texts:
Although I know the clear meaning of commonly used prepositions in English, sometimes, I'm a little confused with them and cannot understand the difference between them. A week or so ago, I asked a question on StackOverflow which was titled by me as follows.

Varargs in method overloading in Java.

In this simple question title, Java is a programming language as everybody knows, "Varargs" (abbreviated to variable arguments, specifically variable number of arguments) and "method overloading" are two concepts used in the Java programming language. Before I asked the question, I was not sure at all whether the question title should have been as it is mentioned above or it should have been modified as follows.

Varargs with method overloading in Java.

Which one is grammatically correct, both or none of them?


texts: One word to question whether morning or evening

texts:
How do you ask a question for which the answer is morning or evening, what word do you use? For example, If an employee is taking half a day leave, how do you ask which half it is? Is the following appropriate?

Employee: I wish to take half a day off
Boss: Which half of the day?

instead of

Employee: I wish to take half a day off
Boss: Morning or Evening?

The purpose of the word I am looking for is to make it a field name in the database such that it is not awkward like [MorningOrEvening] but at the same time it is contextually relevant.


texts: Is there any fixed expression meaning spending a lot of time and visiting a lot of shops?

texts: I do not mean "retail therapy" or "a shopping frenzy". I am looking for a verbal expression. I guess this would be close to "hit the town" or "hit the shops" but I am unsure about using these two. Is there any obvious and natural alternative?


texts:
I always found it weird to hear people say things like "My friend asked me to come" (with no prior mention of said friend), as opposed to "A friend of mine asked me to come". To me it seems as though the former would imply that the speaker has just one friend. I think this usage is well widespread though, but is there any concern about its correctness?

I don't see a similar pattern in use for words other than "friend" (perhaps for family members such as "brother" as well?). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think "You can read about that in my book" would be an unusual thing to say if I'm the author of several books on the same subject matter, unless the particular book I'm referring to is clear in context.


texts: What kind of noun is the word 'Luggage'?

texts:
I was wondering what kind of noun is the word 'luggage'? I understand that it can neither be a proper noun nor a material noun. I also understand that it is an uncountable noun. But I'm rather interested in its place in  most elementary classification.  I consider the remaining three possibilities-

common noun
collective noun
abstract noun

Could anyone please answer this?


texts: Any other way of saying "blah blah blah"

texts:
You might say "blah blah blah" when you're not interested in what'd be said.

I sometimes say "whatever" to convey the same idea, which does not share the nice rhythm effect of "blah blah blah". As a non-native speaker of English, I often pronounce "blah blah blah" in a very awkward way when speaking out very quick.

Any alternatives for "blah blah blah"?


texts:
What is the most appropriate answer (American way)?

  Yes, John speaking.
  Yes, it is him.
  Yes, it is he.
  Yes.
  Yes, speaking.

I need to answer calls when interviewers/hiring managers call.


texts: Is a software loop “breaked” or “broken”?

texts:
In software development there are code loop constructions, which you can BREAK.

foreach(i in integers)
  ...
  break

If I break the cycle, it becomes broken or breaked?

Which sentence is correct in this context: loop is broken or loop is breaked? It is important to distinguish between broken as incorrect one and broken as interrupted.


texts:
I have the following sentences:

She takes dictation very slowly.
They reached a verdict very quickly.

I can move the adverb phrase at the beginning:

Very slowly, she takes dictation.
Very quickly, they reached a verdict.

I am not a native speaker and sentence 3 does not sound very good while sentence 4 sounds correct. Can someone clarify if both sentences are correct or if the sentence 3 is not correct or unusual and give a reason.


texts: Why the discrepancy between number and case in (some) British English?

texts:
By chance, I've heard a lot of Midlands English in the last few weeks, and have noticed this sort of disconnect:
"It cost me five pound" (rather than 'pounds');
"The ball rolled ten foot" (rather than 'feet')

I'm tempted to think it's just a sort of English oral economy (like "he gave it me") but I'm intrigued to learn if it may have deeper, or different, roots.


texts: When we say "Our team worked hard", then is it expected to refer the speaker + his own team OR the speaker  + listener + their team together? Because in both these cases OUR is common word to be used!


texts: What is the term for a supervisor who also functions as part of the working team?

texts:
I am looking for the adjective or short phrase to describe a supervisor who, in addition to leading the team and handling personnel-related activities such as scheduling, is also hands-on, participating in the day-to-day work of the team.

Working supervisor doesn't do it for me, since an employed supervisor is supposedly working.

Example sentence: "Susan is a [working] supervisor; in addition to formal supervisory responsibilities over three subordinates she handles 30% of the workload herself."


texts:
I'm wondering about a certain phrase which I use without thinking about. One of my developers whose first language isn't English pointed it out, and it left me thinking if I've been saying it wrong. Essentially I'm trying to say,

  Let me know what all of you think / Let me know what you all think

but I naturally say,

  Let me all know what you think

When I read it slowly it sounds odd, but that could just be because I'm thinking about it now.

Anyway, is this wrong?

Mike


texts: "He is a genius, he is." Is there a term for the "he is" addition to this sentence?

texts:
Just as we have tail-questions (or question tags), affirmative additions to affirmative remarks ("so do I", "so did he") and negative additions to negative remarks ("neither do I", "neither would I", etc), is there a term for this kind of addition to a sentence?

"Despite all the corruption, he was re-elected. He is a masterpiece, he is."
"She is a fly customer, she is."
"He is a genius, he is.


texts: What do we call a person who believes in god but not in a particular religion?


texts: Is this sentence correct: 'what am I taught,being in my first relationship'?

texts: Is 'What am I taught,being in my first relationship' grammatically correct? Can I use it as the title for my essay?


texts:
Is there any difference in the meaning between "a lost dog" and "a missing dog?"
Is it both correct to say "my lost dog came back" and "my missing dog came back?"


texts: Should item(s) be followed by is or are?

texts: When the plurality of an item is unknown, the convention is to put (s) after the item. In


texts: What's the meaning of "personal correspondence"?

texts:
"His personal correspondence is renowned in the Italian language"
- from an article about Niccolò Machiavelli

What is the exact meaning of "personal correspondence" in that context ?


texts: Meaning of a sentence in the book I'm reading :- How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan

texts:
I came across a sentence in this book that I'm not able to wrap my mind around. Here, it is:

Science has little interest in, and tolerance for, the testimony of the individual; in this it is, curiously, much like an organized religion, which has a big problem crediting direct revelation too.

