texts: What would you call someone who imposes on other people's generosity?

texts: What would you call someone who isn't afraid to ask for money or any kind of favor or who misinterprets someone's generosity for a consistent resource for what they need?


texts:
I have a bunch of components I have included into a new project. I drew a pretty picture showing all of them, color coding the ones I selected, then showing the conglomeration. I went to write up the key to explain the colors, but didn't know how to kindly say "this one did not get picked" in a word or two. Excluded was a close as I could come, but it sounds mean.

Is there a nice way to say "this component did not get selected for inclusion into the new project" in a word or two?


texts: Does this vulgar expression necessarily imply a certain body part?

texts:
My question is about the expression "suck on it."

Background (you can skip this paragraph if you want): at Spanish SE we were doing some back-translating of a game we were playing in Spanish.  When we were trying to find an English equivalent for "Si os molesta, tirad de esta," a possible translation as  "If it bothers you, suck on it" was proposed.  This is not an expression I'm familiar with personally.

The only definition of suck on it I could find is from Urban Dictionary:

  that's too bad; deal with it; put up with it; tough luck; tough titty
  exclamation of triumph when you want to rub someone's nose in it
  Examples:
  BILL: I just missed out on first prize in the lottery by one number.
  OWEN: Suck on it.
  As you play the winning move in a game of skill or chance against others, you call out, "Suck on it!"

Okay, the UB entry shows a functional definition and examples of how to use the expression.  But what I want to know is, when the people in the conversation say or hear the expression "suck on it," is there a specific, implied referent for "it"?


texts: When do 'being' and 'to be' mean the same and when they not?

texts:
Please see the sentences.

She is excited to be a mother.
She is excited about being a mother.

Is sentence 2 means that she is happy just by the thought of becoming a mother and she doesn't have a baby? If yes then why we say 'I am happy to be here' when we are actually present there.


texts: Are 'upload' and 'download' interchangeable?

texts:
I hear it quite often (usually on TV or in movies) that people want to download things from their computer to an external server (or whatever external method of storage). When I hear this I cringe because I know they mean upload.

When I actually think about it, something IS getting downloaded, just not from the point of view of the user. The server is actually downloading it from the client, etc. And when we download something from Facebook, for example, the Facebook server is uploading it to our computer's hard drive.

Is my prior mentioned cringing appropriate? Are these words actually interchangeable?


texts: Was the pronoun 'it' always reserved for inanimate objects?

texts:
If you want to refer to a singular person, you've got He/She/They. Has this always been the case in English? Was the pronoun 'it' once a part of this list?

Either way, do we know what patterns led to the English-speaking decision that 'it' should be reserved for mostly non-living things?


texts:
Can you use competent in the context of an inanimate object such as an instruction manual, or a voltmeter?

e.g. "In my opinion Standard 12345 is considered a competent document." or "The potentials can easily be measured using a competent voltmeter."

Thank you.


texts:
Pretentiousness/archaism aside, does the sentence

  Any changes that were made have been detailed hence.

make sense? The context would be that the descriptions of changes would be found in the paragraphs following this sentence.


texts:
Camouflage is form and color that blends with the environment and for example make it difficult for a predator to spot a prey...  But what is the correct word when the "camouflage" is not made to blend in?

The best example is perhaps the zebra:  Black stripes on white doesn't exactly blend in.  Rather than hiding the zebra in the environment, the purpose seems to be to "break-up" the form of the individual zebra in the flock, so they all sort of floats together - making it difficult for a predator to target any one (particular) among them.  I guess you could say the stripe lets a zebra become "invisible" inside the flock, but...

So is there another word that better describe this than "camouflage"?


texts:
Simply, I couldn't understand that sentence. I found that sentence on an image on twitter .

could you help ?


texts: Word for a person who intentionally maligns someone's image in front of others

texts:
I have faced such situation twice or thrice in my university and work life. Due to competition your peer or ill-wisher tries to put you in dark light intentionally. So, it gives wrong impression of you to other people. If your ill-wisher succeeds, then your image is spoiled in front of others without you actually doing any wrong.

So, what do you call a person who spoils your image or malign your image in public?

For example:  He is a/ an ____. He spoiled my image in my office.

In real, he did not spoil my image, but he tried and my co-workers supported me. One more thing, I use to use ill-wisher until now but I feel I need one perfect word. Using ill-wisher sounds stupid.


texts: what does it mean :I want to do research for a bachelor

texts:
I am trying to learn English. Sorry if this is a primitive question:
what does the following sentence mean?

I want to do research for a bachelor

I am guessing that it means: "I want to get bachelor of university". Is that correct ?


texts: Is the word "annotation" suitable to describe "underline, highlight, strikethrough" made by reader/user? (labels in computer application)

texts:
I am not a native speaker so I would like to know what terms are suitable to describe

notes
highlight
underline
strike-through

to the user, in computer applications where user can annotate text like PDF readers

(notes appear as yellow boxes near words and show text when clicked, while 2,3,4 appear as text decorations).

I feel that underlining, highlighting and striking are sort of acts of annotation too. I may be wrong.

I see that most applications that enable the user to annotate text, like PDF readers, collectively name notes (like sticky yellow "adhesive" notes) and decorations (like underlining) as "annotations".

Many tutorials or wiki entries about annotating a book use annotations for both types of items.

Maybe it is because many programmers are not native English speakers. Or maybe it is correct to call notes and decorations together annotations. I do not know, I am asking here.

In other languages, in fact, words like annotate encompass also underlining or drawing arrows, circles, writing marginalia and so on, in addition to create and attach or link to notes, as a whole process that goes along study.

Are 2,3,4 annotations? If yes, are they annotations also when 1 is explicitly called notes? (important)

If an app is able to manage 1,2,3,4, how would I describe 1 and 2,3,4 as two separate categories to the user (like notes vs annotations)?

I feel it is also ugly to call 2,3,4 text-decorations.


texts: Is this sentence 'I'm gonna have to work on what else can she call me' correct?

texts:
1)I'm gonna have to work on what else can she call me.

2)You then wanna formulate an action plan. What steps can you take to start to address your worry

I watched a interview with Hillary on Ellen Show.

Hillary was talking about her granddaughter.
Ellen asked what she called Hillary

Hillary said on the show :

  She’s got a couple of words. I’m waiting to see what she wants to call
  me. If I like it, I’ll say “yeah that’s a good one”. If I don’t, then
  I’m gonna have to work on what else can she call me.

I thought that the last sentence was supposed to be like *I'm gonna have to work on what else she can call me**. Because 'what else she can call me' is not a question.
So, I thought she said it grammatically wrong.

BUT!!

I encountered another sentence You then wanna formulate an action plan. What steps can you take to start to address your worry, which is on You Tube.

I don't understand why they both said it in this order.


texts: What is a non-pejorative antonym for gourmet?

texts: I'm looking to describe two groups of people who eat pasta sauces. One type likes things like Rao's or Mario Batali. I'm describing them as "gourmet". A second group prefers Ragu and Prego. I was thinking utilitarian, but that's not quite right, and I don't want to use a term like unsophisticated or simple because the first is pejorative and the second isn't to do with taste in particular like gourmet is. Any ideas?


texts: underwater welding proceduce on a ship "approved by class": meaning?

texts:
From Taking the Plunge, a text on an underwater welding effort to fix a ship's stabilizer.

Subsea Global Solutions’ coded welder/divers used an industry-leading procedure approved by class to perform the underwater wet welding. Innovative solutions were employed, such as pad eyes designed to fold like a hinge, which helped to ensure that they didn’t clash against the fin box

What does "approved by class" mean here? Does it mean "approved by a classification society" (a body engaged in establishing and maintaining standards in the maritime field)?
I have one other quote from a representative of the same company:

Probably one of the most significant elements that we were able to achieve this past month is the approval from DNV GL for underwater Class A wet weld.
We’ve now been able to achieve permanent status on that weld from Class so what that means is we can weld certain materials, obviously certain types of steel on certain areas of the vessel and basically achieve the same metallurgical properties within the weld and within the base material as if that weld was done in a dry environment on the surface.

DNV GL is a classification society, and the word Class seems to stand for "classification society" here. Could it be that the word class in the first passage also refers to a classification society?
I'm curious about that capitalized use of class. There's a third quote, it was suggested by a fellow translator at a forum:

As aforementioned in our profile CMS Ltd started to provide ultrasonic thickness measurements (UTM) to vessel owners/managers in 2011 and obtained Class approval for it from Germanischer Lloyd, Buerau Veritas, Det Norske Veritas, RINA, Lloyds Register and the American Bureau of Shipping.

Would Class approval in this context mean "an approval by a classification society (or societies)"?


texts:
What are all the words that make up a complete list of linking verbs in English?  My English teacher from what I can remember listed them as follows, am I missing any?

is • am • are • was • were • be • been • being
have • has • had
do • does • did
may • might
must
can • could
will • would
shall • should
seem • become • appear • look • smell • taste • sound • feel

(Thank You Mr. Weber of Era, Texas for being the best English teacher in the world.)


texts: In my house, "there were" or "there was" many toys

texts:
Which of the following is correct and why:

1) In my house, there were many toys.

2) In my house, there was many toys.

An answer with an explanation would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What is a good simile or metaphor for being swallowed in by a crowd, or being surrounded by people? I am writing a narrative, and in my case I said "I got swallowed in by the crowd." Is there any good simile or metaphor that will complete my sentence? I would prefer a simile if there is any good ones, but a metaphor would also be great.


texts: Is there a verb that means "to alert audibly"?

texts:
When I am writing programs, I like to keep the methods as concise and clear as possible.  In a class that contains many methods of signaling a user, one possible way is to explicitly create an audible alert.  I am trying to find a single-word verb that carries this meaning to clarify some of the "chained verb" methods that take multiple actions.

