texts: What word describes the unique possibilities when disambiguating a word?

texts:
The disambiguation page for the word turtle on wikipedia displays a list of possibilities to choose from.
Many of these possibilities are just the same word "turtle" but with different meanings.
Is there a noun for these possible choices, for instance if this was a list of disambiguations then each entry might be a disambiguate (used as a noun and pronounced /ˌdisamˈbiɡyəˌwat/ and not as a verb pronounced /ˌdisamˈbiɡyəˌwāt/, not a word but hopefully helps clarify what I am trying to find)?
Said another way, the precise term for an unambiguous pairing of a word and one of its possible meanings together.
I thought term might be close to what I was looking for the answer to What is the difference between a term and a word? seemed to indicate that term wouldn't be the right word.


texts: What's the meaning of "drag" in this context?

texts:
This is a comment from a forum discussion:

  This is OT.  You must cook every meal to perfect macros. You then must buy tupperware and drag it into work the next day. That is all you are allowed to eat for lunch. If you do not bring leftovers you must only eat at a local restaurant.

What does the poster mean by drag it into work? Is he using drag figuratively, or drag something into something is a phrasal verb for something else?


texts:
I am continually surprised to hear people use has and is interchangeably.
The erudite Peter Segal has been guilty of saying:

This song is been written by XXX.
YY is been a producer on the show ZZZ and now lives in California.

Should the two sentences use has since they refer to events in the past?
Are is and has really interchangeable? If so, under what circumstances can one be substituted by the other?


texts: Is there a word to represent the feeling on never being somewhere before?

texts: When I go to a new place there is a feeling of seeing everything for the first time, and the newness of it, but even just the second time I know where things are (vaguely) and its not much of a surprise. Is there a word for the feeling of newness and exploring of going somewhere new? I want to use this word to say things like "right now im experiencing a strong feeling of [insert word here]" like a contrapositive for wanderlust.


texts: What is the idiom for " If it is something impossible to believe it"

texts:
Often, when something really odd is said,or if something impossible to believe is said to have happened, Turks say:" Yeah, if you eat it".

I wonder what is   the corresponding idiom in English? If I use the the above term, is it understood by natives?


texts:
In an essay, I need to imply that a certain incident reduced my chances at something (my dream).

"My dreams were _______" - not crushed completely, but partially. So what word or phrase could fill the blanks?

I thought of "My dreams were worn thin when this happened". Does worn thin work fine or not?


texts: Why does "trip the light fantastic" mean "to dance"?

texts: This is a really cool phrase. It certainly evokes imagery of dancing about nimbly on a ray of light, or something of the sort. But how does it make sense? "to trip" I can see as being kind of like dancing. "to trip the light" - which light? And what part of speech is "fantastic" here?


texts: Difference between "riddle" and "puzzle"

texts:
What's the difference in using these synonym verbs.

What's difference in meaning of the following sentences? Could those verbs be used interchangeably?

  I am riddled knowing there are so many potential Vicki Myers who do not have a Greg.
  I am puzzled, as I think perhaps anybody watching and many of us here today are puzzled, by the characterization of this amendment as being in opposition to the President.

Update : the first sentence has been changed.


texts: What synonym can I use for "on the contrary" in this specific context?

texts:
"If that much money would be paid in a period of year, the orphanage management would also stabilize. On the contrary, Bob would be able to reconstruct it or add more buildings as much as he pleased. He wouldn't have to worry about the debt anymore."

I found this sentence in a book I'm reading.

EDIT: I forgot to say that it's Bob (the orphanage manager) the one who is being paid, so "on the contrary" here is used to say that now that Bob has money, not only he can stabilize the situation of the orphanage that has been poor until now, but he can even restructure it or add more building to it.


texts: Does "suggesting conclusions" sound odd to you?

texts:
I stumbled upon this collocation of words in the opening lines of Wikipedia's entry on Data analysis (emphasis added):

  ...a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision-making.

I've probably seen it before, without raising any objections.
But, now that I've been asked to translate a text where this very excerpt is cited, it seems the time has come.
The thing is it seems somehow inherently oblique to be speaking, on behalf of the "concluder", about conclusions, as if these are not already reached.

Diplomacy jargon, or something like that.

You can hardly tell someone:
"Here are some conclusions, but I haven't reached them. Do it yourself if you want".

I mean, is there really such a thing as an idle conclusion?
Once reached, it's validated, conceptually. Until then, it isn't there.

The only thing one can do, once having reached it, is to ask the other party if they agree.

Does it actually make sense to suggest a conclusion?


texts: Comma usage after the start of a sentence beginning with time.

texts:
It has been an ongoing debate in my office among managers that there should be a comma used after a statement of time.

Ex.

At 1135 Hrs., (Subject) Was observed doing something that he shouldn't have.

It is this comma after the abbreviated hours we are having a debate over. Is it proper to put it there or is it not needed in this instance. Thank you for any help and advice you can give.

Steve


texts: Is there a word for: a new version of a piece of literature

texts:
I seen a TV show that was reinvented as a graphic novel.
So I wrote: I find this iteration quite disturbing.

I used "iteration" but that applies to a new version of software as I could not find the right word.

Is this an acceptable usage or is there a better word to use?


texts: Is Necrophagia The Act Of Eating Dead Animal Flesh Only?

texts: Does necrophagia apply only to consuming animal flesh, or also human flesh?


texts:
In my understanding, a sentence of the following form

  A requires B, something that may be difficult even when C

means that

  A is difficult since a necessary condition B is difficult. While B appears to be easier (to obtain or achieve) in the case of C, it is indeed not.

However, I came across the following sentence in a law paper
(Lemley, M. A. (2007). Ten things to do about patent holdup of standards (and one not to). BCL Rev., 48, 149.):

  ... proving  an  antitrust  violation  requires  detailed  evidence of both causation and intent, something that may be difficult even when, as a policy matter, a patentee should not be permitted to extend its rights.

I don't understand the latter part of the sentence.
Could you please help me to clarify the meaning of the sentence. Thank you.

(a little context: a patentee can violate antitrust laws if it abuses its patent rights)


texts:
The Beatles all have/had a Liverpudlian accent, but it wasn't very strong, especially if you compare it to the accents of Merseyside personalities from similar backgrounds (such as Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Jamie Carragher).
Was this a conscious effort, or did they lose their accent over time as they interacted with people from the south of England and elsewhere?

If the first, is this part of a general trend in the UK where regional accents are discouraged?


texts: Is there any difference between "my level of English" and "my standard of English"?

texts:
Is there any difference between both sentences? Are they synonyms? Is one better for formal speaking than the other?

Recently I was rejected in a job because

  The standard of your written English is not at the level where you could write a report to our standard.

I'm trying to figure out what is the meaning of standard in that sentence, and I came across that standard also means level,


texts: Which is correct: "on two weeks" or "in two weeks"?

texts:
In below sentence it's mentioned "on two weeks":

  They'll quite happily squander a whole year's savings on two weeks in the sun.

whereas so far I learned to speak in this way:

  They'll quite happily squander a whole year's savings in two weeks in the sun.

I want to know which one is correct. In my opinion "in two weeks" means within two weeks which seems more likely correct.


texts: How different is “Be rid of somebody” from “Get rid of somebody”? Are they interchangeable?

texts:
In the movie review article of Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” in the New Yorker magazine (November 14) titled “the Man in Charge,” there was the following sentence:

  “A single scene with Robert F. Kennedy in the early sixties, when, as Attorney General, he was Hoover’s boss—stands in for Hoover’s relations with the various Presidents who longed to be rid of him but didn’t dare show him the door. Hoover tells Kennedy that he has evidence of his brother’s sexual escapades with dubious women, and his job remains intact.”

I noticed the writer (David Demby) used the phrase “various Presidents longed to “be rid of” Hoover,” instead of “get rid of” Hoover and show him the door.

As I checked the difference of meaning between “be rid of” and “get rid of” with a dictionary at hand (Sanseido’s The Wisdom Dictionary), it defines “be rid of” as “be released from nuisance / trouble,” and “get rid of” as “remove (expel) nuisance / trouble.”

Oxford Dictionary also defines “get rid of” as “take action so as to be free” and “be rid of” as “be freed or relieved of.”

If the above definitions apply to the above quote, “be rid of” sounds oddly passive, inactive, and somewhat derogative to a president’s authority to me, and I wonder why the most powerful man in America needed to mercifully “be rid of” one of his mere subordinates, not “get rid of” him to show the door, if he found his subordinate a grave obstacle to his governance, no matter how the latter brandishes his power.

Did the author intend to say all presidents who had dealt with Hoover were bound hand and foot by Hoover for almost 50 years and wished simply to "be rid of"?

Is it improper to use “get rid of,” instead of “be rid of” Hoover?


texts:
Is there a difference between the two words when used for saying “that which distinguishes (something) from others”?

For example

… the distinctive patterns on the skin …

or

… the distinguishing patterns on the skin …

I somehow find distinctive more fitting here, or that might be because of my own bias as I have mostly read distinguishing with “achievements” and such words.


texts: Are there examples of terms named after a person that are no longer capitalized?

texts:
Are there any grammatically correct examples of terms named after someone that are no longer capitalized?

I know certain brand names have become so ingrained in the lexicon that they are no longer capitalized - xerox, coke, hoover, etc. - but are there examples where the now-lower cased item is named after a person?


texts: What is the difference between these two sentences?

texts:
Can anybody tell me the difference between the following sentences ?

Her skirt goes down to her knees .
Her skirt comes down to her knees .

Thanks


texts: For medicine we need a prescription; for having medical tests, what do we need?

texts:
A prescription is a written order, especially by a physician, for the preparation and administration of a medicine or other treatment.
What do we call the written order the physician gives us, where he has written down what medical tests have to be run?


texts: Is this a conditional? What tense do I use?

texts:
Context: I want to describe my thought in the past about what would happen
The sentence: I thought if I bought her flowers, she would be happy.
Is this sentence correct? I am confused because, if I don't use 'I thought', i.e. if I bought her flowers, she would be happy, that will mean I am talking about something that is impossible or unlikely to happen in the future.


texts:
"Number" vs. "Numeric"

Also "Enumerate" etc.