The author is trying to draw a parallel between organized religion and science regarding what I assume is their intolerance for the testimony of the individual. But I don't understand what his point is.
Isn't the point of most religion to take individual testimonies to be the only truth and believe in them blindly? Maybe, the author is talking strictly from the Judeo-Christian perspective which I'm not pretty familiar with. Hence, not able to comprehend this.
Anyway, any insight into what anyone can understand from this will be a great help.


texts: Historical usage of "was"/"were" with "you"

texts:
I was reading letters from a surgeon to his wife during the Civil War and noticed he used "was" as opposed to "were" on many occasions. Examples:

  I truly wish you was here with me.

  Was you planning to visit...?

Other than this strange (to me) usage, his language was very formal and correct. Has there been an evolution in the accepted usage of was/were?


texts: What countries use "bond" to refer to a security deposit?

texts:
I run a vacation rental and require renters to pay me a $400 refundable security deposit. A customer from Australia was confused by this and when I explained it, they said "oh, in my country that is a called a bond." So now I refer to it as "$400 refundable security deposit (bond)" when I'm dealing with Aussie guests.

I think the U.S.-based customers, the word "bond" is not common and could end up being confusing (since it typically refers to the instrument traded in financial markets, i.e. stocks and bonds). But what other countries would refer to this as a bond?


texts: If I have a quotation that, within itself, quotes another source, how do I write an in-text citation for the nested quote?

texts:
While writing a literary criticism essay on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, I cited another critique that quoted the novel itself. Within the outline I submitted to the teacher, the entire quote was this:
" “In contrast to the dusty, hot, stifling, and crowded city, a fitting setting for Raskolnikov's oppressive and murderous thoughts, we find, for example, "the greenness and the freshness" of the Petersburg islands (Dostoevsky 53) … The natural surroundings reawakened in him the feelings of his youth, through which he came close to avoiding his crime and to finding regeneration without having to pass through the cycle of crime and punishment” (Gibian).
The "Dost...53" is the page number for the quotation from the novel, but it was not part of the original statement from Gibian, who (as far as I can tell) either never cited that quote or the citations were not attached for the online catalogue I found his critique in. The teacher made it explicitly clear that the page numbers for those kinds of quotes are required, so I put the "Dost...53" there and she had no complaints. On having a peer review my essay however, they seemed to think that the in-text citation for that page number should go elsewhere, but did not clarify. How am I supposed to cite this in accordance with the MLA style?


texts:
I need to find a word to define the products you see in the image below.
The best match I've found is findings.

Is this word the correct one? Is there a better word for these products?


texts:
There are certain uses of the Imperative that are in Passive voice. But the only examples I can think of are vulgar.

The obvious one is "Get f***ed!" Then there's "Get stuffed", "Get lost" etc.

I'm taking 'get' here as part of a passive construction. After all, "I got beaten" is essentially the same as "I was beaten."

And I can't see that 'beaten' can be taken as a PA because we can say "I got beaten by him."

I'm thinking these work as vulgar forms because you're not even telling someone to do something positive, you're telling them to submit to something.

I'm wondering if there are any Imperative constructions in the passive voice that aren't vulgar.


texts:
I asked a question recently, based on a comment from a user who commented on certain unpleasant attitudes that usually occur on websites. He used a character from literature as a reference to expose what he was feeling about these occurrences. How is this type of reference defined?

This is the text:

  There are a few people who frequent the Mathematica.SE site for the
  purpose of soliciting extensive free program development and/or
  debugging services. I think of such people as Tom Sawyers, and they
  really bug me. So I ask: can more be done to discourage such people?

  What I'm thinking of is making a new reason available as a choice for
  closing a post, This would appear in the pop-up window from which
  someone voting to close picks their reason for doing so. I propose
  this because I don't think any of currently available reasons quite
  fit this kind post. I also suggest the following wording for the item.

  It appears that the only purpose of this question is to solicit
  extensive free software development and/or debugging services.
  Providing such extensive services is not compatible with the goals of
  this site.

  Is this a good idea? If there is another, better route that could
  pursued to suppress Tom Sawyers, please bring it up.

I mean the fact of knowing the attitudes of the character and transforming it into a type of adjective.


texts:
"I wrote Shapiro a letter congratulating him on having won a
race."

Is the word congratulating a present participle? And having won a gerund?


texts: Do these sentences use the present simple and present continuous correctly?

texts:
When we do homework, we focus on vocabulary

  When we do homework, we will focus on vocabulary

  When we are doing homework, we focus on vocabulary

  when we are doing homework, we will focus on vocabulary

Are these grammatically correct, please? From what I understand, the sentences represent the following:

1, - habitual action, everytime we do homework, we focus on vocabulary

2, - Not sure if this one is grammatically correct

3 -  Not sure either

4, - The present tense represents a future action, for example, in doing homework later on today, we will focus on vocabulary.


texts:
Here's a pretty simple question, but one that I couldn't figure out.
Is something said to be Set as default or Set to default?
For example, a line on a form with a checkbox.

Which way should it read?


texts: Did "courage to work" used to mean "must be willing to stay sober during working hours"?

texts:
I found this picture of a casting call from the 1960s, for the TV show and musical legend that eventually became known as "the Monkees":

The phrase I'm asking about is "Courage to work". A friend of mine says that was 1960s American English Jargon that meant "You have to be willing to lay off the drink and the drugs during working hours".  They were looking for kids who hang out at a late-nite diner called Ben Franks known as a hang-out for druggies and drunkards.

I've done a bit of google-searching and can't find any reference to the term "Courage to work".  Has anyone seen this in any literature on 1960s era American slang or terminology?  Got any references to this term, used in this sense, in fiction or non-fiction?


texts: How should I say the "relationship" between the professor and student in America?

texts:
When I apply for the admission to the graduate school in America, I need to provide the "Recommendation Provider" in the online system.