The verb I'm currently using is "Audate".  To a native English speaker the meaning is clear from the root and suffix (i.e. "LogNotifyAudate(...)" -- Notify having a very specific meaning in this API), however, Audate doesn't appear to be a real word.

Is there a verb that would work here?


texts: Is “A increases the bigger B becomes” a legal English sentence pattern? Is it really a disguised “the more X, the more Y” pattern?

texts:
For many years I’ve been using constructions of two interrelated clauses where each of the two verbs comes with a comparative adverb or adjective of some sort (so either with more or less, or else with the equivalent ‑er inflection if the adverb/adjective is short enough for that).

Here are some examples of what I’m talking about, with the comparative adverbs from both clauses rendered in bold:

The more you eat, the fatter you get.
The faster you go, the sooner you get there.
The more I spoke, the less interested she became.

In all three of those examples, we have two verbs proportionally linked by each one’s progressive change. I think this is pretty standard English.

However, today I saw a sentence that did not use a comparative adverb in the first clause, only in the second, yet was surely still intended to convey proportional growth between the verbs in its two interrelated halves:

The importance of interfaces increases the bigger your application becomes.

Where’s the comparative adverb/adjective in the first clause in that sentence that’s licensing comparative adjective in the second clause? Is this usage valid and is it common in English?

If so, I’ll like it even more because trying to fit all such sentences into a standard the more X, the more Y pattern can sometimes create weird sentences. For example, this one seems weird to me:

The more scientists work on a solution, the more probably they will find one.


texts: Can the stress pattern of "uroboros/ouroboros" be explained by any principle, or is it random?

texts:
The word "uroboros," coming ultimately from Greek, has a couple of spellings and also pronunciations (see How to pronounce Ouroboros?).
As explained by Nohat in the linked page, the two pronunciations listed by Wikipedia are the following:

/ɔːˈrɒbɔrəs/
/jʊərɵˈbɒrəs/

Oxford dictionaries lists only /ˌjʊərə(ʊ)ˈbɒrəs/ for "uroboros," and states that the word was first used in English around the 1940s.
Collins dictionary, for "ouroboros," lists yet another set of pronunciations, oddly enough:

/ˌuːrəˈbɒrəs/
/uːˈrɒbəˌrɒs/

So in one sense, it almost seems a free-for-all.
However, there's one pronunciation that seemed natural to me but that I never see listed: /jʊəˈrɒbɔrəs/, with antepenultimate stress.
Here's why I'd expect this pronunciation. Wiktionary says the Ancient Greek etymon is οὐροβόρος. The stress in Greek is on the penult, but there's a short /o/ in the penultimate syllable, so I'd expect a Latinized pronunciation of /uˈroboros/ according to the Latin stress assignment rule, and I'd also expect for the Latin stress position to carry over to the English word, especially when the initial vowel uses the value /jʊə/ associated with the traditional English pronunciation of Latin /u/. Compare to "automaton," another example of a Greek word with a short vowel in the penult that is stressed on the antepenult in English.
But, I've never seen this pronunciation listed. Dictionaries do list pronunciations with antepenult accent, and pronunciations with initial /j/, but none I can find list a pronunciation with both of these features combined.
So, if I use it, am I just adding my own idiosyncratic pronunciation to the mix, no better and no worse than the other variants? Or is there some flaw in the analogy I made above that makes /jʊəˈrɒbɔrəs/ a solecism, but that justifies /jʊərɵˈbɒrəs/ (or /ɔːˈrɒbɔrəs/, etc.) ?

Wikipedia says about stress in Latinate English words:

In words of three or more syllables, stress falls either on the penult or the antepenult (third from the end), according to these criteria:

If the penult contains a short vowel in an open syllable, the stress falls on the antepenult: e.g. stá.mi.na, hy.pó.the.sis.
If the penult contains a long vowel; a diphthong; a closed syllable (with any length of vowel); or is followed by z, the stress falls on the penult.

[...]
The fact that decorum is stressed on the penult, and exodus on the
antepenult, is a fact about each of these words that must be memorized
separately (unless one is already familiar with the Classical
quantities, and in the former case, additionally with the fact that
decus -ŏris n. with short -o- syllable became in late Latin
decus/decor -ōris m. with long -o- syllable: 'Dómine, diléxi decórem
domus tuæ').

Does anyone know if the pronunciation of "uroboros" might be explained in the same way as that of "decorum," where the vowel length/stress shifted at some point in Latin? Was "uroboros" or "ouroboros" even used in Latin?
I've already searched out attested English pronunciations, so I don't want an answer that just repeats these (although I would appreciate learning about any additional pronunciations listed by reputable dictionaries). What I'm concerned with now is the pattern behind them, possible etymological bases for the English pronunciation, and orthoëpic advice, in particular about the hypothetical pronunciation /jʊəˈrɒbɔrəs/.


texts: It is hard to distinguish between preposition and adverb in this sentence

texts:
There is a simple sentence below.

  We prepared a picnic lunch and drove down by the river.

Is "down" a preposition or adverb in this sentence?

Plesase, let me know.


texts:
There is a Blues Standard "Nine Below Zero" and I wonder what the phrase means.  The chorus is

  Nine Below Zero, she put me down for another

And it would also be super interesting where this phrase comes from!


texts: my best friend who is a man called me a little doodle. What does this mean?

texts: My best male friend called me a little doodle.  What does this moniker "little doodle" mean?


texts: 'pick' as an alternative for 'pick up' (transport)

texts:
A lady (of West Indian ancestry) said at a Church meeting this weekend: "He picked me at the station." Obviously, she meant what I would mean by saying: "He picked me up at the station," which would not be the smutty interpretation. I think I have heard this expression used similarly once before.

On the 'Wordwizard' website, we have only come up with a few opinions as to whether the shortened form is (a) now generally acceptable, (b) dialect or slang, or (c) erroneous grammar. Certainly, the examples we've been able to find on Google are accompanied almost invariably by obviously wrong grammar or excesses of sentence fragments.

Has anyone any experience of (or sound statistics on!) the shortened usage, please?


texts: 'The Girl and the Wolf' vs. 'A Girl and a Wolf'

texts:
The former is the title of a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXTmdWcfXUw

I am wondering why the title is not 'A Girl and a Wolf'.

I have not yet watched the video, so I do not know which girl and which wolf the author is referring to.


texts: Difference between "Where are you living?" and "Where do you live?"

texts:
What is the difference in common usage between sentences like:

a)
Where are you living? and Where do you live? or

b)
Are you traveling a lot? and Do you travel a lot?


texts: If every brother has one book, are they brothers' books or brothers' book?

texts: Let's assume I have two brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain has book A, Abel has book B. Should I call that books "my brothers' books" or "my brothers' book" to distinguish between having one book or more books?


texts: Looking for appropriate idiom or phrase to describe "forcing someone to leave a place"

texts:
It was a mere distraction to tend his wounds and send him off the
  battleground.

I don't know if the bolded part of the sentence is correct or not. It does sound right, although I'm not quite sure if it's grammatically correct. I need specific idiom or phrase to describe "forcing someone to leave a place".

I'll try to describe the situation to explain what I mean. Imagine, a soldier has been injured badly and his commander ordered him to leave the battlefield, due to being wounded critically. This soldier is obliged to obey his commander's orders, he likes it or not. I want to write it from the commander's point of view and how can I say that?

Is "send someone off the battleground" grammatically correct? How about "send someone away from the battleground"?


texts: Is there a word for "awesomely extremely useful", used for an idea?

texts:
I'm looking for a synonym of useful, with a maximum grateful attitude. It is not a person to be thanked, but an idea. It mostly a breakthrough idea, but breakthrough is not what I'm looking for. I have found some synonyms of useful on Google, but I'm confused how to choose one:

  functional, practical, handy, convenient, utilitarian, serviceable, of use, of service, beneficial, advantageous, helpful, worthwhile, profitable, rewarding, productive, constructive, valuable, fruitful

To get you understand sense of the word, here is an example of it. In theoretical physics, physicists have to deal with tons of mathematics, and physical meanings usually be buried in the lines of code math. For example, the collision of two particles has this mathematical expression (I'm trying to trim a lot of jargons here):

Feynman the genius found the way to bring the physical meaning back to life:

Compare to a real world collision:

What a _______ idea!

Image and expression taken from the wiki page of Feynman diagram.


texts:
I was always told that the former order is the only grammatical one, however, in one of the videos on Youtube (https://youtu.be/qXXZLoq2zFc?t=7m6s) I encountered the latter order:

"The only winning move is to not play"

instead of

"The only winning move is not to play"

Can this order be used in some instances? When can you do this? What is the meaning of such order?


texts: Where do accents and dialects come from?

texts:
Why do people in different areas speak differently? Where do accents come from, how do they change and/or survive over time and why do we have them?

Reading recommendations on this topic would be welcome.


texts: On the Origin of the Universal Quantifier: A Semiotic Etymology

texts:
What is the "etymology" of the symbol ∀ (for all), the universal quantifier. I can't find anything here, but I suspect it was adopted in the same way our numerals were adopted.

REMARK ABOUT A COMMENT

As simchona has pointed out, the symbol appears to have come from a shorthand (see here) from Gerhard Gentzen's publication "Investigations into Logical Deduction" in the The American Philosophical Quarterly, a symbol which shares an interesting likeness to the symbol in the link above. Perhaps the symbol had an earlier meaning, which gave reason to its usage in the Gentzenian way. Thank you, simchona.


texts: How the English verb conjugation does not have different suffixes?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What happened to the “-est” and “-eth” verb suffixes in English? How were they once used?
  How do you conjugate Early Modern English verbs (other than present tense)?

In all the languages I know about, including German - the cousin of the English language, all the verbs use different suffixes for conjugation. English uses a far simpler conjugation method (only add s for he/she) and has some irregular verbs.

My questions are:

Are there other languages with similar grammar for conjugation?

How this special feature of the language came to light? Is there info about the time/way/reasons it was formed?


texts:
What is the difference between the following sentences?