If I were to guess, I might go for it relating to "Numeral", but I don't see why it should derive from the less common word, nor why Numeral has no b itself.


texts: Does "I believe as strongly as anyone that" mean "as strongly as the most believing person"?

texts: I've always been somewhat confused by this phrase because the tone of the context, which is often refuting someone else, is that they believe in it fully--to the extreme--but the actual words suggest that they mean they are in agreement with the general broad belief of society (which do not usually overlap in these usages).


texts:
What's the difference between:

Process A is suspended.

And

Process A is blocked.

(Process refers to process running on computer).


texts: Die of pig measles vs. Die of the pig measles

texts: I am editing a short story text that was written in the the 1930's. The setting is rural, and the characters are somewhat backwards. One character advises an acquaintance to die "of the pig measles" rather than from consumption, because the former is so much quicker. This sounds incorrect to me. To die "of the measles" would sound right, but he's talking about a particular strain of the measles, i.e. pig measles, therefore I think it should just be to die "of pig measles", but I'm loathe to tamper with the historical text. Can anybody help? Oh, the idiom is supposed to be British English more than American English.


texts:
'He met a crooked woman and found a crooked preach'
-https://www.quotev.com/story/3012617/There-was-a-Crooked-Man/1
-Here it seems like a noun, but upon checking the dictionary there weren't any noun form of that word , except for an obsolete one which didn't quite go with the context.
-Can someone provide me with an appropriate meaning?


texts:
If there is a position in a company that answers questions related to for example physics, what is the best word that describes this position?

"Answerer of Questions related to Physics"  ?


texts:
In

  I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of my previous engineering roles, but competition is what truly motivates me. I also relish the process of perfecting a difficult skill. Be it, out-manoeuvring an astute opponent at the poker table or executing a text-book cover drive in a cricket match.

and

  I scored exceptionally well on experimental modules that required significant academic writing. Writings that explain complex ideas, similar to how an attorney would explain problems with the prior art that an invention is aiming to solve.

Is the last sentence of each paragraph a fragment? By its own it makes no sense. But taking into consideration the previous sentence, it does. Am I taking the definition of a fragment too literally?

Are the commas in the last sentences of each paragraph right? In the first paragraph, "Be it" is introductory so a comma follows, right? In the second one, I feel there should be one before "similar", but then we have a independent clause followed by a comma followed by a dependent clause, which is wrong??


texts: Is this sentence correct? Future perfect

texts:
I will have finished cleaning the room by the time you come.
What i want to know is if i can use the word "cleaning" in this sentence. I know that when you use future perfect, you need to have a sentence like "i will have finished my homework by the time you come" but the second verb "cleaning" confuses me.


texts: small sense of joy/novelty from shared (http) links

texts:
I know I saw a word a few years ago used to describe the small sense of joy/novelty/excitement we exchange when we send/receive cool links with others. Now, I can't recall the word, or where I saw it.
I am not sure whether it was a repurposed word, or a neologism.
I have a feeling it may be related to frisson, but this feeling hasn't helped me find the word I'm looking for, despite searching several times over the past two years (and as such may be a red herring).
Edit: I've found a few places where others are expressing some of the underlying emotional makeup of this, but still not the word; figured I would share with you.
from Yahoo questions:

Where can i find funny links to cheer up my friend?
My friend is having a bad day and i´d like to send some funny links to make her laugh. What u suggest?

from HuffPo: Tech ettiquete - sharing links:

You are not the person who watches the watchmen! You can only lead a horse to water. You cannot make a horse open a link or, for that matter, react to it in the way you want. Yes, sharing something you feel all crazy about is a wonderful, personal experience. Yes, you are excited and want to see the recipient's reaction in the hopes that it will be like your reaction. Refrain.
...
There are not enough links in this world to constitute a romantic relationship. Sending links is just something people do now, like day dreaming about cool Facebook albums or looking at their phone all the time. Usually, the fact that you have received this link is only tangentially related to you. There are three reasons people like to show other people things they like:
A) To get validation that the things they like are cool.
B) So that the receiver will know they are cool.
C) Because they think the link will bring the receiver pleasure.
Ideally, this list would be inverted, but in reality it is not. The sending of the link should be it's own reward. If it isn't, see #1.

from makeuseof:

Are you constantly looking for something fresh and interesting to link to from your MySpace or Facebook account to intrigue and fascinate your friends?
...
There is one remaining, very powerful way to provoke a reaction from your half-asleep friends. Link to one of the following top 10 disgusting websites, and watch what sort of response you get.

from WikiHow: get your crush to be your friend:

If you both have a Facebook account, share similar links to those of your crush's, based on what you see from him/her, or on his/her profile. He or she may 'like' or even comment on the links you post! Just never share the exact same links.


texts: Recently, I've seen the word unbeknown, which was new to me. Is there any difference between unknown and unbeknown in meaning and/or usage?


texts: When would one use the word "participance" in place of "participation"?

texts:
The Oxford English Dictionary includes three words that all appear to have the same meaning: participation, participance, and participancy. I'm curious if there is a difference between the three.

participation n. The process or fact of sharing in an action, sentiment, etc.; (now esp.) active involvement in a matter or event, esp. one in which the outcome directly affects those taking part. Frequently with in.
parˈticipance n. rare = participancy n.
parˈticipancy  n. the fact or quality of participating in something.

The word "participation" is far more common than the latter two. This answer lays out a distinction between participation and participancy, but I am still unclear if participance can be differentiated between participation.
What is the difference between the word "participation" and the word "participance"?


texts: How to position the tip of the tongue when pronouncing /s/ & /z/?

texts:
This website says, when making /s/ & /z/ sound, the tip of the tongue should be close to the upper backside of the top front teeth.

But this video says, when making /s/ & /z/ sound, the tip of the tongue is down, slightly touching behind the bottom front teeth.

So who is right?

I personally think that the 2nd is right because I feel more comfortable when letting the tip of my tongue behind the bottom front teeth & I feel uncomfortable when letting the tip of my tongue behind the top front teeth.

It could be there are many way to make the sound. Maybe the tip of the tongue in this case does not play a very critical role in making /s/ & /z/


texts: I cannot understand the meaning of the following sentence fron Dickens' Notes of America

texts: The last sentence from the following paragraph from Dickens is ambiguious for me; "He was only twenty-five years old, he said, and had grown recently, for it had been found necessary to make an addition to the legs of his inexpressibles.  At fifteen he was a short boy, and in those days his English father and his Irish mother had rather snubbed him, as being too small of stature to sustain the credit of the family.  He added that his health had not been good, though it was better now; but short people are not wanting who whisper that he drinks too hard "


texts: What does “you don't need a husband, you need a Greek chorus!” mean?

texts:
A female friend recently saw a video of pretty old movie, “The Last Station” (directed by Michael Hoffman), which illustrates the struggle of Leo Tolstoy (the Russian author) to balance fame and wealth with his commitment to a life devoid of material things.

She said that in the movie, Tolstoy declares “You don't need a husband, you need a Greek chorus!” to his wife, who growls back “I’m gonna be Anna Karenina by being buried under a tramcar. See how the papers will like that!”

My friend asked me what “You need a Greek chorus” meant.

I haven’t seen that movie, therefore I have no idea regarding the meaning of that line.

Does “Greek chorus” have a specific, figurative meaning in this line, or does it simply mean that his wife was more interested in the notion of having a Greek chorus than on having a husband?


texts: Confusion about a sentence with adjective with "or"

texts:
The statement is:

You won't need to provide the information of their non-accompanying spouse/partner or dependent children.

I am trying to understand the real meaning of this sentence. Does the word "non-accompanying" also apply to the dependent children?


texts: I've just encountered the following phrase: "he has placed intent and end over this claim". "Intent and end" or "to place intent and end" sounds like an idiom but I couldn't find it in any dictionary. What should that phrase mean?


texts: Is "as oft" a valid contraction of "as often"? If it is, then why doesn't it have an apostrophe at the end?


texts:
I saw in her eyes the love to me.
In her eyes，I saw the love to me.

please tell me  do these two sentences have the same meaning? Which is more often said?


texts: Is the question "The new iPhone is out?" valid english?

texts:
My friend asked me over text:

"The new iPhone is out?"

Is this valid English? I say it's not, but he believes it is. I believe the correct question would have been:

"Is the new iPhone out?"

The grammar just seems backwards to me, is it correct English?


texts: "Saving on the parrot's chocolate is futile"

texts:
In Catalan there is an expression "ser la xocolata del lloro" that can be translated as "saving by not giving chocolate to the parrot is futile", conveying the meaning that when a household wants to save money, there are ways by which not much saving is going to be made. As an example, if you stop giving little bits of chocolate to the parrot to enjoy, although it looks like a saving measure, it's more posturing than real savings, so that doesn't make much difference: you actually won't end up saving much, because the amount of chocolate is very small.

Is there any equivalent expression in the English language for the same kind of saving efforts that won't make a difference?


texts: Which word or phrase fits best in this context?

texts:
"She is inarguably unqualified as a teacher ________ that she is unable to control the class"

something along the lines of "considering that", " based on the fact that" etc.

Are any of the two above acceptable/recommended?

I would appreciate it if you could come up with a single word conveying that meaning.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
Is there an English noun that encompasses maritime activities in the way that aviation encompasses aeronautical activities?
[edit]
The accepted answer (seafaring) below fits my needs perfectly but I had an afterthought that I ought to give an example of expected usage, so-
example:

"I would like to me other people who have an interest in ________"


texts:
Can you start a sentence with the word key?

The sentence is:

  Key to good analytical research is a safe well-equipped laboratory.