What should I write when I am asked "relationship to you"?
Are there any specific group of words for such relationship?
Is "teacher-student" a proper word?
What if the professor is not only my teacher but also the thesis adviser? How should I write the relationship?


texts: "One of the perpetrator’s faces" or "One of the perpetrators’ faces"?

texts: I'm a transcriber and this has been a debate.  An attorney says: "One of the perpetrators faces."  Would you use 's or s'?


texts: We haven't been able to use the fan for a fortnight

texts: In a John Clarke and Brian Dawe interview, the phrase,"we haven't been able to use the fan for nearly a fortnight." What metaphoric expression was this phrase actually referring to? I've googled for ages and come up against a blank wall.


texts: Is “An other-other woman (person / thing)” a popular English phrase?

texts:
The following paragraph of Maureen Dowd’s article on former CIA chief, David Petraeus’ scandal titled “Reputation, Reputation, Reputation” appearing in November 13 New York Times seems to require sufficient knowledge about the background of American pop culture and politics.

Though it may look a bit lengthy, I’d like to show you “a mind-boggling mélange” of symbolic names and titles for your interest.

  “His fall started as Sophocles and turned sophomoric, a mind-boggling
  mélange of “From Here to Eternity,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “The Real
  Housewives of Centcom,” and “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” It
  features toned arms, slinky outfits, a cat fight, titillating e-mails,
  a military more consumed with sex than violence, a plot with more
  inconceivable twists than “Homeland,” an “embedded” mistress named
  Broadwell, a biography called “All In,” an other-other woman of
  Middle East ancestry who was a “social liaison” to the military, a
  pair of generals helping the socialite’s twin sister with a custody
  case, and lawyers and crisis-management experts linked to Monica
  Lewinsky, John Edwards and the ABC show “Scandal.””

Now I was interested in the word, “an other-other woman.” I don’t think I’ve ever met this word. I can’t find “other-other” in dictionaries at hand. My PC spell-checker keeps demanding correction of “an other-other” as an error.

Google Ngram viewer doesn’t register either “an other-other” or “other-other”.

Is “an other-other somebody / something” a popular expression, or Dowd’s custom coinage? Why can’t she say simply “another”? How different is it from “another,” “the other,” “a separate /different person / thing”?


texts:
You should treat your book with affectionate abandon.

In this sentence what does affectionate abandon mean? Is there an abandon that is affectionate?


texts:
I'm wrote some documentation in which I needed to refer to the list of drugs that a person was taking at a given time. This list might also include a dosage as well (e.g. 'Aspirin 300mg daily').

I used the term 'medication(s)', but someone else suggested 'medicine(s)' as an alternative. Personally, I think it sounds worse and may be less clear, as 'medicine' can also refer to the general practice of medicine. But maybe that's just me.

Is there any reason why I should prefer one over the other?

Note: this is for labeling GUI elements and in related documentation.


texts: "List up to three", so I can put in only two?

texts:
It says:

  Please list up to three projects (in order of preference) you are
  interested in.

So I am not sure: Do I have to put in exactly three projects or can I also just put in two?


texts: In which countries would "tags" be understood to mean "License plates and stickers that show the registration is currently valid"?

texts:
On our sister site a user recently used the term "tags" in relation to taxis in China.

I thought it might mean some kind of official authorization to operate a taxi.

But upon clarification I was told "tags" actually means "License plates and stickers that show the registration is currently valid".

I'm a native speaker of Australian English and I've travelled in almost every English speaking country and didn't know this use of "tags", though I guess this is not a topic that's come up in conversation in my travels often either.

In which countries would this sense be known?

Just USA?
USA and it's neighbours in Canada and Belize?
All English speaking countries other than Australia?
Even in Australia and I somehow remained ignorant of it despite having classic cars as a hobby for a number of years?


texts: Name of part of Cormac McCarthy's writing style

texts:
Cormac McCarthy has several idiosyncracies in his writing style, but I'm looking for the name of a specific style he employs: When he joins together several actions or clauses with "and".

Example that I just made up: "He walked over to the horse and whispered to it and stroked it and let it know that everything was ok and closed his eyes and…"

I'm fairly certain it has a name, but it escapes me, and it's hard to google the word "and".


texts:
I'd like you to tell me which one of my following sentences is correct. I am not sure if I have to use the past simple or present perfect.
I'd add that I want to talk about something which is still true. I'm still in love with the person I talk to!

I've loved you as soon as I saw you
Or

I loved you as soon as I saw you

I've loved you from the first day
Or

I loved you from the first day

I need you to tell me, but I think present perfect must be correct since we say :
I've loved her since I met her
Thank you very much


texts: Term for words which change meaning when a space is added

texts:
Taking this example,

  Everyday is an adjective that means commonplace, ordinary, or normal.

  Every day means "each day."

or numerous other similar words which have a different meaning when extra spaces are added, is there a particular term to describe these?

E.g. psychotherapist and psycho the rapist have two very different meanings, maybe and may be, or between and be tween.

I know that some of these words can be homophones, homographs, or homonyms, but the closest I can find is something like Capitonym, which describes words that share the same spelling but have different meanings when capitalised e.g. polish/Polish, march/March.

Is there a particular term to describe words which look the same, but change meaning (and perhaps pronunciation) when a space is added?


texts: A word meaning "looking like the object that it describes"

texts:
Is there a word that means "the word looks like the object it describes"?

For example: "bed" looks a bit like a bed, with the b and the d acting as head and foot boards, with the e as the mattress. "Shark" Looks a bit like a shark, with the capital S looking like the tail fin and the k looking like the mouth.


texts: Is it "I'm new to NYC" or "I'm new in NYC"?

texts:
As the title of my question suggests, I want to know whether we can say both expressions are correct, or if one of them is wrong.  Which phrase is wrong, and why?

I'm new to NYC.
I'm new in NYC.