Your car is black.
The car of yours is black.


texts: Whta's the difference between "relation" and "relationship"?

texts: At my English lesson I said "They had good relations" (about two neighbors), but my teacher corrected me "They had good realtionship". Why?


texts: Is there anyone whose first name is the same as their middle name?

texts: For example, is there anyone with a full name like "David David Smith", where David is the first name and David is also the middle name? Also, I am wondering if there is anyone with a first and middle name that are pronounced exactly the same, but are spelled differently? For example: "Kaitlin Catelynn Johnson".


texts:
In a sentence like the one in the example, do you say both couple or both couples if you are referring to two people in a relationship separately?

  Ex: Both couple work at the same bank or  Both couples work at the
  same bank


texts: Is there a word for someone who gets hyper while angry?

texts:
In this specific sense, I'm looking for a descriptor word (or title, whatever, I can shape a sentence to fit whatever kind of word it is) that would be for someone who tends to be energized by anger.
For example, someone who is prone to pacing quickly or flailing their arms when provoked to anger.


texts: Can "keep up the good work" be used for praising a co-worker?

texts:
Is "keep up the good work" a polite thing to say to your co-workers? I'm under impression that only someone from higher position has the privilege to say this.

When replying the emails to a co-worker, who is not a subordinate of yours, is "keep up the good work" a proper phrase in this case?

What other praises I could use to express my sincere respect on what they have achieved, instead of a perfunctory "good job!"?


texts: Looking for alternatives for this sentence!

texts: I am looking to replace a line in a video script.  Current line is:  "Have you ever been in a situation where..."  I am looking for a different way to convey that same concept to differentiate our 2nd edition of the video from the 1st edition.  Thanks!


texts:
I do know I can just click on that
  person's profile once every week/day,
  but I think automated "inbox" like
  feature would be better

I'm talking about Inbox feature provided by the stackexchange sites, is that correct? I felt that I should add quotes, because I'm not referring to inbox, but something that is named inbox.


texts:
How should I pronounce the following things? (These are complexities of algorithms.)

  O(n)
  O(n*log(n))
  O(n^2)


texts: Well as an adverb modifying an adjective

texts:
I notice that there has been a change in the word well. Examples are:

She's well nice.
It's well good.

Is this a West of England term (I lived there for a while), or has it just entered the language?


texts: I am no stranger to/ I am not stranger to

texts:
I am no stranger to smth.

  I am not stranger to smth.

Which one is correct? Or do they have different meanings depending on the context?


texts:
Eensy weensy spider went up the water spout...

Does eensy weensy's origin precede the rhyme?
What was it used for originally?
Sorry, my Google-fu is badly lacking just now, and I am dying of curiosity.
Anyone know how this weird combination came to be?


texts: Singular or plural verb after collective noun initialism

texts:
Are companies/groups of people considered plural? What about their initialisms?

I'm unsure if I should use have (plural verb) or has (singular) in the following situations:

  The Federal Bureau of Investigation have developed a prototype ...

or

  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has developed a prototype ...

and when using just the initialism:

  The FBI have ...

or

  The FBI has ...

If I'm referring to the FBI as a group of people, then I'd obviously go with have, whereas if it's an entity on it's own, then it'd be has.

Is there a preferred/recommended use in this case?


texts: Artist Terminology for Paper, Canvas, etc

texts:
Back when I was in college for the fine arts, my instructors and peers used to use a general term for all surfaces an artist would paint or draw on. I recently became active on the Arts & Crafts stack exchange, and suddenly discovered that, having not spoken about art in a technical way for many years, I have forgotten this word. As a result, several of my answers there have very awkward phrasing to skirt the subject. The diversion is intrusive and reduces the quality of my answers, and I worry it may cause them to be misleading.

A similar term would be "matrix" in printmaking, which refers to any block, plate, stamp, etc., which will be altered to create the final image. It covers a wide variety of materials and techniques to refer to them all collectively by their common purpose. It does not, however, refer to the images they make or the surfaces they mark. (The image is a print, the surface is... the word I forgot)

Since I graduated, the college I went to has replaced all of their arts instructors, so I don't really have any contacts there any more. The one class mate I'm still in contact with says he never bothered with that anyways because he didn't want to be a draftsman or painter, so it didn't apply to his goals. None of my textbooks go into that degree of depth in technical language. Only one book has a glossary, and it is aimed at a much younger audience, defining things such as "pencil".


texts: What is generally considered the youngest age at which it's normal to call a girl a "young woman"?

texts: It would obviously be ridiculous to call a 6-year old girl a young woman. What's the youngest age when it's no longer weird to call a girl that?


texts: Postpositive "concerned": temporary state of affairs

texts:
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language reads

  Postpositive present (or absent) denotes a temporary state of
  affairs: compare the present government. The same applies to
  involved and concerned, though here the attributive sense differs more (cf. deeply involved activists, concerned parents).

However, oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com does not seem to include the second meaning as an adjective

  CONCERN: [often passive] to affect/involve
  somebody/something: Don't interfere in
  what doesn't concern you. The loss was a tragedy for all concerned (=
  all those affected by it).

What does temporary state of affairs mean in this context? How does it distinguish the postpositive concerned?


texts: Can an em dash correctly follow a comma (e. g.: I argue, however, - while ... - that... )

texts:
Are there situations were an em dash correctly follows a comma?
Think about the combination of two sentences:

Aristotle argued against thesis X because it seems to include a logical fallacy. I argue, however, that thesis X should be construed in a completely different way.

I argue - while applying the method of textual analysis - that thesis X should be construed in this way: xyz.

Combination 1 + 2: Aristotle argued against thesis X because it seems to include a logical fallacy. I argue, however, - while applying the method of textual analysis - that thesis X should be construed in a completely different way.
Is this combination correct (in AE and BE?) and what would be correct alternatively ("... , however, while applying ..., ..." or "... , however - while appyling ... - ...")


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "what do you think to a walk in the park?"

texts: Is is correct to say " what do you think to a walk in the park?" If not, what would be the correct way of writing it?


texts:
Saying this sentence sounds okay to me, but looking at it seems wrong.  Could someone enlighten me by correcting this sentence for me?

"Could you ask him how much lumbar herniated disc surgery typically is; and also, if he can give me a discount, if he is willing to do the surgery himself."


texts: Is it correct to use different tenses in a sentence? For example, Past Simple and Present Continuous

texts:
Guys!

I wanted to write smth like "I studied at the university and am writing a book". Then I stopped because I had doubts whether it is correct to combine different tenses.

Thanks in advance!


texts: What is the term for a beginner who is already very good?

texts: I am looking for a word or group of words to describe someone who just started doing something, but is already very good at it, or a beginner without faults. For example, it could be used in this sentence: "Although Mary had just started playing Tennis, she had already won 3 tournaments; Some could say she was a ______".


texts: Can we use "use unfriendly" as an adjective?

texts:
I was wondering according to American English if this is a valid grammatical sentence:

  This item is a little use unfriendly.

It sounds ok but I was wondering if "use unfriendly" (I mean without the 'r', not user-unfriendly) could be used as an adjective this way.

P.S. I was wondering if it is grammatical according to British English too.


texts: I'm looking for an incredibly obscure word meaning "obscure / holy / hidden away"

texts:
I am fairly certain it starts with the letter 'd', but if not, it at least has that letter in it.

Other words that describe it: recondite / cryptic / secret / arcane / "not many people are allowed access."

A friend told me what it was it a ways back. Apparently it was the word-of-the-day on dictionary.com once. (I have not been able to find it there...)


texts: Usage of the noun invest beyond meteorology

texts:
The noun invest appears to be in use as a short form of investigative area in meteorology [1]. I recently heard several nonnative speakers use it in a financial context as a short form of investment. Is this common among native speakers?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invest_(meteorology)


texts: Is "to attribute a property" equal to "to give a property"?

texts:
I'm wondering if I can use both. For instance in: "We can give/attribute a property of an eraser to a pencil."

Thank you in advance!


texts: Antonym for "physical" as in "physical task"?

texts:
In my personal issue tracker, I want to sort tasks into one of two categories: The first category is labeled "physical" and contains all tasks involving physical work, e.g. housecleaning or handiwork. The second category contains all tasks that only require mental capacity, e.g. accounting or doing phone calls. I'm having trouble coming up with a nice one-word label for that second category.

I considered "intellectual", but it doesn't fit well since many of these tasks are just office work and not really intellectually challenging.

I also considered "mental", but at least to me (as a non-native speaker), that word is strongly correlated with mental disorders and phrases like "being/going mental". Is that concern misplaced? If not, can you suggest a better word?

(I might just go with "non-physical", but would prefer a label that's not that lazy.)


texts: I use the words "That is" too much. What are some good replacement for these two words?

texts: I use the words "That is" too much. What are some good replacements for these two words?


texts: How to name the diagonals of a square so one can be told from the other?

texts:
A square has two diagonals, so how can I to name the separate diagonals if I want to distinguish one from another?

I mean something like the up to down diagonal and the down to up diagonal. Do you have any better suggestions?


texts: What is the right verb for "measurement"?

texts:
I have to describe the act of measuring, with measurement used as noun. Which verb(s) fit best?

  taking a measurement

  making a measurement

  doing a measurement

  carrying out a measurement (suggested by Google translate)

  performing a measurement

Does it work the same for the passive form (the measurement has been taken)?

The context:

  It provides a [...] set of probing points with which it's possible to easily take measurements; these have been carried out using a DC power analyzer ...

The action appears twice, hence the need for synonyms.

Funny fact: the difference between "taking" and "making" is also debated in photography (also a form of measuring?), with the difference being in the importance of the operator (if it's there I take it, otherwise I make it).


texts: Innovation Projects vs. Innovative Projects? What's the difference?

texts:
It seems to be that innovation projects refer to those projects that are going to innovate current systems or practices with newer things, or generally speaking, bringing something newer to replace existing ones within a given scope. For example, upgrade from 3G network to 4G network, or from 2G to 3G. The process is bringing something newer, but they may be not "new" globally (in the world).