I have a tendency to want to put The before key, but am uncertain whether this is necessary.


texts: Dashes usage for additional explanation after or before a comma?

texts:
So, here is the sentence I'm trying to write:

They got to know our business through many different venues - through actually just people they knew, through consulting companies - but I think the most important aspect...

Now, should I put the comma right after "venues" or after the dashes?
They got to know our business through many different venues, - through actually just people they knew, through consulting companies - but I think the most important aspect...
OR
They got to know our business through many different venues - through actually just people they knew, through consulting companies -, but I think the most important aspect...

Or I don't need it at all?


texts: Meaning of "Render onto Caesar the things which are Caesar's"

texts:
Render onto Caesar the things which are Caesar's

What does this sentence mean?


texts: Is there a word/phrase for using an expression which is directly translated and makes no sense?

texts:
I'm looking for a word (or a phrase) to describe a particular phrase or idiom which is directly translated from a foreign language and makes no sense in the language it's translated to.

For instance, in my native language "Phoning and Hanging up" directly translates to "Ring and Cut" and some people actually use that expression.

Is there a name for it?


texts: “is” vs. “are” in a question involving a collective noun

texts:
Is it “What tools is your team using for collaboration?” or “What tools are your team using for collaboration?”?

My normal tactic would be to rephrase the question as a statement and consider “Your team is using these tools for collaboration” vs. “Your team are using these tools for collaboration”, which seems to suggest that “is” is correct here, but something seems awkward about that.


texts:
I came across the sentence below spoken by a native speaker and am wondering if it's correct, because it sounds odd to me.

How do you think we can show the difference between x and y? More especially the height and weight of y.

To me, 'most specifically' sounds valid. 'Especially' used alone also makes sense. But 'more especially' sounds weird.
Is 'more especially' correct usage?


texts:
Bob bought Anna's house.

Does this mean Bob bought a house from Anna, or Bob bought Anna's house for her, or both?


texts:
Lately, we had our finals and a question popped up in that went like this:

Liverpool players are known to be skilled. They ...... The match easily.
The choices were: "will win" or "are going to win"

Lots of people are debating because some consider "known to be skilled" and "easily" as evidences. So, it should be "are going to".
And others say that the personal skills are not evidences. So, it's "will win".

Sorry for my long intro, but hope I find a final answer here.

Thanks in advance. :)


texts:
We recently had a discussion whether "Pay for play" or "Play for pay" is the correct term to describe that you get money when you play.

Which one is correct to point out that you get paid for playing?


texts: How can I write a given date in an abbreviated form?

texts:
Are these acceptable?

Nov. 2nd, 2011
Nov 2nd, 2011
Nov 2, 2011


texts:
I am writing a technical report on a topic which includes a Virtual Private Network. These are commonly abbreviated as VPN.

However it feels strange writing something along the lines of

  VPNs are often employed to ...

On the other hand a formulation such as

  VPN networks are often employed to ...

is a pure tautology, as it basically means Virtual Private Networks Networks.

As for actually writing

  Virtual Private Networks are often employed to ...

Although this works and is surely correct, it will fill my text with a lot of useless clutter, I can't possibly write out the abbreviation more than once or twice per paragraph.


texts: "A History of Britain": Why the indefinite article?

texts:
There is a movie called A History of Britain.  Why is the indefinite article used? I have always thought in such cases the article must be definite because a country's history (or that of anything else) is something which is ‘one of a kind’. And both movies and articles on the Internet seem to follow this rule:

The History of America
The history of rock and roll

However, having started looking for information about this I found that in titles there may not be an article, but in the text itself definite article is used: History of France

I have the following questions:

Should I use definite article (the) when referring to history of something?
As for A History of Britain: why is the indefinite article “a” used? Does it mean this is another interpretation of/movie on the British history?


texts: What is the name for things like wigs, lashes and hair?

texts:
We call these "cosmetics": skin moisturizers, perfumes, lipsticks, nail polish, eye and facial makeup, etc.

Then what's the term for things like wigs, lashes and hair?


texts: Must one use a modal verb in the subjunctive mood?

texts:
Consider the following statement:

  If I were you, I would go to the doctor.

As far as I know, a modal verb or a past tense can be interchangeably adopted to express the subjunctive mood. It seems, however, that most subjunctive sentences commonly prefer to use a modal verb, rather than a past tense. In conclusion, my questions are

Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

  If I were you, I went to the doctor.

If so, what is the reason most people prefer to use a modal verb?


texts: What do we call a person who doesn't like to stay at home? That loves outdoor activities and most of his hobbies are outside?


texts: A phrase in American English that, as a native British speaker, I may have misheard

texts:
I am a lifetime native speaker of British English and sometimes I don't recognise phrases used by North American speakers. I can be unsure whether it is an unfamiliar phrase or whether I have misunderstood because of the speakers accent.
In this instance the phrase comes from a court-case I am am following.
This is what I hear the lawyer say:

Uh ... Did you ever use the term uh ... [inaudible] sickness. Have you
ever heard that?
14-CA v. BRODERICK: WITNESS TESTIMONY

The words occur roughly 51 minutes into the recording. (marked as 51:00 on the play bar under the picture). Apologies; you will get some adverts but they will eventually disappear even it seems like they might not!
Question
What does the male lawyer actually say?

Note
I made the above transcription. I didn't give my interpretation because I thought it would be a distraction. If you want to know what I believe he says then it follows below:

Uh ... Did you ever use the term uh ... gray carry sickness. Have you ever heard that?


texts: How did 'equity' semantically shift to mean 'Assets — Liabilities'?

texts:
I ask about Equity = Assets — Liabilities here, not its meaning as stock. See Personal Finance For Canadians For Dummies (2018). p 468.

  equity:
  In the real-estate world, this term refers to the difference between the market value of your home and what you owe on it. For example, if your home is worth $400,000, and you have an outstanding mortgage of $150,000, your equity is $250,000. Equity is also a synonym for stock.

Etymonline:

  early 14c., "quality of being equal or fair, impartiality in dealing with others," from Old French equite (13c.),
   from Latin aequitatem (nominative aequitas) "equality, uniformity, conformity, symmetry; fairness, equal rights; kindness, moderation,"
   from aequus "even, just, equal" (see equal (adj.)).
  As the name of a system of law, 1590s, from Roman naturalis aequitas, the general principles of justice which corrected or supplemented the legal codes.

Why was 'equity' was adopted to describe this difference?
What semantic notions underlie the emboldened abstract nouns overhead, with 'Assets — Liabilities'? Please see the titled question.


texts: What is the origin and scope of usage for the phrase “how about..”?

texts:
It’s unclear to me how those two words even make sense together, yet they can be used to suggest something akin to “..and now this” in almost any propositional phrase.

Where does this come from / originate?

What phrases do or (maybe more concisely) dont make sense in combo w the words “how about”?

“How about those speakers break?”

“How about she eats now?

It’s also a bit demonstrative or stiff-armed in tone, no? Or is that just me..


texts: How do you convey that something is said slowly in written dialogue?

texts:
I am writing a dialogue and I want a word to be said slowly so it is clarified.

The dialogue goes like this

"What's this?"

"It's a Bellis perennis."

"What?"

"Bellis perennis." (I want this to be said slowly)

Should I separate the letters with dashed like this

"B-e-l-l-i-s p-e-r-e-n-n-i-s."

or should I insert spaces between the letters. But I don't want the reader to think I said each letter on its own.


texts: What phrase or word can I use to describe a bad mix of action?

texts:
This is in a Saudi YouTube series that I'm subtitling; I came across a colloquial word which means literally 'a mixture of melon juice, mango juice and corn', and figuratively expresses a bad course of action, a messy action or bad and uncontrolled management.

For example:

  Tim was a bad boss, his administration was the worst of its kind he gave false promises and spoke about imaginary projects thats why we going to call them شمنجاحبش which is the name of the mix juices


texts: Avoiding "time-controlledly" as an adverb

texts:
I'm currently translating a web site for scheduling software from German to English. So there are many things that this program can do "time-controlledly" (if I translate literally). But this sounds very wrong to my ears, can this construction be used as an adverb? If not, how can I avoid it?

Let me give some specific examples of more-or-less literal translations that I would like to rephrase to make them more idiomatic:

"You can time-controlledly start and stop programs and services."
"The program offers many built-in commands such as (X, Y, Z) that can be run time-controlledly and automatically".
"The program will time-controlledly check your dynamic IP address and send you a mail each time it changed."

I have tried to avoid this problem by using nominalized constructions (so that "time-controlled" modifies a noun instead of a verb) and prepositional phrases ("in a time-controlled way"), but all of this looks very non-idiomatic. I'm looking forward to some suggestions on how to deal with this kind of adverb construction in English.


texts: Why can you use relative clauses with implicit complementisers or relative pronouns?

texts:
Why are these correct?

The work I am doing is easy.

The house he lives at.

The book I am writing is about different realms.

The man I was helping thanked me.

The ant I was blocking the road of.

The school I go to.

Shouldn't "I am doing", "lives at", "writing", "was helping", "blocking", and "go" be at the front? Could you please explain the grammar here? Thank you.


texts:
What is a better way of saying this sentence?

  The banker explained the working of bank in an easy way for a layman to understand without any core banking words.

The emphasis is on the highlighted part.


texts: What does “put it in English” mean in broadcasting context?

texts:
The following sentence is from this past November 7th’s New York Times article  titled “Rove’s on-air rebuttal of Fox’s Ohio vote call raises questions about his role”, dealing with Karl Rove’s clear contradiction with Fox News’s call regarding Ohio voting for President Obama:

“So at 11:33 p.m., Megyn Kelly, an anchor known for her no-nonsense style, began her walk down the hall and did the questioning. The leader of the decision team, Arnon Mishkin, laid out its case, with some help from a more polished television presence, Chris Stirewalt.
“Arnon doesn’t do TV very often, and Megyn can be very pointed,” Mr. Clemente said. “So I said let’s have Arnon with the facts, and Chris — because he’s on TV every day — to put it in English.”

