also referenced in the NED) of an industrious and pretty make up basically, while being completely idiomatic: when you think about what dentelle(lace) is for instance, it's about a clever, custom (hand, preferably)made, and sophisticated pattern(of cloth). Therein lies the idea imho.


texts: How to determine if a "[something] fighter" fights for or against [something]?

texts:
In freedom fighter the fighter supports freedom.
In fire fighter the fighter fights fire.

How do you determine when it is the first or the second case?

What is the meaning of spam fighter?

@Hellion,
as the afterthought and in response to comments by @Kosmonaut,
and as a person who has lived in a dozen of countries, in the East and the West,
the positive connotation is highly subjective and culture-specific.

How should I use "spam fighter" to be understood:

in negative connotation?
in positive  one?

How to interpret, for example the "culture fighter", "education fighter", "religion fighter"?

One could tell that this depends on context.
And if I see this as nicks on the internet?


texts: I have a proverb in my native tongue saying something like "there is no cat chasing fish for God" which implies that anyone who does anything that may seem beneficial to you, is doing it for themselves. What is the equivalent proverb in English?


texts: Why is "writing" spelled with only one T?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there any rhyme or reason to when one should double the last consonant when adding -ed or -ing?

It has always been a word that intuitively I wish to spell with two Ts.
So does anyone know why it's not writting?

Could it just be that the T is harder when said in a continuous tense while the T is harder, for example, in the word bite than in its continuous form?


texts: What is the exact meaning of the "oh so " idiom?

texts:
I routinely find this expression in newspaper, magazines, blogs... My guess is that it's used to report a widely shared opinion, but I couldn't find any confirmation of this. Or maybe it's just used to emphasize the adjective? I'm afraid I might be missing a subtelty here.

Here are a few examples from the first page of googling "oh so *":

Paul Ryan's oh-so-clever jab at Jay Cutler
Chivas USA came oh so close to getting the first goal of the match
The movie-star-handsome [...] stung with that oh-so-direct comeuppance
Robert Pattinson Oh So Lonely: 'No One Ever Calls Or Texts Me!'
An Oh-So-British Affair Projects a Fresh, Antique Charm
LaPorta made an oh-so-costly error in the game
Finally, the long, oh so very long flight back to Vancouver


texts: "That's got carpet tile written all over it. "?

texts:
I'm watching a british TV show "The Great British Bake Off" and stumbled upon this conversation.

(One contestant(B) trying to pull out a cake lifter after placing a cake on a stand. Another person(A) overlooking that and says,)

  A: "That's got carpet tile written all over it."
  B: "Asking for disaster."

Could someone tell me what is this means please?


texts:
How can I refer to switching a functionality on and off, such as reading tags for songs, by using the verb toggle? Can it be used like the 'stop doing something' construct? I saw a couple of examples for 'toggle between...' and 'toggle through...' in Merriam-Webster dictionary, all of which included non-gerund nounds, and that's straightforward. Also, I'm not sure about using the definite article before the gerund; I know that singular countable nouns must be used with an article except for special cases, such as headings or maybe explicitly terse writings, but is it required in this case?

I considered the below wordings:

Toggle reading tags
Toggle the reading of tags
Toggle tag reading (which sounds awful, not always possible, e.g. 'toggle sorting by time')

Since I've been using the first wording for some time, I have become used to it, but I'm not sure it's a correct usage.

Note that I'd like to use the verb toggle rather than any alternatives, if grammatically possible.


texts: "Checked into the database" versus "checked in to the database"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should “into” be used rather than “in to,” and vice versa?

I was recently submitting ("checking in") some data to a database and composed an email to my team informing them of the submission. What's the proper grammar to use here:

  The changes are checked into the database

or

  The changes are checked in to the database

What's the rule of thumb for proper usage between the two? Is there even a difference?


texts: What to use for hypothetically completed future actions

texts:
I was talking to a friend where I had to make a hypothetical statement about an activity that was completed in the future. So I came up with the following statements.

If he continued college, he would have completed his college by 2013.
If he continued college, he would complete college by 2013.

The second statement doesn't work because it just talks about the action that happen in that unreal future. Not completed. I can't say the following either because it makes it more real:

If he continued college, he will have completed college by 2013.

So is the first one the right way of saying this?


texts:
Is it ok to use "one of either"? The reason I am asking is because it always seems like there are always some subjects before the word "either" in that case like this:

  You may use one of either (knife or scissor for cutting paper).