However, innovative projects mean the projects that want to bring something new (creative) to this world. For example, develop a 5G or 6G network, which has not yet even on the planet.

Do I understand right?


texts:
Is there a term for the first line of something, whether it's a poem, song, or prose?

Addendum: Sometimes, though not always, the first line is the same as the title, such as in Walt Whitman’s poem “I Sing the Body Electric”.


texts:
I've studied English for only a few years so my English may sound strange. I'm sorry if what I wrote doesn't make much sense.

The other day at my English class, my teacher corrected my answer "I will have finished my homework before noon." into "I will have finished my homework by noon.

Then my questions are as follows.

・ In general, can "will have done... " and "before ..." be used together?

・ If not, why? What makes it incorrect?

・ If it's OK, which of "by" and "before" sounds more natural?


texts: Why are the words "obviously" and "apparently" often used in repartee? What are some other words that are often used, and for what reasons?


texts: what is a word for when someone compliments another insincerely?

texts:
Like in an attempt to win you over for some reason or another, in that sense?.. What I mean here is not that one is wheedling, coaxing or sweet-talking, but rather complimenting hypocritically.
I know it sounds somewhat confusing but I believe there is a slight threadlike difference, at least, there is certainly in my language.

Much obliged for your remarks, beforehand.


texts: What would you call a person who is friendly on the outside but from the inside is plotting something against the one he is acting nice to?

texts: When I type this question in the Google it shows the name of some disease...and I don't want that...I am looking for a word that can discribe him...if not then atleast some adjective to receive his personality, e.g- cunning


texts:
I have few confusions regarding the usage of very and very much.

1. From OALD I found this usage guide -

It states that very can be used with past participles used as adjectives, but not with past participles that have a passive meaning.

Now here comes the confusion. How to distinguish between past participles used as adjectives and past participles that have a passive meaning?

Looking at the examples - I am very pleased to get your letter and Your help was very much appreciated - it seems like both the past participles - pleased and appreciated - can be used as adjectives as well as the one with passive meaning. So how to distinguish between them so that I can use very correctly with past participles?

2. From OALD I found this usage guide -

It is clear that very is used with adjectives, but it is apparent with the exception mentioned in the guide that not all adjectives is used with very*, some take **very much to make correct usage.

There are other such examples I found from this thread - (I have not found good answers there, so I had to ask it myself here)

i)  I am very much tired (Incorrect)

ii) I am very tired (Correct)

iii) I am very aware of ... (Incorrect)

iv) I am very much aware of ...(Correct)

So clearly very can't go along with all adjectives, there are certain adjectives with which simply very will cause error in sentence. In case of those adjectives, we need to use very much.

My question is which adjectives to use with very and which adjectives to use with very much. How to determine?

3. From OALD I found this usage guide -

  This looks very like what we had at our shooting party in November.

Source - Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Let's analyze the quoted sentence -

i) How this looks? This looks like what we had at our shooting party in November.

So it's clear that like what we had at our shooting party in November is an adverbial phrase. And so as stated in the above guide from OALD, very can be used with adverbs. So the quoted sentence is correct.

There is another way of analyzing that quoted sentence. In that sentence like is a preposition and what we had at our shooting party in November is a noun clause. And very is an adverb that modifies a verb - looks here. As stated in the above guide from OALD, very can't be used with verbs this way. We have to use very much to make the sentence correct.

Now it confuses me. In one way this sentence is correct, and in other way if we look at it, this sentence is incorrect? So my question is is this sentence is really correct?

Please help me. Thank you in advance.


texts: When can I omit the auxiliary verb in Past Perfect...?

texts:
I've come across two examples of past-perfect in the textbook and was wondering if someone could please explain why the latter sentences still use 'had' and why it shouldn't be omitted:

  1) When I arrived, Jack had cleaned the room and made dinner.

OK. Subject = Jack, Actions = had cleaned the room / had made dinner. Second 'had' omitted as the subject is the same and the compound verb shares the same auxiliary.

  2) They had had accidents and they had been rescued. They had been afraid and they had escaped.

?? Why is the auxiliary 'had' still in the sentences? It's the same subject 'they' and they are both using the same auxiliary? Shouldn't it be 'they had had accidents and been rescued'?

If someone could please explain it to me - I'd appreciate it. Thanks!


texts:
One very common phenomenon in north-American English is T flapping when the T comes between two vowels (or semi-vowels, like the R sound) on an unstressed syllable.

This "rule" is almost mathematical, I didn't hear any T pronounced as /t/ in this environment until I heard north-Americans say the word relative(s).

I went to youglish which gives you youtube videos according to some word and dialect, and so far all of the speakers from America say /ɹɛlətɪv/ with an un-aspirated /t/ sound.

My questions are:

why isn't the T flapped?
does /ɹɛləɾɪv/ sound weird?
are there other words which apply to the T flapping rule but the T isn't flapped?

Thanks!

After @Araucaria gave his answer, I decided to try more speakers, and here I found some:

https://youtu.be/AchISJUKfH4?t=706
https://youtu.be/bS45Ml30h9g?t=279
https://youtu.be/tbuLHSzBzZk?t=2175

In conclusion, most of the Americans don't flap their T in "relative", they pronounce it either aspirated or non aspirated. A very small minority do however, flap their T there.

I guess all of the answers given here are correct. Americans who don't flap their T in "relative" pronounce this syllable with a secondary stress, while American who do flap their T there obviously don't. I guess the amount of "stress" put there depends on the regional accent of the speaker.

I also guess that according to the "General American" standard, the T shouldn't be flapped there, as dictionaries do mark the tiv syllable as having a secondary stress.


texts:
Is this worded correctly if it was spoken in an interview?

  I am like a clean slate.  I do not have any preconceived notions about how the company runs


texts: Why does "free" have 2 meanings? (Gratis and Libre)

texts:
What is the history behind the word "free" that made it necessary for the clarification "free as in free speech, not free beer"?

In the context such as "free press", it means libre from censorship, "gluten-free" means libre from gluten and so on.

Then there is "free stuff", why is the same word used? Does it imply libre from cost or was this meaning given in another way?


texts: Is phrase 'But despite' formal enough in a science article

texts:
Can 'But despite' use together at the beginning of a sentence?

  But despite its apparent success, ...

Many thanks


texts: Expression for an 'end-to-end product development process'

texts:
I am looking for a single word or a phrase that can effectively describe:

  the start to end, from-the-ground-up, development of something new.

That is, the process of coming up with the idea, designing an actual product and building it.


texts: The word "there" indicates a point in space, and the word "then" indicates a point in time. Is there a word that indicates a point in spacetime, equal in meaning to "there and then"?


texts: Reported speech, question in a conditional sentence

texts:
I've been struggling with this exercise:

"Let's drive on to the next village and try the hotel there," he said. "But what'll we do if that's full too?" I said. "We'll just have to sleep in the car," he said, "it will be too late to try anywhere else."

I have to report this paragraph due tomorrow using verbs that are not ask, say or tell.

I began like this:

He suggested driving on to the next village and trying the hotel there. -- I now don't know how to start the next sentence.

This is my try: I wondered (/questioned) what we would do if that was full too.

Continuing -- He replied that we would just have to sleep in the car, and added that it would be too late to try anywhere else.

Thank you for answers.

Also, I wanted to know how to "backshift": tomorrow, next day, and following day.

I know tomorrow has to be converted into the next day, and next day has to be converted into the following day; what to convert the following day into?

Same as the above, do I have to convert 'in the morning' to anything? My best guess would be 'in that morning'. Is this true?

Thank you in advance.


texts: Is there a different word that describes drawings and art in "cartoon" style, made for animation/illustration?

texts:
The word cartoon evokes images of newspaper comics and amateurish drawings, possibly made by or for little kids. I'm looking for a synonym that describes more professional high quality art, think Disney/Pixar.
Alternatively, can you think of another related word that would be good to use in a name/logline of a website that teaches people how to professionally draw in Disney/Pixar style?


texts: Is there a better term than "NIH" (Not Invented Here) for my mentality?

texts:
I've many times been called a "NIHer" by other programmers/"system designers". This basically means that they think that I "have to do it myself" and can't stand using something made by somebody else, which is perhaps technically true, but the thing is, that is not the "point" of my way of thinking.
It's not that I want to do all that work. In fact, I find it to be absolute torture and would much rather just use something that "somebody smarter than I" has perfected -- it's simply that I must do it, because I find that other people have always either over-thought or under-developed their "solutions", and every single time I have attempted to use free-of-charge "code software" of any kind, which is supposed to closely integrate with my own system (that is, not some kind of neat library that solves a very specific problem, on its own, and returns the answer), I find that it looks like absolute useless garbage to my eyes.
I simply need for things to be done in a certain way, and nobody else seems to agree on that, so I'm forced to make it myself.
But one other important reason is that, if I have intimate knowledge of the system, since I designed and coded it, I feel like it's got a much better chance of being secure, because other people always feel the need to cater to all kinds of "broad needs" whereas I know from experience what specific functions and "mechanisms" I need myself. If I had to make my stuff generic enough to appeal to a mass market, it would doubtlessly also get insanely convoluted and far from everything that seems "sensible" to me.
Furthermore, I find that attempting to "grasp" the code of anyone else's code project is essentially impossible unless it's a very minor library, so the idea of "vetting" their code and even "modify it to my needs" is so far detached from my reality that it's almost laughable.
I've actually many times attempted to "pick a part" from an existing software, such as the "differ" from Wikipedia's MediaWiki software, but it was hopelessly integrated into their very specific ways of doing things, and I could have spent an eternity trying to "rip it out" from MediaWiki and then try to adjust it to work in my system... so it was faster to "just do it myself".
I find this to be true again and again. There may be a lot of software out there, but how much is usable in practice? I find that I cannot rely on third parties, and thus I don't unless absolutely necessary. For example, to do something really complicated which is just way above my head, such as parsing the grotesque blobs people send as e-mail.
I don't feel like I have a "Not Invented Here syndrome". I would happily snap my fingers right now and automatically download to my desktop a .php file which is laid out according to my exact preferences and self-coded framework's structure, and does exactly what I want to accomplish, but this is just the same as saying that I wish I could snap my fingers to have the girl of my dreams appear right next to me and say: "Oh, you are so handsome and smart and your code is just beautiful!" ... It's meaningless because it's a pure fantasy and logically impossible. I know what happens if I go searching with DuckDuckGo for such a library: I'll find the same unmaintained, abandoned projects which vaguely do something related to the task, but doesn't do what I want and cannot be relied on.
What would better describe me?


texts: use of the word subjective and objective in sentences

texts:
What does it mean when we say this:

  The admission process requires some amount of luck and so it is subjective.