I'm not a native speaker but I tended to use "I'm new to NYC" without a second thought. But a friend of mine told me it was wrong. So now I'm baffled between the two examples. I can't be 100% sure when it comes to such expressions because, as I said, English is not my mother tongue.


texts:
Books like word power suggest "Ramu and I are going to theatre today" may be wrong.
Does "Ramu and me are going to ..." a right structure.


texts: "long"  - inconsistencies in the relationship between orthography and pronunciation

texts:
I'm wondering about the dual pronunciations of the letter /i/ in open syllables. Usually it has the realization [a͡ɪ], representing the regular outcome of long i after the great vowel shift, but sometimes it is [iː], as in "saline". Can anyone provide some theories on why this is?

(My theory is that, as spelling has remained the same since the pronunciation of the letter changed while English has continued to take in more and more foreign loan words, this is an imitation of the letter /i/'s pronunciation in most other languages, that is, a high front vowel. Or maybe it has something to do with stress patterns?)

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the linguistics stack exchange.


texts: Can I use "for" and "of" to reference a single noun?

texts:
I did read they were interchangeable, "for" and "of". But what about using them with words that typically use one or the other?

--

to instill respect for and knowledge of our policies

vs.

to instill respect and knowledge of our policies

--

Are they both valid sentences (fragments)? To me the latter sounds like I'm saying to just "instill respect" with no reference to the subject (policies) or "instill respect of our policies" which may or may not make sense


texts: When should I use "while" and when should I use "whilst"?

texts: I was curious as to the correct uses of the words "whilst" and "while". In what context should I use them?


texts:
The following is a multiple choice question in a test paper:

  The chief of surgery became committee chairman by virtue of _____.
  A. age
  B. service
  C. seniority
  D. rank

I'm at a loss as to which one to choose and want to hear your opinions.


texts:
Do I use the adjective scant or sparse in order to describe the noun "description" or "details", such as 'details in a note' or 'description of a problem'?  From the dictionary meanings (insufficiency for scant and meagreness, thin dispersal for sparse), I get the impression that sparse may be used for countable nouns.

thanks and regards,

SS


texts: Academic experience VS Research experience

texts:
What is the difference between academic experience and research experience?

In my opinion, academic experience is a super set of research experience. Is that right?

But, what other aspects should academic experience contain?


texts: What is the difference between a caesura and metrical silence in poetry?

texts: I know both are a pause but I'm not sure if they refer to the same thing. I've been using a German book on poetry to help with my translation project. I've came across Zäsur which I found to be caesura. But an English book talks about metrical silence without (at least not yet) mentioning caesuras.


texts: Are English speakers reluctant to use /l/ in a consonant cluster mid word?

texts: A relative of mine recently went on a rant regarding the pronunciation of 'jewelry' (as joo-la-ree) and 'realtor' (as ree-la-ter). It reminded me of the oft criticized pronunciation of 'nuclear' and I wondered if this represents a pattern of native speakers avoiding putting /l/ in consonant clusters mid word. Are there more example like this? Is this a pattern?


texts: What did the word "arcade" mean before video games?

texts:
I was browsing a document on the history of Leicestershire in the UK. About halfway down the page, in the "Leicester in the 19th Century" section, it said:

  Silver Arcade was built in 1899.

What does the word Arcade refer to here?


texts: A word for a person concerned with spelling

texts:
What do we call a person who is very much concerned with correct spelling of a word but especially with name.

  That person is ......?


texts: what is a generic term for any work to be marked by teacher

texts: As the title mentions: what is generic term for any work to be marked by teacher (exam, test, assignment, report) ?


texts:
Is the term graphics gallery or graphic gallery more appropriate for a gallery that contains images?

Graphics gallery sounds more right. However, I would choose photo gallery over photos gallery and image gallery over images gallery.


texts: "Should you pull a ‘Burger King’ to cut your tax bill?" - What figurative device is it?

texts:
Burger King plans to buy the Canadian Tim Hortons in an effort to cut taxes as in the following link:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/should-you-pull-a-burger-king-to-cut-tax-bill-2014-08-26

What kind of figurative device is "Burger King" in the title?


texts:
Is there a single word which means "hard to pronounce" ?
For example Dijkstra is "hard to pronounce".


texts: Evolution of "push somebody's buttons" and "know what buttons to push"

texts:
Colloquially speaking, "to push somebody's buttons" means to irritate or annoy the person. And, "know what buttons to push" means to know what to do to get people to act the way you want.

I can't understand how come "buttons" are associated with people and their behavior. How did these idioms come to be?

Edit: I feel I am not being clear with the question. What I intend to understand is the relation of a person's pysch and buttons. As it is unusual to talk of hurting a machine's feeling, likewise it should be unusual to speak of somebody's button as well. This being my point, how did the metaphorical idiom originate(and considered meaningful)?


texts: What does "the same" refer to in this quote from the Reactive Manifesto?

texts:
This is the first few lines of the Reactive Manifesto:

  Organisations working in disparate domains are independently
  discovering patterns for building software that look the same. These
  systems are more robust, more resilient, more flexible and better
  positioned to meet modern demands.

In the first sentence what does "look the same" refer to? "Patterns" or "software"?


texts: what is the difference between 'all the time' and 'all time'

texts: I have a confusion regarding the usage of the words all the time and all time, when to use them, please also provide some examples to make them clear


texts: "Visualized" equivalent adjective for audio

texts:
Are there such words as "audiolized" or "audibilized"?

EDIT: Merriam-Webster has the word Audibilized indexed with no definition! What I was trying to achieve was to say that something is an audibilized presentation of some other thing, exactly the same way we use visualized presentation.

EDIT: This is a visualization of a sort algorithm. Therefore this is ...? Audilization? Auralization? Sound representation?

EDIT: This one as well.


texts: Is there a word for the uncomfortable feeling of enjoying good things that come out of horrible situations?

texts: My dad died, and I loved him very much but he restricted parts of my life that are no longer restricted. Is there a word for the uncomfortable and sometimes disturbing feeling of enjoying that?


texts: Could preposition be placed before the relative pronoun 'whose'?

texts:
Is whom or whose appropriate here?