So I want to know if deleting the parenthesized part, "knife or scissor for cutting paper", would be fine so that it will look like this:

  You may use one of either.

Thank you.


texts:
I'd like an adjective that means "to do with weather" in the same way that dramaturgical means "to do with dramaturgy."

  The _______ imagery is ...

I swear the word is right on the tip of my tongue, is it similar (in spelling) to "temperamental"?


texts: What is the question for "twice as many ... as" format?

texts:
I have a question about how to make a certain type  of question.

There is the statement here:

  The airplane has twice as many engines as it requires.

I want to make a question the answer to which is:

  twice as many engines as it requires

which specifically emphasizes twice as many. Not a yes/no question, but a wh/h question.

I asked some native speakers of English and they provided me with sentences like:

  How many engines does the airplane have?

or

  How many more engines does the airplane have?

But I think the answers to those questions, for example for a plane with 8 engines, are "eight engines", and "four more engines", not "twice as many engines as it requires".

I made the following question but I wonder if it's grammatically correct:

  How many times as many engines as required does the airplane have?

Does anyone have a better suggestion?


texts: How to say in English: You can trust and no need to think about it any more?

texts:
I want to take care of something. I tell my friend I will give you "{{missing_word}}". or you can have "{{missing_word}]"

I mean. That he can trust and believe that everything will works well, and he don't need to think about it.

In Hebrew we say "quiet head".  (ראש שקט). There is a word for it in English?


texts: Can you contract the main verb '[I] have' in a sentence?

texts:
One can contract I have to I've when have is a helping verb, e.g.

  I've got an octopus in my pants.

Is contracting the main verb technically incorrect or merely antiquated? My father loves to say,

  I've a month-old smoked shoulder I can cook for dinner,

and he sounds like a crazy old man when he does. I would like to know if I can shut him down by informing him that he is incorrect. :)


texts: What is the difference between "abduct" and "kidnap"?

texts: What is the difference between abduct and kidnap?


texts: What do you call somebody who has a profession of answering questions in an on-line question-answer site such as StackExchange?

texts: How would you present your employment if you are working for a question and answer website like StackExchange (employer) and your job is to answer questions in a specific subject like Physics?


texts: Pronunciation of tetrameter, pentameter, etc

texts:
Proper word nerds who claim they are in the know will argue that for the word kilometre, KIL-uh-MEET-er is more correct than kuh-LOM-uh-ter.

After all, words stressed the latter way usually refer to equipment; speedometer, odometer, thermometer, seismometer, etc. Words stressed the former way are used for the metric measurements: millimetre, centimetre, kilolitre, etc.

So when we refer to meter in a verse as iambic pentameter, or trochaic octameter, how do we justify the pronunciation, which if spoken correctly, supposedly matches more closely with the latter example?

I suppose this might be more of a linguistics question than one of English.

To clarify, I am not asking for justification either way of the word kilometre, but of the words tetrameter and pentameter.


texts: Origin of "-le-" article in English placenames such as Newton-le-Willows, Bolton-le-Sands, Houghton-le-Spring?

texts:
Newton-le-Willows is a town in Merseyside.  Bolton-le-Sands is a village in Lancashire.  Houghton-le-Spring is a town in Tyne and Wear.  There are probably other placenames with -le- in the middle.

What is the origin of these articles?  All appear to be in the North of England, and Anglo-Norman has had a lot of influence on the English language.  But how did a French article end up in the middle of placenames that do not otherwise exhibit any obvious sign of Frenchness?  Is its origin Norman French at all?

There is a short reddit thread on the question.  The responses there are not terribly informative, nor is this digitalspy thread.


texts:
What exactly does "not perhaps" mean? I encountered it in Smith's The Wealth of Nations
In Chapter I. Of The Division Of Labour:

  The effects of the division of labour, in the general business of society, will be more easily understood by considering in what manner it operates in some particular manufactures. It is commonly supposed to be carried furthest in some very trifling ones; not perhaps that it really is carried further in them than in others of more importance: but in those trifling manufactures which are destined to supply the small wants of but a small number of people, the whole number of workmen must necessarily be small; and those employed in every different branch of the work can often be collected into the same workhouse, and placed at once under the view of the spectator.