I don’t understand the exact meaning of the ending phrase, “to put it in English”, because all concerned are Americans speaking the English language. Is this a jocular, or does it simply mean “to speak plainly”?
I suspect I would offend the native English speaker, if I ask him/her “please put it in English”, as it may sound like he/she speaks circuitously, or badly.


texts:
Catastrophe -
An event causing great and usually sudden damage or suffering; a disaster.
an environmental catastrophe

Calamity -
An event causing great and usually sudden damage or suffering; a disaster.
emergency measures may be necessary in order to avert a calamity

Is the only difference between these two words is where they originated/etymology?

NOTE

calamity (n.) Look up calamity at Dictionary.com
early 15c., from Middle French calamite (14c.), from Latin calamitatem (nominative calamitas) "damage, loss, failure; disaster, misfortune, adversity," origin obscure. Early etymologists associated it with calamus "straw" (see shawm); but it is perhaps from a lost root preserved in incolumis "uninjured," from PIE *kle-mo-, from base *kel- "to strike, cut" (see hilt).


texts:
If a gourmand chances upon a particularly delectable meal, he might say: "Mm, nummy in my tummy!"

Where does nummy come from? From dictionary.com I found that nummy is a form of yummy, formed by yum + -y , where yum is short for yum-yum. Is that accurate? And, where does yum-yum come from?


texts: What is the short for "focusing on the key component of the problem?"

texts: I am writing a research essay which contains something like "a policy that focuses on the key component of the problem." I am struggling to come up with a short name for this policy because I need to write it in a section title. I need something like "key-component-focusing policy," but this is still a little long. Could anyone please help me with this? Thanks.


texts: Another word for always feeling fortunate

texts:
Consider these contexts:

"I'm okay being paid less, because I feel fortunate to have a job when many are unemployed".

A parent to a child - "Don't waste your food. There are many who don't even have it."

In the first case, a person is feeling fortunate/thankful in every situation,
and in the second, the person is forced to feel so.
I'm not sure if both cases are suitable for this question. I just wanted to know if there is any word to describe a person, who always feels fortunate/ grateful/thankful for any situation, or is forced to think so.


texts:
What is the difference between a question and an invitation?

Is there any difference?
Do they accomplish different things?
Are they structurally different?


texts: I am trying to describe someone's reactions in a situation.  At first I used the word overreact, but then I realized it is not only the person's overreaction but also other kinds of inappropriate or unexpected reactions.  Then I came across "misreact" which seems to be the right word, except that I am not sure if it is a real word.


texts: Which one is correct: "Similar to those that happened in Y" or "Similar to those in Y"? Please see my examples

texts:
Is the first sentence fine as it is?

I was surprised to know that circumstances surrounding the violent protests in Japan were somehow similar to those in my short story.

I was surprised to know that circumstances surrounding the violent protests in Japan were somehow similar to those that happened in my short story.


texts: Where does "blah" meaning "idle talk" come from?

texts:
Blah, as suggested by the Wiktionary has an uncertain origin:

Sense “Idle, meaningless talk” (1940), probably imitative or echoic in origin. Perhaps, but cf Greek "barbarbar” ‘unintelligible sounds’ (Grillo 1989:174).

Also may be connected with bleat. - (Grillo, R. D. 1989. Dominant Languages: Language and hierarchy in Britain and France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)

Etymonline suggests its earlest usage in 1918

"idle, meaningless talk," 1918, probably echoic.

Actually "bla" is a sort of international term used, for instance, in French , in Italian and in Spanish.
Questions:
If the onomatopoeic assumption the most likely one, was the term actually coined within the English language or imported from abroad where it was possibly already in use?


texts: A single idiom or phrase that means " I didn't feel sleepy anymore"

texts:
Is there any idiom/phrase that convey this meaning: "someone or something caused me not to feel sleepy anymore at a specific moment or situation"?

Please read these scenarios:

Last night I was sound asleep when the telephone rang. I coudn't sleep again after that and lay awake until morning.
Suppose you have an exam tomorrow, and you haven't finished reviewing your book yet. Now you feel so sleepy that you decide to rinse/wash your face with cold water in order to remove (?) that sleepy feeling.
While you are going to your work by bus, you feel so drowsy that take a short nap, but a loud cry breaks (?) your nap, and you don't feel drowsy any more!

I have found these idioms and phrases by googling:

Somebody or something made me awake
I was wide awake
I washed the sleep out of my face
I couldn't get back to sleep

Actually, I'm looking for a single idiom, or phrase that can be used in all those situations I illustrated in my examples.


texts:
I am reading the book 'Shoe Dog' by Phil Knight'. There is a paragraph in this book which starts with the following sentence:

  It didn't help that, when I wasn't a foot soldier in Hayes's Army, I was still serving in the Reserves. (A seven year commitment.)

I want to know what is he referring to by the phrase "it didn't help that".
What is the correct meaning of "it didn't help that"?
Moreover, what does "a foot soldier" as the person (Hayes) is an accountant in the book.


texts:
I will explain about the project over a call

I will explain about the project on a call

I have read here that over can be used as during

So is explain over a call correct?

which is the correct usage?


texts: Word for an animated monster made of the body parts of dead people

texts:
Is there a word for this?  I'm looking for a nice colorful word with the above definition.

Examples include:

Frankenstein's monster.
Flesh atronach (from Elder Scrolls games).

The word is not:

Zombie (because a zombie is an animated dead body, not cobbled or sewn together from multiple bodies).

P.S. Think there should be some kind of "reverse dictionary" or "locate a word for this definition" tag?


texts: What does it mean to be "British-French-American"?

texts:
On the Wikipedia page for Les Misérables the first sentence says:

  Les Misérables is a 2012 British-French-American musical drama film . . .

What exactly does this double hyphenation imply?


texts: Should I use present or past tense in indirect speech?

texts:
Suppose a person has told me this:

I will go home.

I want to report what he told me to someone else, but I don’t know whether the condition is still true — that is, whether he has gone home.
Now which version should I use?

He told me that he will go home.

He told me that he would go home.

If the person doing the reporting doesn’t know whether the reported event has happened, which tense should be used here?


texts: what does "attend the services " mean to you?

texts:
Consider the following English sentence which I've translated from "他去会堂守礼拜了。" :

  He went to attend the services in the synagogue.

What does "attend the services" mean to you?


texts: resemble = look like... ??? = sounds like... ??? = smells like

texts:
The verb resemble is typically used to denote similarity in appearance. We can thus replace this verb with "look like."

But does English have analogous single-word verbs for "sound like," "smell like," "taste like," and "feel like?"

EDIT: Yes, the broad definition of resemble (as commenters have wisely pointed out) includes, more generally, "having qualities similar to" or "seeming like," which would include the other senses. Is it truly used for all of them? And my question remains: are there analogous single-word verbs for the other senses?


texts:
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language says this:

Echo what is syntactically very different from the interrogative pronoun what. It can replace words of more or less any category, and can take on the inflectional properties of that category — cf. You bought three whats? or even They had whatted the car?

CGEL does not use any symbols indicating questionable grammaticality or grammaticality in some dialects only for those examples; therefore, the authors consider the examples correct in all dialects of English, including International English. As the echo what would naturally occur in spoken English (as opposed to written English), it is difficult to ascertain whether the examples would sound idiomatic in major English dialects (e.g. British English, American English) using Google Search. So, my question is:
Which of these are more natural in various spoken English dialects?

They had what the car?
They had whatted the car?
You bought three what?
You bought three whats?

EDIT: Or more generally, what constitutes idiomatic use of echo what in British and American English?


texts: Change of meaning by changing  "of" to "in"

texts:
Poland is the historical bone in the throat of both Germany and
  Russia, and it is in the American interest to make sure that it is
  firmly lodged there.

and

  Poland is the historical bone in the throat in both Germany and
  Russia, and it is in the American interest to make sure that it is
  firmly lodged there

I wonder if the semantics of the sentence change when I use in instead of of

Please elaborate.


texts:
I came across this sentence when reading a newspaper.

An information systems specialist who set up his own mobile app development company, Edward established Web Organic in 2019 and
tapped contacts in the industry for help.

In this sentence, "an information systems specialist who set up his own mobile app development company" is placed at the beginning (in front of the subject)
In what conditions can an appositive phrase be placed forward? For instance, are the sentences below grammatically correct? (They both sound weird to me but I couldn't figure out their difference with the aforementioned sentence)

1 The president of the United States, Trump waged a trade war against China.

2 A fan of Michael Jordan, Jack flew to the US to watch his match.


texts: 1970-ish: Is it an accepted word? If so, what does it mean?

texts: Modish, youngish, girlish are accepted words. Is 1970-ish accepted too, or even understood to be an English word?


texts: Which is the best word to use for a Face-to-Face interview

texts:
We are a BPO company and does lot of UK and US IT recruiting. We normally have two types of interviews - the first is telephonic and second is at client's office. Our recruiters use the term "Face-to-Face" interview and "Inperson" interview to indicate the latter type of interview.

We are now trying to prepare a uniform template for interview invitations and I would like to know the best term to indicate the second type of interview. Please also suggest if there are any other standard terms which can be used for the same purpose.


texts: adverbs that contain the same meaning that's already in the verb of a sentence

texts:
I am reading William Zinsser's book "On Writing Well". In it he writes:

"But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what - these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence."

I am not sure what he means by adverbs that contain the same meaning that's already in the verb. Please provide me with examples of this and tips on how to avoid it. My goal is to learn how to identify instances where this happens and fix them.


texts:
I am writing a mathematical report  and i wrote this:

  In the following sections, the value of x is always 1 unless it is stated the otherwise.

Did I use otherwise correctly here please ?