  The chairman in ______ private life the newspapers are so interested has nothing to hide.


texts:
A lot of times, I add a comma where I pause when speaking.

For instance, I might write:

"Thanks for speaking with me, I hope to see you again."

Someone said that this is not grammatical, and that I should either use a semicolon, or add an 'and' after the colon.

What are the grammar rules here?


texts: The difference between "would" and "used to"

texts:
Is it correct to say:

  I worked at a software company and I would sell different programs.

To me, would does not sound appropriate here for past habits.

Is selling considered a state like work or live?


texts: "If, however in advance one has knowledge..." vs "However, if in advance one has knowledge..."

texts:
I am trying to write a paper and and I am not sure of the correct phrasing of a particular sentence. Here is what I am currently using

  If, however, in advance one has knowledge of the material parameters
  , then one may be able to determine a more efficient method.

Does the start of this sentence sound correct or should the sentence be -

  However, if in advance one has knowledge of the material parameters ,
  then one may be able to determine a more efficient method.

Which form of the sentence is more appropriate? Or are they both equivalent?


texts: What are some exact replacements for the word floccinaucinihiliplication?

texts:
Floccinaucinihilipilification means, according to Oxford dictionaries, "The action or habit of estimating something as worthless." Is there a replacement that conveys this meaning exactly? Floccinaucinihilipilification is too complicated to use in regular writing, and can often come across as insincere in usage.

Usage:
'Humans are quick to partake in the floccinaucinihilipilification process, it has happened before and it will happen repeatedly until evolution explicates perfect men.’

Recently, an Indian politician used this word while introducing a new book in which he criticizes the Indian Prime Minister. His exact sentence was: "My new book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister, is more than just a 400-page exercise in floccinaucinihilipilification. Pre-order it to find out why!" See his tweet here.

There are other words that convey the idea of estimating something to be worthless -- like "dismiss", "belittle" etc., but neither of have the connotation of it being a habit.

Flocccinaucinihilipilification, apart from specific usage, can also be used to (for example), accuse someone of being dismissive about everything -- is there a word that would convey the same exact meaning?

To be a bit more specific, is there a word that can replace it in the sentence: "I neither appreciate or want to indulge in your floccinaucinihilipilification." without loss of meaning?


texts: 'Suppose a person to buy a horse' - Grammaticality in 1871

texts:
[Para 2, CJ Cockburn's judgment:] All that can be said is, that the two minds were not ad idem as to the age of the oats; they certainly were ad idem as to the sale and purchase of them. Suppose a person to buy a horse without a warranty, believing him to be sound, and the horse turns out unsound, could it be contended that it would be open to him to say that, as he had intended to buy a sound horse, and the seller to sell an unsound one, the contract was void, because the seller must have known from the price the buyer was willing to give, or from his general habits as a buyer of horses, that he thought the horse was sound? The cases are exactly parallel.

I would've written 'Suppose THAT a person to buy[S] a horse without a warranty'. Is Cockburn's grammar right? If so, what are some formal terms describing this issue or his syntax that I've never seen before?


texts: Usage about the grammar between inf. "To V" and "Ving"

texts:
It's my first time to use this platform.
Are the sentences below correct?

The sentence "I decided to quit the job." equal the other sentence "I decided quitting the job."?
The sentence "My aim in life is to become a singer." equal the other sentence "My aim in life is becoming a singer."?
The sentence "She got her husband to clean up the house." equal the other sentence "She got her husband cleaning up the house."?


texts:
I am not sure if most westerners have seen or eaten this food. Here is a picture of Chinese yam:

.

As you can see in the picture, there are two sticks, but I am not sure if stick is a correct quantifier for Chinese yam. Which is the right one to go with it?

a. 2 Chinese yams
b. 2 sticks of Chinese yam
c. 2 Chinese yam tubers/taproots
d. 2 tubers/taproots of Chinese yam


texts: What does it mean to "draw a line under something"?

texts: The intuitive answer to me would be to "emphasize" something. This explanation seems different from others I've seen, however, that say it means to "finish something". Help on this?


texts: What is a word for someone that is not mature enough to handle power/opportunity/leeway?

texts:
If I say "Joe, you can have flexible work hours as long as you finish your work  and maintain a regular presence in the office", and Joe comes into work once a week.  Joe is _______.

I want to convey a situation where the conditions are subject to interpretation within a reasonable range, but the person in question skirts the low end of that range.


texts: whether...A or B vs. whether A, or whether B

texts:
(1) *I'm buying it whether I can afford it.
(2) I'm buying it whether I can afford it or not.
(3) I'm buying it whether I can afford it, or whether I have to take out a loan.

I think (1) doesn't work, because it doesn't contain an or-coordination, as in (2), which works fine.
How about (3)?
Can the or-coordination reside outside the whether-clause, as in (3)?
EDIT
I wouldn't use (3) myself; I would say (4) instead:

(4) I'm buying it whether I can afford it or (I) have to take out a loan.

(This doesn't mean that I don't think (3) works. All it means is that I'm not too familiar with constructions like (3), if it does work.)
But I've seen constructions similar to (3). So I'd like to know whether constructions like (3) are well formed.
Research I've done
I've looked up a few grammar books including CGEL by Pullum, but to no avail.
EDIT
Specifically, I'd like to know how common constructions like (3) are compared to its counterpart like (4), and whether the former is a well-formed alternant of the latter simply when the whether-clause is too long and/or complicated to be written in a single clause.
Further clarification and an attested example
The question is not about the general use of 'whether', but only about the use of 'whether' in an exhaustive conditional construction where the whether-clause is functioning as an adjunct of the matrix clause.
At the time of this writing, I've received two answers, both of which claim that (3) doesn't work. But I've just found an example similar to (3):

(5) And I want to assure you that this President is going to continue to work with members of Congress, like Congressman Andy Harris, to make sure that you have the resources and the support that you need to accomplish your mission — whether that be saving people from human trafficking, whether it be sparing families the scourge of narcotics, drug abuse, addiction, and overdose, or whether it be stopping the violence of MS-13 and other gangs that are flowing into our country.