What does it basically mean to say? I often come across these two words and it puzzles me.


texts:
I'm writing a Software Design Document. It is being written in parallel to the development, so as some features are already finished they are written in past tense (the only way I know of articulating that is past tense). As for features which haven't yet been developed, I only know how to articulate that in the future tense. Is there a way to declare the same thing (I'm sure a verb is needed), without tense? And a common, colloquial, non-odd sounding way too?

I currently have these 2 problems with being forced to use past or future tense,

When a feature is implemented, it must be updated in the spec doc. Not a bad practice, but if it is missed then it will be misleading and confusing, not a good thing.
I want the software design document to talk only about the specifications, since it is a specification document. I don't want to to be correlated to the progress of the project.

For example, my statements about the specifications are as follows:

The configuration file produced is in the Windows INI format.
The user will be prompted to


texts: When is the word "prohibited" a verb and when is it a predicate adjective?

texts:
Smoking is prohibited here.
Using the drug is prohibited in the game.

Is the word prohibited in both sentences above a verb, predicate adjective, or both?

Kindly enlighten me with this. Thank you! ^_^


texts: What is the difference between "dispute" and "argue"?

texts:
There were two English teachers who told me different answers. I'm confused. When I want to talk about two persons having different opinions, I have to say that "they dispute with each other" or "they argue with each other." One of my teachers said we didn't use dispute with people, but we use this word for politics and law. Another teacher gave me the following examples while we are learning the S.A.T. word dispute:

  They got into a dispute over the phone bill.
  She will dispute any suggestion you make, because she doesn't like you.

Are the teachers right? Can I use dispute when I want to talk about people?


texts: Usage Difference between to-infinitive and participle

texts:
I came across this question today.

Q: the correct expression for blank.

The documents ____ immediate attention are on top.

1. Requiring 2. To require

I know the answer is 1. Requiring, however I don't know why number 2 can't be an answer.
As far as I know, a to-infinitive can define a noun, like "books to read," so to me, number 2 can be an answer. But at the same time, I know "documents to require" looks very awkward. I just don't know why. Could you help me?


texts: Term or phrase describing action occuring when not watching

texts:
I am an IT professional. More specifically in automation. I am looking for a term or phrase that describes the event when either:

a. you are watching something closely and the issue doesn't occur

or

b. you are not watching something at all and the issue does occur


texts: Parsing a passage in Byron's Don Juan: what is the subject of "offer" here?

texts:
From Byron's Don Juan:

CXCIV
"Man's love is of man's life a thing apart,
'T is woman's whole existence; man may range
The court, camp, church, the vessel, and the mart;
Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer in exchange
Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart,
And few there are whom these cannot estrange;
Men have all these resources, we but one,
To love again, and be again undone.

What is the subject of the verb offer?
Is it man? Or is it sword, gown, gain, glory?
If it is man, then why is there no comma after exchange?
I'm puzzled.
This is a technical question, not a plea for literary analysis or something like that.


texts: Phrases or idioms for "Not knowing meaning of words"

texts:
Sorry for the misleading title - but I know of no other way to put this question -

Is there a phrase or idiom or even word associated with this particular phenomenon/incident/occurrence ->

  "when you don't know the meaning of a/some word(s) in the definition
  of a word, whose meaning you didn't know, and hence had to look up its
  definition"?

It is poorly worded, I know. Feel Free to Edit this question!


texts: Just how important are grammar and spelling?

texts:
A blog post of mine made it on the Hacker News front page. My blog post was mainly intended for a very, very small audience, but ended up getting around 20,000 views in one day. The most talked about topic in the comments was that I accidentally used:

"it's self" instead of "itself"

It was an honest mistake, and it didn't make the article unreadable.

I got comments like "mistakes like this are inexcusable" and "Once I read 'it's self' I stopped reading" and the harshest "why should we read your post if you can't take the time to proof it?" (although, I never asked anyone to read it, someone posted it on there)

My question is, just how important IS grammar and spelling.

For example:

  "Altho im spelling this wrongly and im
  not using commas or apostrophes your
  still able to read this fine and
  completely understand itall."

And for words like "there", "they're" and "their", I know they have different meanings, but why does it matter if we have proof heteronyms work just fine?


texts: Alternative ways to express "Examples of Something"

texts:
I am conceiving the title of a web page where a number of examples will be listed.
I can use the page title "Examples of Something" e.g. "Examples of Cars",  "Examples of Jobs" and "Examples of Fruits" but I'm looking for a more fashion, business-friendly, title-appealing way to title the page, perhaps using a two-word title.
Are there alternative ways to express "Examples of Something"?


texts: Why is second clause of this sentence "off" even though it is correct?

texts:
I was looking at a writing test and came upon the following phrase:

"A candidate must earn a bachelor's degree in nursing and pass a licensing exam to become a registered nurse (RN), and then he or she spend at least one year working in an acute care setting.

Shouldn't it be "...,and then he or she must spend at least one"

The second part seems grammatically incorrect (as well as sounds incorrect) without the parallel "must". If this is correct, I still feel that this is more of an exception rather than a rule. Can someone clarify?

Thank you.


texts: How do different languages convey shades of meaning as English does with stress?

texts:
Browsing this site recently, I noticed a lot of discussion, not to say bickering, about whether some languages are more expressive or nuanced than others.  It reminded me of a question I had in my head long before I discovered Stack Exchange: how do languages that don't use stress for emphasis convey shades of meaning?  An example [paraphrased from memory] from an almost-forgotten BBC radio show :-

Patient: I was at an orgy the other night ...

Doctor: An orgy you say?

Patient: Yes, I live in Purley.

Now, if the patient had said, "Yes, I live in Purley", it would have been mildly funny, suggesting that Purley is a place where orgies often happen.  But by stressing the word 'live', he's saying that it's understood that Purley is the place for orgies, but because he lives there, it's easy for him to get
to them.

My question is, Can this nuance be expressed in other languages, whether by emphasis or by re-phrasing?  I know, for example, that in French, "I live in Purley might be expressed as something like "C'est a Purley que j'habite", but I can't see how you'd exactly translate "I live in Purley".
[By the way, I asked this question of a multi-lingual EU
translator, and he couldn't get past finding different countries' equivalents of Purley.]


texts: “It might be her brother” vs “He might be her brother”

texts:
Why do we use it might be her brother instead of he? For example,

  Who is that guy with Susan? I'm not sure it might be her brother.

Why do we use the third person singular it instead of he might be her brother?


texts: Is it normal to use "proceed with something" in American English speaking? Isn't it a little formal? Is there a better alternative? Can we use "do something" instead?


texts: Which preposition should you use: "concerns about/with something"?

texts:
Which is the more correct preposition about vs. with in the following sentence?

What concerns do you have about adopting?
What concerns do you have with adopting?

Here is a link to a poll if you wouldn't mind voting.


texts: Why do some people misspell "kernel" with an "a"?

texts:
Sometimes when working with servers, one may encounter a problem with the kernel. I have noticed many times when participating in support groups on IRC, that some people type "kernal" instead of "kernel". What could possibly incline so many people to do it that way and not another, like "kernol"? Could there be a common influence of other languages than English that produce this error?

I'm inclined to believe this is a lingual influence, because I myself sometimes, even without knowing, exhibit various influences of the languages I know when communicating in languages other than to which these influences belong to. Such as, using Polish grammar in English and Mandarin, using American phrasal verbs in Polish, etc. Anyone who's been learning languages can easily imagine that this is at fault for a lot of errors where we think something is pronounced, written or phrased one way, but it is wrong. If my inclination is itself in error, I am still more than happy to find out the truth.


texts: Is there a verb "refactor" meaning "doing refactoring" in English?

texts:
Code refactoring consists of changing the structure of the code without changing its functionality. The term refactoring is currently used by software development industry to refer to this process.

But what about the verb refactor? Does it exist in this context? Can I say, for example:

  After two weeks, I finally refactored the code of this library.

or:

  Tell the management that we can't work on the spaghetti code like this. We must refactor it first, which will take a few months.

By the way:

Microsoft Word spell checker accepts the term refactoring, but considers refactor as a mistake, suggesting refractor, which has nothing to do with refactoring.
Wikipedia avoids using the verb refactor and prefers using combined terms as perform refactoring.
When searching for pages containing refactor but not refactoring, the first results are either using refactor as a proper name, like a name of a product, or have nothing to do with software development.
Other sources are not helpful. Spell checker in Chrome considers refactoring as an invalid word. The same is the case with Google Translate and several other online translators.


texts: I was writing a document in Microsoft Word and I used the word "well-being". Word told me to correct it to "wellbeing". When I do, Word tells me to correct it back to "well-being". Which is correct? I am stuck in an infinite loop of incorrect grammar.


texts: Is "let go your hand" grammatically correct?

texts: Wherever "let go of your hand" is used, can "let go your hand" be used in its place? Is there any difference at all?


texts: How to handle a name that includes an exclamation point (or other punctuation)?

texts:
Certain brands, such as Yahoo!, insist that the exclamation is part of their name. In writing about such a brand or company, is the inclusion of the vanity punctuation right, wrong, or optional?