Thanks for helping guys


texts: What's the reason of having prefix "re" in the word "republic"?

texts: Does that mean there was an even earlier form of government called "public"?


texts: What do we call a person who walks into a ditch/trap himself without anyones provokation or enticing him

texts: Without being careful, or may be with some arrogance, if a person walks into a troublesome situation, what are the phrases or words to describe him?


texts: What does the word "breakdown" mean here?

texts:
CSS Support – A complete breakdown of the CSS support for every popular mobile, web and desktop email client on the planet.  Source: GitHub

Couldn't find the right definition of breakdown on Merriam-Webster. I suppose it's like a complete guide...


texts:
My friend appoints someone to be our spokesperson in an interview. And I think this person is enough to answer all questions, thus my friend does not need to find another spokesperson.
I want to reply to my friend's email by saying "Mr. X is ample to be the spokesperson for our interview" (I want to use formal tone)
Is this correct?
Please help, thanks :)


texts: Why doesn't the word 'confirm' have "3rd person -s" in this text?

texts:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/11/liverpool-luis-suarez-barcelona-transfer-medical

The issue is in the headline 'Liverpool confirm Luis Suárez’s £75m move to Barcelona pending medical'.

Nevertheless It says "A Liverpool statement said: “Liverpool FC confirms that Luis Suárez will ..." in the third paragraph

I don't catch the difference. Can someone explain it to me?

Lot of thanks.


texts:
I thought a few good options would be "amble"; "slog"; "plod" - but they are mostly used in context of walking.

I want to use the word in a sentence like -

  I (insert word) over a book for days.


texts: What are the terms to use when talking about things you want to sell to other people?

texts:
I'm searching for a term used when talking about things you want to sell to other people. Any synonyms for them would be appreciated to.
I mean the items, products, or other stuff you want to sell


texts: What do you call someone who keeps asking other people to buy them things when they can just buy it themselves?

texts: What do you call someone who asks other people to buy them things when they could just buy it themselves.


texts: Coordinating Conjunction vs subordinating conjunction. Who, Which Vs and it/that

texts:
I have a question about conjunctions, dependent and independent clauses.

The issue came up when a text book suggests that "and it" can replace "which/who".
But my understanding is that subordinating conjunctions are used for connecting dependent clauses, whilst coordinating conjunctions are used with independent clauses.

So here are some examples.

This book is about King Sejong, who invented Hangeul.
This book is about King Sejong and he invented Hangeul.

No.1 to me is correct whilst 2. isn't.

Another example however

The word shampoo comes from the Hindi word champo, which means "to press".
The word shampoo comes from the Hindi word champo and it means "to press".

In this case, both look correct to me.

In the 1st example, is it incorrect because the subordinate clause acts as a adjective clause, whilst the 2nd example isn't?

One final example that is obviously wrong:

I am reading a book about Paris, which I visited two years ago.
I am reading a book about Paris and I visited two years ago.

Thank you.


texts: Which is correct, “someone named something” or “someone called something”?

texts:
It seems to me that there has been a move away from designating people by saying “named” when identifying someone as opposed to saying “called,” for example - in a news report.

Saying “named” seems more precise  - I would use “called” with a nickname - i.e.  A man called Rocky or  Butch.


texts:
I noticed a string on a similar question that is now closed; I would like your input on a specific problem that has puzzled me.

At my publishing company, people are fond of writing, e.g., "Law Nos. 1 through 5" to describe, collectively, five separate laws enumerated 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

To me, this seems incorrect.

Using "Nos." in the above manner seems, literally, to mean "Law Numbers 1 through 5", but the phrase "Law Nos. 1 through 5" does not describe one law with five different numbers, nor does it describe numbers in the abstract.  The intended reference is to five different laws that are separately enumerated.

Another way to express the matter in words is "Laws Numbered 1-5"; from this, it seems more correct to abbreviate the matter as "Laws No. 1-5".

I am curious about other ways to look at this problem.

Thanks and regards,

q.b.


texts: Questions from Japan - For guys: When do you use "Please"?

texts:
Will you use "Please" when asking your close male friends to pass you the salt? Why?
When do you/don't you use "please" with them (your close male friend)?
Were your parents strict in using "Please"?


texts: I was sure the word 'repeat' could be an adjective; for example, the phrase "repeat performance" describes a performance that is repeated.  To my surprise, however, the Random House dictionary and World English Dictionary, don't have it in as an adjective, and nor does Wiktionary.  So, is 'repeat' in "repeat performance" functioning as an adjective, or something else?


texts: A word embracing different types of "measurement"

texts:
What would be a good word for different types of measurements?

Examples of the "measurements" I am thinking about:

Temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar are body "measurements".

Airplane "speed, FPM" are plane measurements.


texts: Antonym for Hypochondriac or another word completely?

texts:
Sample sentence:

  Some people think that Veronica is a workaholic but what they don't know about her is that she actually suffers from a very debilitating and un-diagnosed chronic illness – she's really the opposite of a hypochondriac.

I am not satisfied with previous answers to this question.

Q: What do you call people who are misdiagnosed or judged by their doctors (especially in the US) as "hypochondriacs" when in fact they are suffering from real illnesses?

They are neither overly anxious or nonchalant about their actual condition.  After years of being mis-treated, un-treated, mis-diagnosed, or un-diagnosed these sufferers go back into the workplace and stop talking to anyone about their condition because it is the most practical thing to do. They pretend they are perfectly healthy and silently suffer through their pains/symptoms.  I don't know any hypochondriacs but I know dozens of these types of people.

Maybe the word I am looking for is the inability of doctors and society in general to cope with the actual sea of suffering/illness that there is in our society.


texts: Understanding 5 consecutive "that"s in this sentence

texts:
(This sentence was told as an entertainment by my English teacher 8 years ago.) She presented us with the following sentence:

  She said that that that that that he said was wrong.

I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out what each that means, and am still having a bit of trouble even now.

After killing my brain for hours on this, I worked this out:

There are only 3 predicate verbs in the sentence, so there should be exactly 2 that's that start a subclause
No two consecutive that's can have a solid meaning, or it's a grammar error
Given the above two points, the second and the fourth that's are starts of two subclauses, and the first, the third and the last thats have a solid meaning.
The first that and the whole subclause led by the second that are appositive. Similarly, the third that and the subclause led by the fourth that are appositive.

The sentence now looks like this:

She said *that* that *that* that *that* he said was wrong.
|             |      |           |            |         |
|             |      | inner - 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~         |
|             |    2 ~~~~~~.....................~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 - outer

It's then that problems arise. I can't understand why the last that is fine here. If the above ideas are correct, then the third that is the object of the innermost subclause (marked as 1), and the last that doesn't serve as any structural element in that clause.

What's the role of the last that in the innermost subclause? Or did I interpret the sentence wrongly?


texts: How can I properly indicate a "day off" in a tournament using "sports terms"?

texts:
When showing a tournament calendar with an odd number of teams, how can I say (in sport terms) to indicate the team that is not playing on a given match day?
For example a tournament with five teams (A, B , C , D, and E):

A vs B
C vs D
E "has a day off"


texts: Is There A Single-Word For Describing Someone Who Sticks To Their Guns?

texts:
My question is this: Is there a single-word to describe my actions or to describe a person who sticks to their guns?
I recently encountered an issue with a seller online. The goods were shipped over two months ago. I did a shipping inquiry through USPS and received a formal letter from them two days ago stating that they lost the package and that since it's lost it will still display as being in transit. I contacted the seller asking for a refund and attached a copy of the letter from USPS.
Their response: "Dear, why they think lost? Still in transit."
I asked for a refund and they refused. So, I opened a dispute.
The sellers response to the dispute: "Dear, close dispute bad for business logistics in transit. Sob sob sob"
My response: "I will close the dispute when you provide me with a guarantee in writing that I will receive a full refund when the package hasn't arrived by a specified date. USPS has already informed me that they lost the package, please see the attached letter that I provided two days ago."
The sellers response: "Dear, why they think lost? Still in transit. Please close dispute. Sob sob sob"
My response: "As previously stated, I will close the dispute when you provide me with a guarantee in writing that I will receive a full refund when the package hasn't arrived by a specified date. USPS has already informed me that they lost the package, please see the attached letter that I provided two days ago."
The sellers response: "Dear, please close dispute wait patiently for logistics. Sob sob sob"


texts: How can a written language develop with unspoken letters?

texts:
English is a language in which you write quite a few letters that you do not pronounce, or you write letters in one order and pronounce it in another.

For example, centre. It is pronounced /ˈsɛn.tə(r)/, so you say e before r, but you write it the other way around. Or Google: /ˈɡuːɡəl/; you say e before l, and then you write it the other way around.

One example of a letter written but not spoken would be practically. You say practic-ly.

There are quite a few examples of that. But I don't see why those things seem to develop.

I am a German, and (most of the time, with a few exceptions) we speak all the letters written (or at least significantly change the pronunciation of the other letters at some points).


texts: "This essay was translated from the Chinese" — what does this "the" do?

texts:
Chen Guangcheng is a special student at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at
  the New York University School of Law. This essay was translated from
  the Chinese.

Why don't they write: "This essay was translated from Chinese"? (Omitting the "the" before "Chinese".)


texts: Which tense should I use in this situation?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Using the gerund two times in a row

Here is the sentence:

  Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters (insisting
  or insist) that the science about global warming is incomplete,
  that it's Ok to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for
  sure.

Which is correct in the parentheses above, insisting or insist? Which role does it play here, attribute or some thing else? And could you help me analyze the grammar?


texts:
What is the difference?

  I am interesting in mathematics.

versus

  I am interested in mathematics.

Murphy intermediate grammar Unit 97 tells me that I cannot use the former. Extended and general explanations will be appreciated.


texts: Is “throw guns into a hot stove” a common phrase or just one-off figurative expression?

texts:
Today, Scott Simon, the host of NPR’s Weekend Edition news program, interviews former NATO Ambassador Ivo Daalder about the cease-fire between the Ukrainian government and Russian separatists, and asks him:

  “You’ve been saying for some time now that the U.S. and NATO should
  provide lethal defensive assistance to Ukraine. Wouldn't that just throw
  more guns into a hot stove?”