This is from "Remarks by Vice President Pence in Meeting with ICE Baltimore Field Office Leadership".
The difference between (3) and (5) is that (5) has a more complex construction of 'whether A, whether B, or whether C', and that the verb be in (5) is in the present subjunctive form.
Hopefully final edit
In response to the claim that the whether-clauses in (5) are not mutually exclusive, here's another example from "Remarks by Vice President Pence in Press Gaggle":

(5') So, we’ll — all these steps are designed to demonstrate this is a President who embraces his role as leader of the free world.  But with regard to Venezuela — whether it be Russia or whether it be Iran — the President’s message is very clear: Russia and Iran have no business in Venezuela.  They should step aside and allow the people of Venezuela to restore their democracy and their freedom.

I'm sure 'it being Russia' and 'it being Iran' are mutually exclusive.


texts: When would I use "might as well" instead of "may as well"?

texts:
If I understood the NY Times correctly, the words might and may are interchangeable except might is used to convey a greater level of uncertainty.

Examples:

  I'll probably need gas for tomorrow's trip, so I might as well fill up now.

(There's a sense of uncertainty: I don't know if I have enough gas.)

  I may as well get a car wash while at the gas station.

(There is no uncertainty here. I am indeed at the gas station.)

On the other hand, this answer suggests to me that if I were "medium-confident" I had enough gas, I would use may as well in the first example above. Is that right?


texts: "Your company name" or "Your company's name"?

texts: Which way is correct here? Some explanation would be appreciated.


texts: Sometimes I need to wish luck upon someone, and a simple "Good luck" may not suffice. For such a situation what is the correct usage? "Best Luck" or "Best of Luck"?. Why?


texts: Should an apostrophe be used with a z at the end of a word?

texts:
I know that if a word ends with an s then it should be made plural or possessive by use of an apostrophe with no extra s (e.g. "Thomas Harris' book was a riveting read." as opposed to "Gary Barlow's voice is so distracting.")

What about if the word ends with a z. For example, would it be Gomez' album or Gomez's album?


texts: Is it correct to use "how's" as short for "how does"?

texts:
I've often seen "how's" used as short for how is - such as "How's your wife feeling?" or "How's the weather where you are?"

I'm pretty sure the above is grammatically correct. However, it's also common to use "how's" as short for "how does", such as "How's it feel to be a student?"

Is this second usage grammatically correct, or just a colloquialism?


texts: Google translated "fu" as "weed" or "marijuana". However, dictionaries such as Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com don't have this definition. Does "fu" really mean "weed"?


texts: "Droll" is to "amusing" as "sardonic" is to what?

texts:
Could someone solve this analogy?

droll : amusing :: sardonic : ________

P.S. the answer does not have to be a specific length.


texts:
I am writing an analytical essay on a old story "Bright Phoenix" but there are a few sentences that I do not understand. What is the meaning of the quotes and what is it referring to?

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together.
Come live with me and by my love; and we will all the pleasures prove.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.
The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness…This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.
Though a man escape every other danger, he can never wholly escape those who do not want such a person as he is to exist.


texts:
On Thursday, 23 June 2004 at 3:15 pm, Mike Lollis resigned.

In British style,
1) Do I need to insert a comma after '2004'?
2) Can I leave 'pm' as is without the full stops in this abbreviation?
3) Do I need a comma after 'Thursday' as shown?

Or does this look better (and more polished)?

On Thursday, June 23, 2004, at 3:15 p.m., Mike Lollis resigned.

Thanks.


texts: Word to describe a computer system that is more error accepting?

texts:
I am looking for a word to describe a computer system or program or software that allows more erroneous inputs while still running fine instead of hanging easily.

I was thinking of "forgiving" but thats more for people not for systems, no?

e.g. This is a _______ system

This software is more _______


texts: Does plantation have a negative context outside the US?

texts: In the United States, the word plantation almost always conjures up images of Southern slave plantations (sorry, Rhode Island).  Is a similarly-negative context associated with the word in other English-speaking countries or places?  I know it is sometimes used in writings about Vietnam, does it have a negative history there as well?


texts:
I read a sentence like this

  Negotiating for dummies

I know that a gerund is after a preposition, so why in this sentence a gerund "Negotiating" is before a preposition "for"

Thanks for reading


texts:
I checked etymology for exult in etymonline. Details are:

1560s, "to leap up;"
1590s, "to rejoice, triumph,"

from French exulter,
from Latin exultare/exsultare
"rejoice exceedingly, revel, vaunt, boast;" literally "leap about, leap up,"

frequentative of exsilire "to leap up,"
from ex "out" (see ex-) + salire "to leap" (see salient (adj.)).

I have following questions: pls help clarify. thanks

with in 30 years the meaning changes from “to leap up” to “to rejoice, triumph”? how this transformation is so fast?

from French or Latin? Is this possible to come both from French and Latin simultaneously?

frequentative of exsilire? what does this mean?

frequentative details from wiki:

In grammar, a frequentative form (abbreviated freq or fr) of a word is one that indicates repeated action, but is not to be confused with iterative aspect.The frequentative form can be considered a separate but not completely independent word called a frequentative. The frequentative is no longer productive in English, but still is in some language groups, such as Finno-Ugric, Balto-Slavic, Turkic, etc.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequentative


texts:
In the following sentence, what does "integrate" means?

Beyond the fact that these processes exacerbate inequalities among
individuals – those with the most valuable assets are more likely to
profi t from these new models – they contain the seeds of a
transformation of individuals, who increasingly integrate financial
and managerial logics in their own way of functioning.To extract value
from platform capitalism, individuals must constantly monetize and
maximize the value of their own assets. This means, for example, that
individuals may, when buying a new property, integrate the
potential profit that could be obtained by regularly listing their
property on Airbnb or another rental platform.

A dictionary meaning of "integrate" is "to combine two or more things in order to become more effective", but I'm not sure what individuals combine the potential profit with.
I'm confused about contextual meaning of "integrate" in the quoted sentence.
Thank you in advance!


texts: What does the "either" in this sentence mean?

texts:
The whole paragraph is like this:

  An experiment has three possible outcomes, l, J, and K. The
  probabilities of the outcomes are 0.25, 0.35, and 0.40, respectively.
  If the experiment is to be performed twice and the successive outcomes
  are independent, what is the probability that K will not be an outcome
  either time?