I would like my writing to be correct; however, of more concern with the average reader, I wouldn't want my writing to seem to be pandering.


texts: Word for "Doing what you think is right instead of what other people think is right"?

texts: Potentially a silly question: I was watching this video and heard this. It may be because I'm not a native speaker, but I believe I haven't heard it before? All my searches lead to the word 'inhibition' which is more or less the opposite of this definition. Any clarification of what Candice said/tried to say there, or any alternative words?


texts: Was "Seamstress" used as a euphemism for sex workers in real life?

texts:
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series uses "seamstress" as a euphemism for sex worker. Prior to the publication of the series, was it used in real life this way?

It sounds very plausible, but neither Wiktionary nor the Online Etymology Dictionary mentions it.


texts:
A selfie is a kind of casual self-portrait. People often take selfies that include a significant other or multiple friends, and I’m curious whether there is any established terminology or slang for this kind of “group selfie.”

The linked Wikipedia article indicates that they are simply known as “group selfies,” but I suspect that there may be an older or better established term. I’m also curious whether there are specific terms for “couple selfies” featuring a significant other or best friend. Formal English, slang, and jargon terms are all acceptable.


texts:
Would that be correct ?
I finished eating at 7:30 AM. = I have eaten at 7:30 AM.


texts: Is the Expression "straight from the horse's mouth" Offensive?

texts: Is the phrase "straight from the horse's mouth" offensive, or likely to be perceived as offensive when said about someone who is present? For instance, after having confirmed some piece of information from someone, you tell them: "ah, I have now heard it straight from the horse's mouth!". I ask this because it is generally considered offensive to compare people to animals, though in some cultures more so than others.


texts: Expressions that mean it's OK to fail or failing is part of success?

texts:
Is there a list of expressions (about 3 words, longer or shorter) that mean "it's OK to fail"?

I'm asking for a list of expressions because I am looking for a domain name and most good domain names are taken.

Thanks.


texts:
my Chinese subtitle of feel universal is author makes you feel the same. I wish to get some explanation. Thanks.

A: How was the book?

B: You know, the translation is a little stilted, but he is amazing.
The book is about his life, but he makes every detail feel universal.

C: I'll finish it tonight.


texts: When can two pronouns being compared in a sentence be of different types?

texts:
I came across a sentence today -

He resents your being more popular than he is

I always thought that while comparing two pronouns they should always be of the same type, like,

She is taller than he (is)

or

I care for him more than her

I understand that the first sentence that I mentioned is correct but the moment you take out the is in the end, my perception begins to change.

He resents your being more popular than he doesn't sound right to my ears.

Shouldn't this sentence, then, be -

He resents your being more popular than his

What rule is being followed here?

Edit: The question that this one has been marked as a possible duplicate of pertains to gerunds and the usage of possessive pronouns with them while my question is regarding comparison between two possessive pronouns in a sentence. Only the sentence used as example in both the questions is same but the questions asked are entirely different.


texts: Is there an English sentence 'equation' I can use?

texts:
I'm working on a chat-bot, however before I can do so, I need to understand the English language a lot better, in order to make the bot understand. Say I have 'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog,' I have the adjectives quick, brown, and lazy, and two nouns, fox and dog. That makes a complete sentence, however how can I identify a sentence assuming I only know the structure of the English language, and punctuation, but not what the words are (yet)?

Alternatively, I COULD get a dictionary library to find the type of word each word is individually, and format it such as 'The ADJ ADJ NOUN VERB(past) over the ADJ NOUN' and go from there, however then I need to translate 'the' and 'over the' to a readable format.

Is there any type of English 'equation' for formatted sentences which I could use? Potentially in a RegEx expression of sorts?


texts: The research I've done online shows about a 60/40 split in favor of "offshoot of" rather than "offshoot from". Is it just a matter of style, long-term usage, or is there a grammatical rule? I need to know which expression to use, because I am writing a very formal cover letter for my resume. I am applying for a coveted position in a large publishing house. I have been told by a good friend of mine, who is employed there, that the company typically receive scores of applications for that position. So even the most picayune error is reason enough for a letter, and its author, to be rejected. Thanks for your help.


texts: A rule for identifying the stressed syllable in abstract nouns ending in -ity. Is it foolproof?

texts:
When I was a student I was taught that the stressed syllable in an abstract noun ending in -ity is always the antepenultimate.

e.g.

reliability

spontaneity

ability

felicity

eternity

rarity

etc.   Is this rule foolproof?  Can anyone think of an exception?


texts: Where does the expression "you could have knocked me over with a feather" come from? My students had never heard it when I used it in class the other day.


texts:
Should I write

  "This is recommended to people who like cheap but highly useful stuff"

or

  "This is recommended for people who like cheap but highly useful stuff"?


texts: Use of Present simple tense (You stroll in...)

texts:
It's from the movie "The Mask"

Situation: Someone has robbed the bank where Stanley Ipkiss works.

Stanley's boss reprimands Stanley for being late: We have a crisis here, and you stroll in an hour late?

I would have said that sentence either in Present continuous or in Present Perfect.

Self-made: We have a crisis here, and you are strolling/have strolled in an hour late?

I've read in one of my grammar books that sometimes we use Present Simple in narratives and anecdotes to highlight an event.

Is that the reason the speaker used Present Simple instead of Present Perfect/Present Continuous in the original sentence?
Will it be incorrect if I say that sentence in Present Perfect or Present Continuous?

Many thanks in advance.


texts: what do "for a time" and "backtrack" mean in this specific sentence

texts:
In a paper of Scientific American, there is a sentence as follows

  Einstein understood early on that they [the gravitational waves] were implied by his theory but for a time backtracked from his original, correct claims for their existence.

I understand the first sentence: "Einstein understood early on that they [the black holes] were implied by his theory", and I think the meaning of the rest should be "but for a time, they were backtracked from his original, correct claims for their existence".

However, I don't understand the meaning of the phrase "but for a time" and "backtrack", therefore I can't understand the whole sentence.

Please explain to me.

English is not my native language, so I beg your pardons for my poor one.

Thanks.


texts: What is the word for a collection of obscure things?

texts:
I discovered that esoterica is what you would call a collection of esoteric things. What would a collection of obscure things be called? Obscura is definitely wrong.
The word (a noun) must fit into this sentence:

In this room I have a wonderful collection of obscure artifacts – a/an ______.


texts:
It goes something like this
A: did you do that?
B: pray, no .....
And another example is "Just pray no"


texts:
I've been looking for other words to describe a pre-selected option that can be changed by the user but must have a value. Everyone uses the word "default" to describe that, but in searching for synonyms I always get a list of synonyms related to the legal definition--a failure to meet an obligation.
I don't like the word default because computer people use it everywhere. Are there any good alternatives?
Edit: Removing single-word-requests tag
After considering some of the answers here, I've concluded that a single-word answer may not be possible. I'm removing the tag. I'm still interested in other synonymous phrases, but the answers so far are probably good enough. I will still wait to award a bounty and accept an answer at the end of the bounty period.


texts: What's another word for "grind thoroughly" or "grind smoothly"?

texts:
I want another word for:

  grind thoroughly or grind smoothly, as in "Help me to grind this pepper thoroughly."

i need proper words that could be use instead.  I don't know whether you are getting my point. I'm struggling to find the appropriate English equivalent.


texts: is "on it" must be there in this sentence?

texts:
I have seen the following sentence in a book:

..., but the branch with the eight apples on it was in his hand when I first saw him.

My question is, is "on it" a necessary part from this sentence? Can I just say: "the branch with eight apples was in his hand when I first saw him" ?
If I can, please explain the different meaning (if there is a difference) between the sentences with "on it" and the one without "on it".

Thanks a lot :)


texts:
I have received an email from someone I admire. Is there anything wrong or unidiomatic about the following sentence? How would you say it?
It's a great honour to find myself being addressed/approached by (Name) himself.
A lot of thanks


texts: Proper usage of an article/determiner in the given sentence

texts:
Recently I have read a book in chemistry field, and I have encountered this sentence:

This is because typical metal Lewis acids are deactivated by the nitrogen atoms of the product formed that are more basic than those of the starting imine compound.

First of all, I would like to ask if this sentence shouldn't be rephrased to:

This is because typical metal Lewis acids are deactivated by the nitrogen atoms of the product formed , which are more basic than those of the starting imine compound.

Since which should be used when it refers to the whole antecedent noun compound (like in the presented example, which refers to "...the nitrogen atoms of the product formed...").

However, I would like to focus on "the" article in "the nitrogen atoms of the product formed".

Let's assume that we are taking about this compound:

Does the sentence relate to all nitrogen atoms (1, 2, 3, 4)? If yes, cannot we then just write:

This is because typical metal Lewis acids are deactivated by (no article) nitrogen atoms of the product formed that are more basic than those of the starting imine compound.

What do you think about this sentence:

This is because typical metal Lewis acids are deactivated by any nitrogen atom of the product formed that are more basic than those of the starting imine compound.

In my opinion, if all of the nitrogen atoms or only two of them (e.g. 2, 3) are basic, this sentence covers both of the cases. Thus, this option may be more precise than the previous one.

What would this sentence mean in the context:

This is because typical metal Lewis acids are deactivated by a nitrogen atom of the product formed that are more basic than those of the starting imine compound.

My problem here is that the author, by having written "the nitrogen atoms of the product formed" did not communicate, whether he referred to all of the atoms of the formed product or just to any of the nitrogen atom of the product formed which fulfils the criteria.

Why the the is used in this sentence?