It seems to be along the lines of "probably because"... can anyone find a reference or other example of usage and history of the phrase?


texts:
I though As such means So .. or Because of to that .. or Thus ...

But a translation site seems says differently, but not very clearly.

So, what does it mean?

Examples for common usage would be great !


texts: What to call someone who knows How to Search for a information?

texts: I am looking for a single word to describe someone who knows how to search for an information in a knowledge base.


texts: How do I mention a video game in a formal piece of writing?

texts: What is the proper convention for mentioning the title of a video game in a formal research paper? Would I place the title in quotations, like the name of a short story ("Myst"), underline it, like the title of a book, or italicize it (Myst)? I would prefer an answer backed up by a formal standard such as MLA, APA, Chicago, or AP, if they cover this.


texts: "You have brains in your head" is quoted from Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go!". My question is, should it be 'heads' instead of 'head'? How come more than one brain in one single head?


texts:
I was watching this: video 0:26, and got lost about what he was saying. Roughly, what I heard was: "Another criterion is that it should be something that few other people are doing, because there are few things worse than working five years on a problem being beaten to it by a week by somebody else." And this was what YouTube autogenerated as subtitles as well.
But it does not make sense to me. Could someone tell me if I heard it wrong or "being beaten to it by a week"/"being beaten to it" is a phrase?


texts:
The phrase "get off your duff" is a call to action. The recipient of this exhortation is (literally or figuratively) sitting, unmoving, and is being asked to get off of his buttocks, as seen in Entry 2.

Definition of duff
(Entry 1 of 3) 1: a boiled or steamed pudding often containing dried fruit
2: the partly decayed organic matter on the forest floor
3: fine coal : SLACK duff
(Entry 2 of 3) : BUTTOCKS get off your duff
(Entry 3 of 3) British : INFERIOR, WORTHLESS

(Source: Merriam-Webster)
The same site lists the etymology:

History and Etymology for duff
Noun (1)
English dialect, alteration of dough
Noun (2)
origin unknown
Adjective
duff, noun, something worthless, from DUFF entry 1

The Online Etymology Dictionary agrees:

"buttocks, rump," 1830s, of unknown origin. The word had a variety of
colloquial, slang, or provincial senses late 18c.-early 19c., some of
them at least probably related: "dough," also "stiff flour pudding"
(nautical, 1840); something worthless or spurious (1781).

(Source)
This site has a discussion of the BE phrase up the duff. The accepted answer says that the OED says it is of Australian origin, and is a slang phrase for being pregnant. (BE speakers may recognize the pudding club and AE speakers would recognize a bun in the oven as euphemisms for pregnancy; this would fit well with Entry 1.)
A folk etymology could stab at dough or pudding referring to buttocks. Perhaps:

The resting person is torpid from eating sweet pudding.
The buttocks are associated with dough, either through shape or over-consumption.
The buttocks are associated with inferiority or worthlessness.

And a folk etymology for the association with pregnancy:

She is avoiding strenuous labor because of her bun in the oven by resting on her backside.

But these seem forced.
How did duff come to mean buttocks?


texts: Is there any English proverb parallel to any of these Persian proverbs?

texts:
There is a Persian proverb, which I would translate it as follow:

  Whenever you catch a fish is fresh.

Which is often used to suggest that it is never too late to do the right thing.


texts: Difference between “pragmatics” and “pragmatism”?

texts:
pragmatic

adjective prag·mat·ic \prag-ˈma-tik\

: dealing with the problems that exist in a specific situation in a reasonable and logical way instead of depending on ideas and theories (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pragmatic)

pragmatics

noun plural but singular or plural in construction prag·mat·ics \prag-ˈma-tiks\

linguistics : the study of what words mean in particular situations
(merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pragmatics)

pragmatism

noun prag·ma·tism \ˈprag-mə-ˌti-zəm\

: a reasonable and logical way of doing things or of thinking about problems that is based on dealing with specific situations instead of on ideas and theories (merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pragmatism)

Pragmatics by definition is a term used in linguistics. But I think that people us pragmatics synonymously with pragmatism. Is that right? Are they synonyms or not? When should I use one or the other?


texts:
Where on the scale from

  We are talking about the same thing

to

  We are in agreement / We see it the same way

is the phrase

  We are on the same page?


texts: Origin of the noun-forming suffix "-hood"

texts: How did -hood evolve into the noun-forming suffix commonly used in words such as childhood, priesthood, or neighborhood— and including certain pseudonyms such as robinhood which could easily be construed as a brotherhood of robbers?


texts:
Can the phrase "not comparable" be used in a negative context?