I surmise that the phrase “throw more guns into a hot stove” means 'to make the situation worse or even disastrous'.

I searched for the term “throw more guns into a hot stove” using Google, but it didn't return any hits. Is “throw more [something] (guns / bullets / powders / gasoline) into a hot stove” a common phrase, or just a one-off figurative expression?


texts: Is there one word that suggests that something was 'done out of anger'? Usage similar to something done deliberately or intentionally, only including the motivation of anger.


texts: What is the origin of "your mother" as an answer to any question?

texts:
I'm just curious, as the term "your mom" as an annoying answer/reaction to any question/comment is also used in other languages. So what is its etymology?

UPDATE

I even found a reference on Serverfault.

Maybe it wasn't that clear what I meant, so I give two examples taken from the urban dictionary:

  Guy 1: I'm going to tie my shoes

  Guy 2: YO MOMA'S GONA TIE HER SHOES!!!

and

  Girl 1: That Girl is a slut.

  Random Guy 1: YO MOMA'S A SLUT!!!

I even remember an Episode from Miami Vice (season 3, maybe episode 22) where Crocked asks for the whereabouts of a suspect and he gets a kind of "Your Mom" as an answer.

Here's another reference:


texts: A sentence structure that reads easier and more natural

texts:
Here are 2 possible structures of the same sentence (including extra sentence for context).

  Seriously, what is up with this unnatural behavior of hers?!  She started acting like this ever since that stupid ring got involved…

And

  Seriously, what is up with this unnatural behavior of hers?! Ever since that stupid ring got involved, she started acting like this…

From the novel PoV, which of them reads more easily and natural?

And what should I keep in mind, if I deal with such structure dilemmas in the future?

Please migrate the question if this is a wrong section for questions like this.


texts: "Why aren't you listening to me?" versus "Why don't you listen to me?"

texts:
What should I use, "Why aren't you listening to me?" or "Why don't you listen to me?"

Example:

I'm chatting with my friend, who seems to just ignore some issues:

  Bill, why aren't you listening to me, when I tell you about my problem?


texts:
I had the following sentence today in my exam:

  "Would you like to come with us to a service in the Maori Church?"
  asked my hostess. "Indeed, I would," I replied.

What would be the indirct narration of this sentence? I wrote:

  My hostess asked me if I would like to go with them to a service
  in the Maori Church, to which I replied that I indeed would.

Is this correct? If not, what would be the correct version?


texts: When is it appropriate to use the word "intelligence" vs. "information"?

texts:
I'm currently playing Metal Gear Solid 5, I'm a french speaker and I noticed characters use the word Intel shorthand for Intelligence I think.

I understand it as a synonym for Information but I'm not sure it can be considered as a replacement for Information.

For example, I was chatting with someone and he said:

  I will look into this issue.

and I wanted to express that if he needed more informations he could ask me so I was thinking about using this sentence :

  If you need more intel, just ask me.

Do you think it's right ?

P.S. In french I'd translate Intel as Renseignement and Information as Information but in such context using Renseignement or Information would have the same meaning and that's what made me think about it.

Thanks for helping.


texts: What is the practice of using elaborate introductions to one's idea called?

texts:
The following is an exaggerated example:
Suppose that three people wanted to express their opinions of StackExchange:

Person A: StackExchange is cool
Person B: I think that StackExchange is cool
Person C: I have a feeling that I would like to almost allow myself to think that StackExchange is cool

What is the speech pattern of Person C called?


texts: General way to describe words like "understand", based on archaic senses of their component parts

texts:
The word "understand" is fascinating. A surface parse of the word gives little insight into how the components are related to the concept associated with the word. In contrast, with words like "leftover", it's not hard to figure out the link between the pieces and the concept ("left" makes sense, in that some part of the whole was "left", and "over" because the part that was left is "over and above" the part that was used). But "understand" is harder. As it turns out, "under" is used in a sense that no longer applies its usage in "understand", with the concept of "among" or "inter". So "understand" means something like "standing in the midst of" the thing that is understood.

My question is, is there a general way to describe such a phenomenon, where words are made of components that no longer have the meaning that led to their usage as such a component? Does this phenomenon have a name, or associated body of study?


texts: Forming gerunds when an auxiliary verb is required

texts:
Earlier today I started to wonder if parkour could be used as a verb or should be in a gerund phrase (doing parkour).

parkour, from Oxford Dictionaries: "The activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping, and climbing."

The sentence I was trying to create was "He [was doing parkour/parkoured]   (something doesn't seem right about this) over a vacant, weathered plinth."

Which lead me to ask, how do you form gerunds with nouns requiring auxiliary verbs(to do + noun) or is this the present progressive aspect of 'to do' and not a gerund at all?

I am completely lost, and don't exactly know how to create a succinct inquiry for google. Any information would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Is there a difference between the terms "duty" and "obligation"?

texts:
I know only the German terms. There, Pflicht and Verbindlichkeit are not 100% the same but 99% percent of the time used interchangeably.

edit: Within the context of legal discourse.


texts: Do American natives pronounce t of at in "at any ..." as FLAP T?

texts:
According to the American Accent rules, any T is pronounced as FLAP T when it comes in between two vowels that may be in a word or in between two words like "at any"....

So, Do American natives pronounce t of at in "at any ..." as FLAP T or Pure T ?


texts:
This is the official Apple logo for apps:

What's the logic behind using on instead of in? It doesn't sound grammatically correct.


texts: Best way to express the purpose of quotes (scare quotes)

texts:
Patients have faced skepticism for years over whether CFS is a "real" disease.

In the sentence above, how would you express the purpose of the quotes around "real"? I'm aware that scare quotes are typically used to signify irony or the opposite meaning, but that doesn't seem to be the case in the sentence. I have an intuitive sense for what it means, but I can't put it into words.


texts:
The gardens stretched back to some reasonable-looking pasture land on which grazed a few cattle and sheep.

Why is this inversion valid here? I would expect maybe "on which there grazed" (as in "there comes a time") if an inversion were to be happen.


texts: What proverb in English means that people get rid of old habits hard? (if there are any)


texts: One-word synonym for "to ride roughshod over"

texts:
I'm looking for a shorter verb with more punch. I can only think of nouns or long phrases:

ride roughshod
juggernaught
ramrod
mow down
plough
battering ram

What's a better way to say "to ride roughshod over"?

EXAMPLE: [The larger factor] bowls over / dominates / rides roughshod over [the smaller factor].


texts: Racism, sexism, ageism... any term for degree-based prejudice?

texts: Is there any word to designate prejudice against someone based on the degrees he holds or the university he attends/attended?


texts:
I'm trying to remember the grammatical term used to describe this part of speech.  The term "prepositional phrase" comes to mind, but I think it might be something different.  It's the part of a sentence that introduces the sentence and gives context, but grammatically it can always be removed and the sentence will still be valid.  Examples:

  Being in jail, he is unable to attend.
  The car having two doors, there wasn't a third one to open.
  The store being closed on weekends, he would have to wait until Monday.


texts: I use 'pretty man' as my nickname. But recently I have heard that the word 'pretty' is used only with women. Please tell me if 'pretty man' sounds good or it sounds weird and I should be embarassed? Maybe, it has some hidden meaning.


texts: What does „stocks of things, recent stuff” mean?

texts:
My friend has a problem with the phrase in the title. We’re both non-natives of English and despite my advanced level I’ve never seen such a phrase. It was said by a bilingual child while telling about a situation/story of a boy who was teased by other children (?) after a football match in which he scored 5 goals.
Can anyone explain me this in more straightforward, descriptive way so I can translate it more easily to my friend?


texts:
When I want to talk about a successful student, can I describe him/her as follows?

She's very good in school. (or at school?)
She's good at her lessons (or she's good in her studies?)
She's good in her classes.

I appreciate your answers.


texts: Which sounds more right in a website name/address: [product]available or available[product]?

texts:
I want to get a website name and an address, and they have to communicate that a product that's represented on the site is instantly available.

For example if I sell bread, which is better: AvailableBread.com or BreadAvailable.com ?

Thanks ;)


texts: What do we call a person whose guesses are almost always correct?

texts:
I was just wondering if there is a single word for a person who can always guess the correct answer.

Regards!


texts:
What is the difference between the mentioned two words?

Which of the following sentences is correct?

I look forward to reading more of your write-ups.
I look forward to reading more of your writings.


texts: Gentle word or phrase meaning ignorantly happy?

texts:
You know the phrase ignorance is bliss? I want to tell someone — but nicely — that the reason they're not worried about something is that they just don't know the details.

Something like, I hate to break it to you, but you're in a state of ______. But not denial — that's way too active. Same with sticking your head in the sand. A fool's paradise, except I don't want to call anyone a fool. I thought of "you're just not looking behind the curtain", which I guess would work, but I don't think is a common expression.

I know there must be a phrase for this, but I can't think of it.


texts: I have noticed in the emails I receive at work that people often refers to others as 'Hi both'. I cannot help to feel a little bit unconfortable when I read it. May I consider as an informal way of referring to other?


texts: Meaning of "ever" in the mentioned context?

texts:
What does "ever" in the following sentence mean?

  Ever tactful, Boswell immediately brought up the subject of the
  afterlife, asking if there might not be a future state. Source

So Hume is about to die and this guy Boswell starts to talk to him about afterlife. And, we know that Hume was one of the biggest skeptics regarding religion. So the topic in the time is not ever (=at all?) tactful (=polite/sensitive/timely?). Is this what "ever tactful" means?


texts: Equation "solved through" or "solved by"?

texts:
Which one is better?

  "The equation x² = 4 is solved through 2 and -2."
  "The equation x² = 4 is solved by 2 and -2."