I'm not sure about the either in  K will not be an outcome either time.

Which of the following is the right meaning?

(1) In any of these two times, K will not be an outcome.

Or

(2) K will not be an outcome in both time, which means, K can be the outcome in one time at most.

The right answer is 0.64, which supports (1), but I suspect it's wrong..

Does anyone have ideas about this?


texts: Differences between "tutorial", "guide" and "how-to"

texts:
The categorization on Android Wiki looks pretty arbitrary and redundant to me contemplating the single articles in the categories. In every one you find a tutorial, guide and how-to on for example How  to root an android phone, so these are mostly step-by-step instructions or a numeric list on how to proceed. This differentiation seems kind of pointless to me. Aren't they all synonyms?

Only guide and how-to imply to me something like a written manual, while tutorial can also be verbal instructions in a seminar or a YouTube video. But on a webpage with only written articles, does this differentiation make sense?


texts: Is there a verb that doesn't take the participle form when used in Present Perfect?

texts:
I remember about a month ago I was speaking to a friend and I said a Present Perfect sentence like "I have [VERB]". I forget the verb but I remember it was an everyday verb, not something exotic. But to my shock and horror, I have used not the participle form of the verb, but the past one, and it sounded more correct than using the past participle. (This was a verb whose participle form was different than its past form.)

Could this be? Can you think of any verb for which this may be true?


texts: Does the word 'gimmick' have positive or negative meaning?

texts:
Does the word gimmick have a positive or negative meaning? It is not obvious to me from a wikipedia article.
I also would be glad if someone could explain it in two words, not several paragraphs spread across ten articles as in wiki.  I understand that there are several meanings, but what do you think about when you first hear it?

Where does this word come from?


texts: Does the affix "-centric" always require a hyphen when attached to another word (e.g. customer-centric, woman-centric etc.)?

texts:
I understand that compound adjectives usually require a hyphen when placed before a noun, but what about when a word like "customer-centric" is placed after the noun?
Specifically, I'm wondering if the sentences below are both correct.

This is a very customer-centric business.
How do we make our business more customer-centric?


texts: Is there a word for your parent's significant other's children?

texts: My mother has a boyfriend, he has kids. How do I refer to them in relation to me besides saying my mom's boyfriend's kids. My mother is not biologically related to her boyfriends kids.


texts: "The peasants were the least free of all people, bound by tradition and fettered by superstitions."

texts:
Does this sentence need to be broken up by a semi colon, conjuction, or a period? Is there a modifier error here as well?

  The peasants were the least free of all people, bound by tradition and fettered by superstitions.


texts:
An episode of Mythbusters about a steam machine gun and beating polygraph tests referred to the "butter zone". What does the phrase mean?

Onelook.com couldn't find a definition. Urban dictionary has a definition, but I don't trust UD.


texts:
Say you would open an inn primarily for people who build things.

Would that be called the "Builder's Inn" or the "Builders Inn"?


texts:
For example in this sentence, do we need an article before comedy?

  Improv  is essentially [a] comedy.


texts: What's correct way of writing following sentence: I'm reading them (documents) as they being posted

texts:
I am reading them as they are being posted.

What is correct way of using verb (BE) in writing above sentence?
What is the difference between using these/those (documents), and should the noun (these document) be used instead of pronoun (them). Is the pronoun them (for documents) admissible in that place in a sentence, if another (they, again for same documents) is used immediately afterward.

I'm reading (them) (these/those documents) as (they) are being posted.
...OR...
I'm reading (them) (these/those documents) as (they) being posted.
...OR...
I'm reading (them) (these/those documents) as (they) have being posted.
...OR...
I'm reading (them) (these/those documents) as (they) have been posted.
...OR...
Non of the above.

He has run the company for five years now.

Is the verb has run correct here? If "he" is still in post, the action is still in progress, so should the verb be a continuous/progressive verb like He has been running? Does the inclusion of "now" make a difference here?


texts: What is a single word for someone who is easily discouraged?

texts:
I am looking for a single adjective to describe someone who is easily discouraged.

  Example:

  Any person who is (easily discouraged) will not get far in life


texts:
What is the term for for filling something with useless things?  For example

  My head was ___ with useless information at school.
  He ____ his baggage with useless stuff


texts: ...thus development on these once flagship products "has stalled" or "have stalled"?

texts:
The following sentence is being flagged in Microsoft Word as incorrect grammar:

  More recently however, [Lint and Splint] tools have been superseded by
  a now robust field of static language analysis tools which work for
  many languages, and thus development on these once flagship products
  has stalled.

Word says that it should be "have stalled", rather than "has stalled". I understand that it is plural, but is 'development' a special case as it is a rather abstract verb?

It simply sounds wrong to say "have stalled".

Thanks for your insight.


texts: Difference between 'crow's feet' and 'worry lines'

texts: I came across the phrases 'crow's feet' and 'worry lines' several times. Please enlighten me about the origin of these two phrases and the difference between them.


texts:
Just like bank in "bank of the river", I want a word for an ocean's bank. I don't like "bank of the ocean" -- so is there any better word?

I am writing a literary essay -- and in that article, by "bank of the ocean", I mean happiness compared to an ocean of sorrows and misery.


texts: I have a list which has key and value, what is it called?

texts:
I have two types of lists, for example:

First type:

List {
    value: cat
    value: dog
    value: elephant
}

Second type:

List {
    key: animal, value: cat
    Key: human, value: Mike
    Key: bird, value: Dove
}

The first one has just a column (value), but the second one has two columns (key, value).
I'm not sure what should each of both be called, but I call the first one "Single list" and the second one "Double list".
Are these names correct and describes their job?


texts: Is this tutorial using "to [verb]-ing" the right way? When should I just use "to [verb]"?

texts:
That tutorial says

  Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) is an approach to analyzing datasets to summarize their main characteristics. It is used to understand data, get some context regarding it, understand the variables and the relationships between them, and formulate hypotheses that could be useful when building predictive models.