For example, if someone says the latest pirates movie is not comparable to the previous versions, can it mean it is so bad?


texts: Why is WFM used for "working from home"?

texts: I've seen this used in several places, but WFH seems to make more sense to me. Is there some other significance that I'm missing besides the 'M' coming from the end of 'home'?


texts: A word to describe something that has a clear-cut purpose and consequently works out of the box

texts:
I'm looking for a word that would convey the idea of something that adresses a definite problem set and consequently lets you do so without much effort.

Here's an example:

Hammers are designed to drive nails
Hammers are consequently very easy to use to achieve that exact purpose
(And not very good at doing something else)

A small twist: I'm looking for words that emphasize the "designed to" aspect.

For example, appropriate wouldn't be entirely - well - appropriate because it conveys the idea that the tool happens to fit the bill, not that it was designed with the purpose of doing so.


texts: Why are abbreviations such as K/R (Kind Regards) not more common in English?

texts:
In German, it is very common to abbreviate letter closings. For example,

Mit freundlichen Grüßen --> MFG
Liebe Grüße --> LG

While these abbreviations are not acceptable in formal communication, they are freely used for emails even in a professional context, and of course in text messages and chats.
The only equivalent abbreviation I could find in English is (see here)

Very Respectfully / Virtual Regards --> V/R

However, I have never seen V/R used in any communication that I received. It seems to be mainly used in the military.
I'm surprised that abbreviations such as K/R (Kind Regards) or B/W (Best Wishes) have not become popular in English (except apparently as internet slang), while abbreviations such as c/o, ASAP or RSVP are very common. Can anyone shine light on this issue? Have you ever thought about abbreviating letter closings? In my experience, if a German native speaker used K/R in English, native English speakers would get quite confused.


texts: Correct comma usage with "but after years of"

texts:
I'm wondering if the comma usage is correct in the following sentence ("Brachyura" and "the Twelve" are proper nouns)?

"The priestesses of Brachyura may hold the answers she seeks, but after years of protecting the secrets of the Twelve can they still be trusted?"

Should there not be an additional comma after the "but", or a comma after the word "Twelve", or are these optional?
Many thanks


texts:
One of the local companies has a slogan that literally translates to

  We are all different... fortunately

I sense that "fortunately we are all different" sounds better in English. However, it misses the order of conveying the information:

we are all different
and that's not a bad thing at all

Question: How to express the good in difference? (within provided context)


texts: Why is "substitute" used incorrectly in this sentence: "I would like to substitute the French fries with mashed potatoes"?

texts: One frequently hears the verb "substitute" used in an incorrect backward fashion. For example, one may hear "I would like to substitute French fries with mashed potatoes" instead of the correct "I would like to substitute mashed potatoes for the French fries." "Substitute" always refers to the item or person being replaced. It's very hard to get people to see this distinction. If one were to use the word "exchange", it could be used either way, but "substitute" is directional, so to speak.


texts: Struggling to understand headlines that use ellipsis

texts:
I have trouble understanding headlines because they abuse ellipsis. Two examples:

"Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan To Awkwardly Hug, High Five For Next Three Months"
"Scores Dead as Fire Sweeps Through Nightclub in Brazil"

In both cases, I don't understand what is happening. What are Romney and Ryan doing for the next three months? What does high five have to do with it? Are they going to hug each other? Did they hug already? I thought The Onion, being a satirical newspaper, was trying to make the most unreadable headline possible to mock the way other papers usually write. But then I came across the example from NY Times and noticed journalists really write that way. Who or what is scoring dead? What does is it mean to "score dead"? I get the feeling the phrase is wrong and that it should be something like "Fire scores dead as it sweeps through nightclub".

I try to read newspapers everyday and I've even checked the answers for a similar question before asking, but I still can't get used to the style of headlines.

So, what do those two headlines mean? And what can I do to improve my reading ability in this specific area?


texts:
Is the following sentence idiomatic:
At the time when the book came out, the author had long since died.
Why does "long since" sound much better with "By the time of the publication of the book" instead?
Is there anyway to keep both "at the time when" and "long since"?
Thanks a lot