Thank you for your answers.


texts: What is the single word for something that is both lightweight and strong?

texts: I'm looking for a word to describe a jacket that is very lightweight but also strong and durable. 'Efficient' is as close I've been able to get.


texts: As digitally is to digital, is analogously or analogically to analog(ue)?


texts: About the meaning of the term ''apparatus'' in this particular context

texts:
I came across the word ''apparatus'' in this phrase:

''The introduction of a formal apparatus for inductive logic'' in this article: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology-bayesian/

What does it mean in this context? What should I understand? Does it mean ''a formal system'' or literally ''formal equipment, tool''?

I have checked the dictionaries, of course, but I am not sure which meaning is compatible with this particular usage in the article. Can you help me? Thank you.


texts: How should I use "so" and" too" for implying "That's also true for me" in this example?

texts:
This is a conversation between two friends, one is 30 the other is 25. They are speaking about their school time:
First conversation:

A: Do you remember Mr. X? He was my English teacher.
B: Oh, yes. He was my English teacher too.

I want to use "so" or "too" in a short sentence (B's sentence) to show agreement with a positive statement.

I know if the conversation was as follows, I could use "I was too." or     "So was I":
Second conversation:

A: Do you remember Mr. X? I was his student.
B: Oh, yes. I was his student too./ I was too./ So was I.(And informally: Me too./ Ditto.)

But I don't know how B can use this grammar to express their agreement with A, in the first conversation.
PS:
If this grammar is not applicable to the first conversation, how should B express their agreement (i.e. "That's also true for me.") in a short form? (formally or informally)


texts: Which article is correct when referring to a disease? (e.g. the flu, a cold)

texts:
I just had my first Composition 102 lecture and the professor said that when you refer to a disease you use "the" as in "the flu."

I don't argue with that example because you say "I have the flu," and not "I have the cold," but if that's true then why does nobody say "the cancer?"

Cancer is a disease, but I have never heard anyone say "the cancer," so is my professor wrong?


texts:
I browsed a watch website and there's a section for an image gallery and the title "See it styled". The images in the gallery depict the watch worn by different people in different situations. The appearance of the watch is the same in all the pictures. I interpret the title to mean "See it worn".

What does "See it styled" mean in this context, and is it the correct use of the word "styled"?

https://www.mvmtwatches.com/collections/all-mens-watches/products/chrono-gun-metal-sandstone-leather


texts:
In the following sentence:

  ...take a technical test, so your team can determine if I am suitable
  for the position skills-wise.

Is "skills-wise" legitimate English?

If not, how could I change it to get the same meaning across?


texts: Where should we use 'has/have been' and 'had been'?

texts: Where should we use "has/have been" and "had been"? What is the difference between them?


texts: confusion about the past perfect continuous

texts:
I'm writing the profile section of my résumé/CV.

I'm hesitating about the proper verb form:

  During my work experience I have applied engineering methods to solve
  problems.

  I have been involved in the development of new products.

Is it right? Or should I use "I have been applying engineering methods" instead?

More information:
I still do apply that methods.
I'm not involved in the development anymore.

Regards


texts: Comma use: Studies, reporting long-term term effects of stroke, are needed help to fill this knowledge gap

texts:
Is the comma use correct in the following sentence? Grammarly asks me to remove these commas.
Sentence:

Studies, reporting long-term term effects of stroke, are needed help to fill this knowledge gap.


texts: How can I interpret the meaning of “narrative” in different situations?

texts:
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the meaning of "narrative" is defined as:

  A description of events, especially in a novel.
  The act, process or skill of telling a story.

However, the meanings of "narrative" used in the following three examples of sentences I recently came across don't appear to necessarily match either of the above definitions.

Here are three examples of sentences using the word "narrative". Can somebody rephrase the specific meaning of each in an easy-to-understand way for non native English learners like me?

  (In Charlie Sheen’s show held in Detroit,) Audience growing restless. This show is all pump-up, no narrative. – The Guardian.

  I realize that with hostile Republicans controlling the House, there’s not much Mr. Obama can get done in the way of concrete policy. Arguably, all he has left is the bully pulpit. But he isn’t even using that — or, rather, he’s using it to reinforce his enemies' narrative. – New York Times

  The story of Capitol Hill's week on the brink — which brought Washington within an hour of a government shutdown — is a narrative of three men, each with a confining sense of his own limitations. – Washington Post


texts: Difference between "social" and "societal"

texts:
What's the difference between social and societal? Are they perfectly synonymous? If not, what is the difference in nuance?

The relevant definition of social reads:

  relating to society or its organization

The only definition of societal is:

  relating to society or social relations

NGrams suggests that the word had its origins in the early 20th century and gained in popularity after the 1950s. Why did the use of societal crop up? Was it perhaps it is the more obvious and natural adjective of society? If it is used to disambiguate or distance away from certain connotations of social, what are they?

According to COCA, societal, while largely used in academia, also sees significant use in magazines and newspapers. It also convincingly outscores social when collocated with terms such as shift and estrangement. On the other hand, the use of societal worker, societal service, societal justice etc., do not register on COCA's scales.


texts:
Do these two sentences have the same meaning? Are both of them grammatically acceptable?

  "Some people think that museums should be enjoyable places to
  entertain people."

  "Some people think that museums should be enjoyable places that
  entertain people."

Thanks.


texts:
Where (what Internet site) can I get a good, continuous conversation in real time from?

I need some sort of resource where I have the possibility of just sitting there listening to the conversations of others and optionally being able to answer, but that it isn't like a between just me and somebody else.

I feel that I learn too little with English videos and audio. Having Video-Audio subtitles for English-English or English-Native is the best option I have so far.

But I really need to get my ears fully used to natural conversation instead of things read from script. Spontaneous conversations are much more confusing to my ears than a very-well-pronounced script.


texts: What is the word for something that is non-divisible?

texts:
I'm looking for a generic word, an adjective, that means non-divisible. Like the opposite of compound.

I am looking for a word I can use in the context of programming, where you can have data types that are compound of other data types. I want a word to identify the "indivisible" data types.


texts: Comma before "and" in compound sentences?

texts:
I read this sentence on an educational website:

  Now times have changed and you are ready for situations involving forces in two dimensions.

Shouldn't there be a comma before and, since the subject of the sentence has changed (things vs. you)?

  Now times have changed, and you are ready for situations involving forces in two dimensions.

What is the exact comma rule for joining two clauses with and?


texts: My step daughter constantly while at my home says momma said.. while referring to her mother which is not me.. should she show ownership of momma while around people who do not share the same mother as her.


texts: Is using “maybe” in combination with a conjugation of “to be” bad style?

texts:
I've read this answer about the difference between “maybe” and “may be”.
It contains the sentence “maybe he is in the office today” as a correct example.

In the above example “maybe” and “is” is separated by “he”, but when that's not the case I feel it is a bit weird:

“... as this maybe is an interesting subject”

Is it bad form to place a conjugation of “to be” after “maybe”? Is it better to use a synonym like “possibly”?


texts: Correcting parentheses in APA style with combined information and citation

texts:
I need to correct the following sentence in APA style:
Training new clinical psychologists might seem like a logical response to this shortfall: however, the minimum training time to be a clinical psychologist is 6 years
Is it simply a matter of combining all 3 parentheses into one and adding a hyphen or dash after "registration"? To read:
(4 years honors and 2 years provisional registration- AIHW internship, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016).


texts: Do you need commas before and after nonetheless?

texts:
Given the following sentence:

  While animals do not exhibit inspiration, inspiration is nonetheless
  the result of small primal components that we have evolved to feel.

Does one need commas before and after "nonetheless" in the previous sentence?


texts: An idiom for using power of position to get things done

texts:
It is not nepotism as nepotism is possible because they use their power and it is use their power which I want to replace.

Example situation would be getting into someplace by force, like a concert, restaurant or other event.

Another example would be delaying a plane because they can't make it on time.

The politician often ______ and people aren't pleased.

I need a verb idiom only.


texts: How did the archaic 'villein' transform into villain?

texts:
The word villain, as described by Google, comes form the archaic word villein.

Here is the definition of villein:

  villein
  ˈvɪlən,-eɪn
  noun
  (in medieval England) a feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or manor to whom he paid dues and services in return for land.

I presume than the Latin meant a slave/worker in the villa (which would have been the equivalent to manor).

The current usage of villain has connotations of someone who has money or power already. In that light, it feels like the subject of the word has flipped from the tenant to the to lord.

How did this transformation of meaning come to pass?


texts: Word meaning "has ability using physical objects"

texts: Looking for a word to describe ability using physical objects. For example, someone who is particularly adept at using a computer, or nunchuks, or any physical object, could be said to have a lot of -----.


texts: What is the difference between "ago" and "before"?

texts:
What is the difference between ago and before when they are both used as adverbs in the following sentences:

  I saw him seven days ago.

and

  I had seen him seven days before.


texts:
Example 1:

  Three gangsters, whose names are unknown, robbed a bank.

We talk about three gangsters and we use plural form. Everything is clear here.

Example 2:

Consider the following passage from a hypothetical grammar book, or maybe corporate style guide for in-house writers.

  With simple sentences - use a comma.
  With complex sentences and in cases when the type of sentence is unknown - use semicolon.

Here, only the second part is the subject of my interest:

  With complex sentences and in cases when the type of sentence is unknown - use semicolon.

We say "in cases" (plural) because it's not one, single case. There could be different cases. So we use plural form. Okay.

But then, we say "type of sentence" (singular). Why? Isn't it very illogical? Why we use singular form after plural?


texts:
Some interpreters have expressed concern that Charles oscillate[s] between. . . .

Does anyone think this use of the subjunctive is wrong? Or does anyone have parallel exemplary examples (præferably from litterature or scholarship)?


texts: Is "It would thus be" grammatically correct?

texts:
Since my native language is Dutch it's not always evident to "sense" whether a given expression is grammatically sound or not.

A common expression in Dutch is: "Het zou dus...". If one translates this (almost) literally, one obtains:

  It would thus be more efficient to work at night.

This sentence part however does not feel very "English". When Googling the term, it gives a list of books, but since most of them are about meta-physics or by non-native English writers, it does not really resolve the problem...