Which other suggestions do you have?

Just by googling, I could not resolve this problem...


texts: What is the origin of the expression “failed state”?

texts:
I am trying to find the etymology of  failed state.  The expression appears to be from the '90s. Who coined it and why?

  a nation in which the government has lost political authority and control and is unable to fulfill the basic responsibilities of a sovereign state. (Dictionary.com)


texts:
I heard of the expression "all retch and no vomit" for the first time, and the references I could find by googling it are not really clear to me. Here is the context where I found it:

  What we are doing is we are bringing up children and educating them to
  live the same sort of lives we are living... in order that, er, that
  they would-may justify themselves and find satisfaction in life by
  bringing up their children to bring up their children to do the same
  things so it's all retch and no vomit — it never gets there.
  (Alan Watts)

What would be a definition for the expression?


texts: Is it possible to regard "vacant" and "vacancy" as allomorphs (variants) of the same root in Modern English?

texts: Am I right to consider /΄veikənt/ and /΄veikəns/ in those words as variants of one and the same root morpheme in Modern English. But it makes me hesitate in  my morphemic division if we take for analysis preside - presid-ent - presid-ency  (comp. also agent - agency, pregnant - pregnancy and also pirate - piracy, private - privacy, literate - literacy).


texts: What are the differences between "taking advantage" and "leverage"?

texts:
What are the differences between "to take advantage" and "leverage"?

I have thought about that and got 2 points:

as a verb, "leverage" is only acceptable in American English, this post has explained that in detail.
when used with a derogatory sense, for example:

  "I was taken advantage of by the two bullies"

Could "leverage" have taken its place?


texts: Is "brings all the boys to the yard" an idiom? How to find out if a phrase is an idiom or not

texts:
Recently, I have had a debate with a friend that "brings all the boys to the yard" is an idiom and he refuses to accept it. Since this has been used as a part of a rapper's lyrics, he says this is not an idiom. All in all, is it an idiom and how to find out if some phrases are idioms or not? Is there a specific dictionary or a thesaurus?
The lyrics go like this:

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And they're like
It's better than yours,
Damn right,
It's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge
See full lyrics at AZLyrics.com


texts: Is there a general name for this: "The more you X the more you'll Y"

texts:
Some more examples:

"The more you want the more you need."
"The sooner you mow the lawn the sooner you'll be able to relax."

Maybe there's not a name  for this specifically, but is there a name for expressions like these that have some blanks that get filled in.

Also, to me it sounds more awkwarder when the adverbs are different such as

"The more you want the less you have"

Is that just me or am I breaking a rule?


texts:
I have a sentence that is structured like:

We need to perform a database cleanup, but before we do so, we were wondering if we could...

Is this the correct use of commas? Or would the proper use be one of the following:

We need to perform a database cleanup, but before we do so we were wondering if we could...

We need to perform a database cleanup but before we do so, we were wondering if we could...


texts: Word for doing something specifically to undermine status quo

texts: Is there a word which means to do something specifically to undermine the status quo? Perhaps in a political context?


texts: Ungrammatical: "Half the boys jumped, but only a quarter of the girls did."?

texts:
I'm writing a scientific paper and my coauthor claims that ending a sentence with "did" is ungrammatical. The sentence has the following form:

  Half the boys jumped, but only a quarter of the girls did.

Is he correct?

How can we describe the grammatical role that did is playing here, by standing in for the already-mentioned verb "jumped"? Is it a pro-verb (not to be confused with a proverb)? Where can I find rules for where pro-verbs can and cannot appear in sentences?


texts:
"peace be upon you/him/her" or "peace be with you/him/her"

"May God's mercy be upon you/him/her" or "May God's mercy be with you/him/her"


texts: What's the word meaning "All thumbs" mentally

texts:
I've learned all thumbs means physically awkward, especially with respect to the hands.

Is there any word or phrase to describe it in mentally?

The opposite of smooth talker or handling other people well.


texts:
Currently reading "Slang for the ages. It's swag. bae," by Kory Stamper from International New York Times (October 6, 2014), I came across this acronym O.G.

  "It[swag]'s generally taken to be a shortened form of the verb
  "swagger," which was used to denote a certain insolent cockiness by
  William Shakespeare, O.G."

Definitions of O.G. I have found so far are the following two:

officer of the guard.
original gum: the gum on the back of a stamp when it is issued to the public.

I think it is the second one (only because the first one doesn't seem fit) but what does original gum really mean? I am still confused.

Maybe some explanation with the context will be greatly appreciated.


texts: For instance, if I were to describe someone as being *near-*carnivorous, I'm have the goal of depicting them as being a heavy meat eater that includes very few forms of non-meat based food in their diet as opposed to being one who exclusively consumes meat.


texts:
What's the right way to write:
I have been teaching the course "xx" to Mr. Doe's group
or
I have been teaching the course "xx" for Mr. Doe's group
?


texts:
In our workflow, we sometimes have someone do duplicate work for someone else, and we call the duplicate work the "shadow" job. This led to a need for a term for the original work in the database, so we started calling the original job the "original shadow", but this is rather awkward, and doesn't really make sense, since something that creates a shadow isn't a shadow, it's the real thing. Is there a word for something that casts a shadow, that pairs nicely with a shadow? For example, if someone sees a "parent" job in the system, they can guess that there will probably be a "child" job as well (unfortunately, we are already using the parent/child analogy for something else). "Caster" works, but it may put you in mind of spells or fishing instead of shadows.

"Child" is to "parent" as "shadow" is to ________.

If you see a _______ job in the system, look for the shadow job that goes with it.

Then Wendy saw that the shadow's ________ was Peter Pan.

Every shadow has a _________.

The Cold War never turned in to World War III; the shadow was worse than the _______.

Within the trade, shadow puppets are called _________.


texts:
"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call
  him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I
  have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name:
  Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was
  unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so
  confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any
  reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name. (Harry Potter and
  the Sorcerer's Stone)

It seems ‘all this ‘You-Know-Who’ nonsense’ make a main clause in the semantic aspect, and for-clause subordinate one showing the reason for the main clause. But there’s no verb in the seeming-main clause. What do we call this kind of clause or phrase? Is there just omitting of verb? Or can a noun phrase make a clause semantically like an absolute phrase?


texts:
Do we say "Without reason" or "Without reasons"?
(e.g. She started laughing without (apparent) reason(s).).

Is "reason" countable or not?

Can we ever use a plural noun after "without"?


texts: a pun in an extract from John Oliver's Standardized Testing

texts:
Being a non native English speaker, I'm struggling with an extract from John Oliver's Standardized Testing (16'14 -> 16'26) :

  And I do not wanna hear, what the French kids think about (those ?)
  results : "All this time and all this money, and your race to the
  top is been(???)... how would you say... a [???] joke on a treadmill(???)...

Several words are inaudible to me and I don't understand the final pun.

Any help would be appreciated !


texts: Are particle and partical the same? When I check these two words in my dictionary at dict.cn, they look totally the same. Is there any difference or are they totally interchangable?


texts: Is the right term to call the children of your sister wives in a polygynous marriage "stepchildren"?

texts:
I came across this issue while describing in writing the relatives of a woman commonly known in the West as Princess Haya.
Princess Haya is the youngest of four current wives of the current ruler of Dubai (and the sixth person to every be once of his wives as he divorced two of his previous wives). Princess Haya has two children, both from a union with her current and only husband (who is the current ruler of Dubai). Her husband also has had 28 other children, collectively, with his five previous wives (three of whom he is still married to and two of whom are still living but divorced from him), each of whom has at least some children from their marriage to the current ruler of Dubai.
Princess Haya is also a child of the third wife of the former ruler of Jordan. Her mother died when she was three and her father died in 1999, but so far as I know, while she was raised by her father's family, she was not legally adopted by another mother. Princess Haya is the half-sibling of the current King of Jordan and many other children of her late father. So, this is clearly a pervasive issue for her extended family and having received almost all of her education from elementary school age to attending college at Oxford University, in England, she surely has described it to people in English many times and there must be some consensus term to use for her various kinship relationships.
Princess Haya's relationship to the current King of Jordan is called in every account that I have seen, "half-brother" (rather than "stepbrother"), and likewise the relationship of her two children to the twenty-eight other children of their father by other wives is always called "half-sibling" in every account that I have seen in English, rather than "stepsiblings" (I don't speak Arabic which is her first language and the first language of her husband, so I don't know what term is used for that relationship in Arabic).
But, what is the correct term for the relationship between Princess Haya and her children's twenty-eight half-siblings who are children of her sister wives?
My first instinct would be to call them "stepchildren", but in the monogamous world, stepchildren are usually children of your current spouse who are not related by blood to your own children and your children, and the children of your current spouse from a previous relationship and your children from a previous relationship is called "stepsiblings" rather than as "half-siblings."
Her children's half-siblings certainly aren't properly described as her children, however. And they are children, who are not her children, who are children of her current husband with a different wife, which is also true of stepchildren.
An almost identical issue can arise in the monogamous world, for example, if a man has a child with his first wife who dies and then marries and has a child with his second wife, and indeed that relationship historically used to be quite common.
But, the only good literary precedent I can think of that comes close is Cinderella, and the children of Cinderella's stepmother were not children of her father, so it provides little guidance. I also can't think of a term other than "stepchild" to use for this relationship
So, to recap, what is the proper term for the relationship between a wife and the children of her husband from another wife, who are related to the wife's own children with her husband as half-siblings?


texts: When choosing an adjective to refer to the nature of a calendar system, such as how we have months of varying length, is it more appropriate to use calendric or calendrical?  Is there any difference, perhaps in context?  Or is it a British vs American English thing?


texts: "Why can't I see?" or "Why I can't see?"?

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  Why can't I see?
  Why I can't see?