Is the sentence-part correct? What are alternatives?


texts: What it do you call a business or a craft a family has been doing for generations

texts: What is that word used to refer to a business or craft a family has been doing for generations? Many families for example have been carpenters for 5 generations. What is carpentry to them?


texts: Pronunciation of "compact" across English dialects, when used as different parts of speech

texts:
Googling suggests that compact has the stress on the last syllable when used as an adjective and on the first syllable when used as a noun.

Is this common for all English dialects or are there differences for example between British and American English in this regard?


texts:
"elements required by agent" is "required" here an adjective or verb?
 another example "elements expressed by person".


texts: Understanding Epictetus' burning down of the Capitol

texts:
Excerpt from Epictetus' Discourses, Book I, Chapter 8 (emphasis mine):

You know, I once said the same thing to Musonius when he reproached me for not discovering the omission in a certain syllogism. I said, 'It's not like I burned down the Capitol.' And he said, 'Idiot, the omission here is the Capitol.'
I mean, are these the only crimes, killing your father and burning down the Capitol? But to use one's impressions recklessly, carelessly and at random, to fail to analyse an argument as either valid proof or fallacy, and, in a word, to  fail to see in the act of question and answer what agrees with your position and what conflicts - is nothing wrong in all of that?

I suppose that Capitol is the name of some ancient city, but I nonetheless struggle to understand Epictetus' message here.
Is it:

A simile? Not observing that a premise is missing from a syllogism is as grave as burning down a city?
A literal correlation? That omission from the syllogism was about the Capitol?
If something else, what?

Update: as per @Cascabel's comment, Capitol is a building part of the The Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome.


texts: Returning defeated to something old and familiar

texts:
What is a good English expression for returning defeated to something old and familiar after trying a new and challenging thing?

For example: After you spend a year in New York City, you will come back _________ to the good old Midwest.


texts:
My late mother (born in the 1920s in London, where she lived all her life) was fond of saying of anyone who wasn't helping in any particular job or activity that they were "Just standing around, like Toody Hotpot".

I've no idea if that spelling is correct: I doubt if she ever wrote the phrase down or had any need to do so, and even if she did I certainly never saw the result.

I regret never asking her where the expression came from, and subsequent research has failed to turn up any hints.  Does anyone here know?  Many thanks.


texts:
Which one is correct?
Immune system fights tumor and infection.
Immune system fights against tumor and infection.
Thanks!


texts: Which verb form do I use for a future action?

texts:
Which sentence below is correct?

“I’m going to open up a store when I grow up, and so is my brother.”

“I’m going to open up a store when I grow up, and so will my brother.”

If both are correct, presumably there is a subtle difference which can be explained.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is a less offensive synonym for “retarded”?

Can anyone please furnish me with a word, or short phrase, that would eloquently describe a person who has never had to countenance failure, one who is so self satisfied and self assured with himself that he has no humility?
I am afraid that any words like "super smug prig" (my own personal favorite) would be invalid in the context of an academic essay.


texts: Epicene pronoun reference resolution ambiguity

texts:
Context: I am developing resolution strategies of 2nd-person you sequences into 3rd-person epicene (gender-neutral, singular) they sequences. These are unique recombinable sequences, not unlike a chatbot. The majority, in this case, have been solvable through simple rule-based string replacement with perplexity scoring for objective (them) cases, and a distinct strategy for imperative and prohibitive statements.

Problem: I am coming up against a seemingly hard limit, however, for sequences that contain both a reference to a plural they and the singular epicene they. Tokenization and dependency parsing as so far yield little to start with. SpaCy has been my primary software.

(Note in the examples below that were the pronoun not the epicene use of they but gendered, the ambiguity would be solved. This is however not an option.)

Examples:

"When someone plays games with you, they make the rules." becomes "When someone plays games with them, they make the rules."
"There are no rules but the ones you make with each other." becomes "There are no rules but the ones they make with each other."
"Frustration and delays will occur. They will ultimately teach you persistence." becomes "Frustration and delays will occur. They will ultimately teach them persistence."

And so on.

Questions:

Is there anything missing from my understanding of the problem? Am I articulating it adequately?
Would coreference modeling be able to sort out the difference between the anaphora?
What else should I attempt in order to flag these? I don't need to "resolve" them necessarily.


texts: Does this sentence contain an introductory clause

texts:
Choosing a film school is always tough, you have to weigh up location, course choice, and fees to name a few.

And could this sentence  take a semi colon after tough or a conjunction. Can you not be the 'subject' of an independent clause.

  You hurt my feelings- for instance.

Or:

  There's so much to consider when choosing a film school; you also have to weigh up the fee too.


texts: What do you call a company in relation to its host commmunity?

texts:
This is a case of an oil company occupying a community for its operations. The community is its host, I believe. What is the company referred to in relationship to the community?
Generally, it should be guest. But, of course, that doesn't look right. I've checked PowerThesaurus. The closest I could get is occupant and tenant but I don't know, isn't there a technical term?

EDIT
In my particular case, it refers to a foreign oil company in a local community. I'm not really including the fruit sellers et al.


texts: Is "fulfilment" pluralized to "fulfilments"?

texts:
Where I work, we use the term "fulfilment" to mean the way the product is delivered to the end user. But a co-worker and I are having a disagreement on whether "fulfilment" needs an to have an "s" suffix when referring to multiple fulfilments/fulfilment.

I believe "fulfilment" is singular, but my co-worker thinks the word is a mass noun. I can't find any information online about the plurality of fulfilment.


texts: "happen to be" and "happen to have" - expressions of probability?

texts:
Based on Logman dictionary:

  happen to do something: if you happen to do something, you do it by chance.

for example take a look at these examples:

They happen to be unemployed at the time.
I happen to have a degree in computer science.

So based on the definition of the happen to do something, first one means they are probably unemployed at the time. and the second one means I probably have a degree in computer science.

Am I right?


texts: What's the accurate meaning of "forget yourself"?

texts:
I was looking for a translation of the German expression "bevor ich mich vergesse" (lit. before I forget myself) and looked up if the literal translation could be used. In German this expression conveys a threat or warning.

However, looking at several dictionaries confused me a lot as the dictionaries seems not to agree with each other.
The first two quotes I provide below get close to the German meaning, but unfortunately they don't provide any examples. All the other ones have a totally different meaning.

  forget (oneself): To lose one's reserve, temper, or self-restraint.
  forget oneself: to lose one's dignity, temper, or self-control

  forget oneself: to forget one's manners or training. (Said in formal situations in reference to belching, bad table manners, and, in the case of very young children, pants-wetting.)

    John, we are going out to dinner tonight. Please don't forget yourself.

  forget yourself: to act boldly or arrogantly. Phrase used to humble a person.

    I believe you forget yourself sir!

  forget yourself: to behave in a way that is not socially acceptable

    I'm forgetting myself. I haven't offered you a drink yet!

I'm pretty sure that each of those definitions is correct, but probably some of them are only true for certain dialects or set of dialects.

I think my question now is if you would hear or say "forget yourself", what does that expression convey? Which of the definitions above could be applied?
Is there a definition which is acceptable for most dialects, i.e. is any of those understood in most parts of the world?

Finally, can this expression used as a threat or warning as in German?
Examples:

  Hau ab, bevor ich mich vergesse. (lit. Take a hike, before I forget myself.)
  Verschwinde, oder ich vergesse mich gleich. (lit. Get lost, or I'll forget myself.)


texts: Adjective to describe a windshield that has its wiper blades turned on?

texts:
Example:

  Raindrops fall on the [...] windshield. As soon they touch the
  glass, they are gone.

I could only think of moving windshield. But I think it's not very suitable. Sounds as if the windshield is moving, not the wiper blades.


texts: Looking for a good word that means "an open statement"

texts:
I'm trying to think of a word that means something along these lines:

An open statement. Not a number. Not something absolute. Not something calculable. A free statement. A literary premise.

E.g. "cheese may be good for you" as opposed to "17.6"

EDIT:

The word needs to represent a collection of non-mathematical, non-technical sources. E.g. "non-mathematical" or "literary" (except those don't cut it.)

Used in a sentence:
I calculated agreement between _ sources.


texts: What is the proper way to write about a "layoff"?

texts:
When talking about "layoffs", what is the proper way to write it?

When referring to it as a noun, is it "lay off", "layoff", or "lay-off"?

What about when using it as a verb in both present and past tense?


texts: What is an 'impersonal joy' in this context?

texts:
Holmes had the impersonal joy of the true artist in his better work, even as he mourned darkly when it fell below the high level to which he aspired.
- the valley of fear

I wonder what 'the impersonal joy' means.


texts: What's the difference between "aspects of" and "aspects to"?

texts:
I just wrote

  There are two strange aspects of this situation.

Then I decided that

  There are two strange aspects to this situation.

sounded better, but I don't know why. There are certainly many situations where "aspects of" sounds more natural than "aspects to". For example, it sounds more natural to me to say

  I haven't thought through all the subtle aspects of this question.

than

  I haven't thought through all the subtle aspects to this question.

But I can't quite put my finger on a precise rule for when to use which one. Is there one?


texts: Use and meaning of o between words in blends

texts:
First things first: I'm italian, so please apologize me for my poor english.

While trying to create a name for a thing, I got curious by the question in the title. Many English words (new and old ones, blends or compounds) spot an o between the two words wich are built from. For example I've found herbopedia, foodopedia, carorama, and so on. By the way, I've found even foodepedia and Google (for what it's worth) seems to think it's better than foodopedia.

Now, I know what -rama and -pedia stand for, so no problem here. And I know that usually an o' between two words means of, like in will o' the wisp is William of the wisp.
But if this being the case it should be "pediaofood", that sound pretty ridicolous. Even more, seems that foodopedia and foodepedia are equivalent...so? Where those vocals come from, and what is their meaning?

Thx all :-)