I am a bit confused, since both have inversion, negation and a "why" in the beginning.


texts: Is there a resource for viewing all the languages?

texts: Maybe this is the wrong website, but is there a link to see all the languages (current and past)?


texts:
Where does works a treat come from; is it related to sweets?
I cannot find any reference to its origin, are there words omitted such as works [like] a treat?


texts:
Concerning style, usage, and correctness: what is the difference in meaning (and therefore usage & correctness) between these two phrases?

A quick search reveals both are in use.

Also, what other precedent for meaning, style, and usage exists for multiple phrases (adverb modifying adverb, or otherwise) with the same or nearly the same meaning?


texts: Can the term “religiously” be offensive, and if yes, how?

texts:
Background: I have already seen this post about the usage of the term religiously. I have also posted a question on another site asking for the impact.

However, I am still interested, that whether, in any context, the term to do/practice something religiously can appear offending or above the line to anybody (in the context of religion)?

I, defending myself, don’t see any problems with the usage; then again, I’m not a native speaker, either. I know, I can and I will use alternate wordings, but I’m just curious: Do I need to and if yes, why?

EDIT:

Context:

To provide some background, consider the scenario

Geographics where religion plays a crucial and influential role in daily life.
Environment is a corporate sector (an office)
Target audience is people, of which some have the English as second language, some more as third least of them as first. FWIW, the standard language of communication is primarily English, though, and audience is supposed to have a certain level of educational degree where mostly the medium of education is, English.
Targeted usage is to describe some "process" or "method" which needs to be followed, in the corporate / official field to achieve certain standards as required by an organization / working group.

Clarification: "(in the context of religion)"

I was wondering, might I sound like "this is something as great or as required as your religion thus it can be compared to it and you must follow it.." and alike. Some may (?) take offense in this kind of comparison for the same reason mentioned in point (i) of context.


texts: "Soundness in body" vs "Soundness in the body"

texts:
Which one of the following is correct?

  Soundness in body is abundance in itself

or

  Soundness in the body is abundance in itself


texts: Difference between "beverage" and "drink"

texts: I am not sure when to use "beverage" and when to use "drink". I have read a bit on Google, both words come under alcoholic and non-alcoholic category of drinks.


texts: Is there a term for a product having the same name as its place of origin?

texts:
Several trade products, especially food, have been named after their places of origin throughout the centuries. To mention just a few,

champagne, after Champagne, France.
calico, after Calicut, India
cashmere, after Kashmir, India/Pakistan
port, after Oporto, Portugal
muslin, after Mosul, Iraq
alsatian (a German shephard) after Alsace, France
china (tableware), after China
canary, Canary Islands
spa, after Spa, Belgium

Is there, in linguistics, a phrase or term for naming something after its place of origin?

Edit - Re Tim's answer, although most of them are trade products, the term I'm looking for also includes animals, behaviors, recipes, etc.


texts: Passengers heard 'screaming' - who was doing the "hearing"?

texts:
Passengers heard 'screaming'

I feel this phrase could be interpreted in two ways:

1) The passengers could and did hear screaming (from someone else).
2) Someone else could and did hear the passengers screaming.

Which is correct?


texts: Is "All MEEMIES are SCREAMING" a Strong Collocation?

texts:
Stormy Petrels:

According to this article Elliott Moreton categorize particular group of words as "Stormy Petrels".

  A stormy petrel, also known as a storm petrel, is an Atlantic seabird (also found in the Mediterranean). The term "stormy petrel" in general usage has come to refer to a harbinger of trouble; perhaps people believed that the bird was seen just before a storm. Sometime in the late '80s, Elliott Moreton came up with a category of words which can't be used except in the company of specific other words; having heard the word "petrel" only in the company of the word "stormy," he decided to call such items "stormy petrels." As it happens, there is such a thing as a petrel which isn't stormy, but the term was a catchy one so it stuck.

Examples of Stormy Petrels:

All MEEMIES are SCREAMING
All DURANCE is VILE
All RECRIMINATIONS are BITTER

Note: In example 3, the word recriminations do occur alone. Example taken from Oxford dictionary:

  Meaning of Recriminations: An accusation in response to one from someone else.

    Usage: "there are no tears, no recriminations."

Strong Collocation:

  Strong collocations are when particular words can collocate with very few words. These two words are usually fixed and restricted.

Examples of Strong Collocation(Check strong collocation):

Curly Hair
Whisk an egg

So, what is the difference between "Stormy Petrels" and "Strong Collocation"? Or Are "Stormy Petrels" nothing, but "Strong Collocation"?


texts:
Idiomatically we do say "a strong will". But can we say "strong wills"? The context is

The optimism and (the) strong will(s) of the handicapped children touched me deeply.

Also, do I need a "the" before "strong will(s)" in this sentence?

Thanks.


texts: Using "might have been" in the present perfect

texts: How do we use "might have been" in the present perfect? For example, "The door might have been closed". How can we say this in the present perfect? Or is it already in the present perfect?


texts: I am looking for a single word that means "agriculture encyclopedia"; a book about farming. Does such a word exist?


texts:
Sometimes in very informal or comic book language one will see phrases such as "bonkity bonk", "flippity-flop", and "knockity knock". Other examples include "crunchity", "swirlity", etc, etc.

I have heard people add the suffix "-ity" to a number of verbs and it always seems to imply a progressive action. For example, "knockity knock" can be used to refer to the action of knocking on a door while it is still happening.

This suffix is different than "-ing" which also shows present progression. It wouldn't sound right to say "knocking knock" or "bonking bonk".

But what IS the difference? And what is the correct term for this suffix?


texts: difference between "American" and "an American"

texts: When I ask someone's nationality, he or she answers "I am American or I am an American.  I think both are right for me. Could anyone tell me which one is better ?


texts:
Which is correct - is or was missing?

My brother told me that one of the keys to the cabinets is missing.

My brother told me that one of the keys to the cabinets was missing.


texts: Structure after All/What with predicative complement

texts:
Possibly didn’t make the subject clear enough. I don’t know if that can be changed?

To me, structures of this type should follow what you normally use after the main verb.

For instance:

All I want is to stay here
What I like is coffee
All I want to do is (to) dance (I guess do is special as it sounds quite ok without the to)

For the sentences above, what I hear is in line with what I would personally say. However with verbs that normally require a gerund it seems some people still use an infinitive.

Are there rules or different usage?

What I would say:

What I recommend is eating healthy
What I advise is talking to him / What I advise you is to stay with me

What I hear:

What I recommend is to eat healthy
What I advise is to talk to him


texts: Word or Phrase for when something idiotic is described as secretly genius

texts:
Maybe "cognitive dissonance" is actually the correct phrase, but I thought I've heard a different word or phrase for this specific type of internal conflict.
For example, what word or phrase might be used to describe Sally's rationalization below:

Bob: "Joe's plan is foolish. It will never work, and we'll be caught."
Sally: "It will work. You're just too dim to see the genius of it. Did you stop to think maybe getting caught is part of Joe's plan?"

And lets assume that Joe's plan truly is bad. Maybe Sally is dating Joe and doesn't want to acknowledge that Joe could make a mistake.


texts:
Is there a proverb in the english language that describes a person with a "sore loser" type of attitude?

For example to convey a context, say there are two children (let's refer to them as Alice and Bob). Alice receives a doll for Christmas and Bob gets nothing. Feeling left out and angry, Bob breaks her doll.

Another maybe more realistic example, say there are a group of hackers/spies trying to intercept a particular communication. The encryption proves to be too much for their technology to handle so instead they do a DoS attack to take down the communication entirely.

In my language, we have a saying perfectly suited for this which loosely translates to "Either I join the game, or no games will be played". It seems like a common scenario to encounter in everyday life under many situations so I am hopeful that there could be one but proverbs are a tricky thing to look for because they are usually quite metaphorical in nature.

I am new to ESE so if the post can be improved let me know so I can edit it.


texts: Why do we use "the" in "the British" but not before "Canadians"?

texts:
Why do we use the definite article before most nationalities such as "the British" but we say "Canadians" without the?

Specifically, why is it that, for example,...

  Canadians like maple syrup.

...is a normal/unremarkable statement/sentence, but...

  *British think they put on a "jolly good show" for the 2012 Olympics.

...is "incorrect" without a leading definite article?


texts: Is there a better term than "fighting spirit" here?

texts:
I want to say "he has no fighting spirit anymore" to describe the psychology that might be involved in scenarios when someone has behaviours like this:

Hungry, but not to the point of overly weak, but still stays in bed because there's no food at home and he has no motivation to go out.
Wakes up five minutes before a university class or examination, doesn't bother rushing to the lecture hall to at least glean a fraction of the exam time.

So in a sense, what I'm trying to describe might be somewhat poetically described as a lack of the will to fight or wrestle with the reality one faces (in that sure, "He" might go to class if "He" woke up an hour earlier, but he won't bother if faced with significant obstacles).

However, "fighting spirit" doesn't seem to quite capture this properly. For scenarios like this, "he has fighting spirit" would seem to imply too much of a metaphorical fight. While there's indeed conflict here (between the individual and "reality"), I'm very hesitant to describe the person who does run to her exam after waking up late as "fighting reality". Moreover, some of the connotations of a "fight" carry very poorly to this sort of thing.

Is there a term (perhaps a philosophical one) that might better fit the sort of mentality (or rather, lack of) that I'm talking about?

I considered "will to power", but my understanding of Nietzsche makes me believe that there are too many social or moral connotations. Similarly, ennui fails: lack of motivation doesn't necessarily equate to boredom.

Are there any better alternatives? Or am I wrong about the "will to power"?

Update: After I got some answers that described the situation but didn't seem to be what I was looking for, I thought about what the key thing I'm interested in is, and bolded that part.

Apathy and resignation work well here, and I like those suggestions, but I'm wondering if there's something better for describing what is lacking. (After all, while it's indeed true that the opposite of "she refused to accept the horrors of the world" is "she accepted the horrors of the world", I feel like the latter doesn't entirely convey what is going on.)