Both "to doing" and "to do" are used in this sentence, "an approach to analyzing datasets to summarize their main characteristics".

By "to doing" and "to do", I mean "to analyzing" and "to summarize" respectively.

I know "doing (in this case, analyzing data sets)" is a gerund that could be the subject or object of sentences, but when should I use "to doing"? This kind of usage confuses me, so I searched these keywords.

This post discussed "to doing" but didn't give a doable guide when to use which. I guess that's why the asker didn't mark any of the answer as accepted.

Leave a general talking alone, consider this particular case, is that tutorial use "to doing" the right way? When should I use "to doing"?

Note: I am asking what situation should I use "to doing" rather than what is gerund.


texts: Article 'the' use in front of television

texts: Use of  ' the' before television???????~ above 1st photo from use of 'the' is different from 2nd photo please solve my question


texts: Do you always need commas after dialogue tags and detailed locations?

texts:
I have a couple of questions about commas.

If you quote a short sentence, can you omit the comma after the dialogue tag as a matter of style?

For instance:

  Whenever I come home, I always say "Honey, I'm home!"

Is the comma after "say" in this sentence essential? I like the way it reads without it.
When you have a modifying phrase after a location within a location, do you need to use a comma?

For instance:

  I visited Tokyo, Japan last summer.

I have seen some sources say this version is correct, while others have said I need a comma after "Japan."


texts:
What is the difference between saying:

Are you still working there?
Do you still work there?

Which is more common in spoken vs written English?
Google books returned results for both of them.


texts: Should I use make or makes for this sentence

texts:
Every second of it only make / makes it worse

I'm trying to figure out which of the two I should use for the sentence above.


texts: Is the expression "the biggest such business" grammatically correct?

texts:
I have found the expression “the biggest such business” in the second sentence in The Economist.

  It has also made it easier for people to find the ingredients, kit and talent necessary to cook them up illegally.
  For years the biggest such business was making stimulants such as amphetamines and methamphetamines, which are also produced in neighbouring countries (see article).

The Economist

So I tried to find out in what order to use ”such“ and ”a superlative.“ and I have finally found the following.

  You can't follow "such" with a superlative.

Word Reference

Does this mean "such the biggest business" is incorrect?

Both statements are confusing. Which is a grammatically correct expression?


texts: Is “(somebody) own the sunshine” an established phrase or just a set of word?

texts:
I saw the phrase, “Obama owns the sunshine” as the headline of Time magazine’s (January 29) article reporting the result of the latest NBC News/Marist poll of registered Florida voters, which shows President Obama’s statistical edge over all four Republican Presidential candidates.

I can easily imagine the implication of the phrase, “own the sunshine,” and I thought it is an idiom. But as I checked Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam-Webster online dictionaries, there was no entry of “own the sunshine” as an idiom in any of them. GoogleNgram registers “Your own sunshine,” of which usage started circ 1860, peaking in 1910-20, tapered off until it started to pick up around 2000, but not “own sunshine.”

Is “own sunshine” a Time’s coinage, or just a set of word?


texts: Is there a rule or pointer explaining where to put '_even'_ in a sentence?

texts:
You don't even have a chance.
You don't have even a chance.
You even don't have a chance.
You had no chance. (where?)


texts: What does "even" mean in this statement?

texts:
I haven't understood what even means here:

How do you even know that?

and what's the difference with the following?

How do you know that?


texts: Is the word "insinuate" a synonym of "infiltrate"?

texts:
I have a practice test for the 2016 AFOQT exam. One section is "Word Knowledge" wherein you're given a word in all caps, then you select the word with the most similar meaning from 4 choices.

I purchased a practice guide where one of the practice questions is as follows:

INSINUATE
A. infiltrate
B. introduce
C. proclaim
D. abbreviate

I didn't see a good answer, but I put "C". Their answer key has the answer as "A".

There is no published Erratum, so I want to make sure that defensiveness of my answer is not clouding my judgement.

The definition I have for "insinuate" is:

  : to say (something, especially something bad or insulting) in an
  indirect way

The definition I have for "infiltrate" is:

  : to cause (someone) to secretly enter or join a group, organization,
  etc.


texts:
I am writing a letter and got stuck here:

Will that be alright for you? or Will that be alright with you?

Which one is the correct version?


texts: A slang word for person who is addicted to mass media promoted pop-culture

texts:
I am looking for a slang term which describes people who are all about contemporary mass media promoted pop culture: pop song charts, YouTube likes, dislikes and comments, celebrities' instagrams, etc. A slang word for a person who is extremely dependent on "currently in the top" people's lives.

The person who follows celebrities on social media day by day and comments on every photo and YouTube video with something like "justin rocks☺☺", "Who''ll watch This In JANUARY 2016?", "Who's Watching This In FEBRUARY 2016?". The context should be somewhat cynical. Something like "pop-headed", "likes-headed", "YouTube-thumbs-upper", etc.

Do you have any suggestions?

Update 1: The words "twit" and particularly "ditz" are close to what I am looking for.


texts: What does "to wilf" mean? Apparently it means to browse webs pointlessly but I can't confirm that anywhere. Is this even an English word?


texts: I am writing a chapter in a book and I want to say that "I believe that this researcher is right ....", in a more formal way. Can I say "The present author believes ....."


texts:
I am looking for a single word, most likely an adjective, to describe a voice like Dolly Parton's voice in the song Go Tell It On the Mountains. The first adjective that comes to my mind is "sheepish" but this has a negative connotation. Maybe vibrating? Does anyone have a better word choice?
Example sentence:
The [sheepish] voice of the singer seduced the audience.
Again, I am looking for a word that does not have a negative connotation to describe a singer's voice similar to Dolly Parton's in the song.


texts: What is the correct usage of “trailblazer”?

texts:
Let’s say I’ve invented a robot which moves a couple of meters front of me by looking to my direction. It kind of “guesses” where I’m going.

So, if I call it a trailblazer, will this be a correct usage?

Is there any better naming for this kind of thing?


texts: What is the meaning of expression "There's more fours than fives"?

texts: Does anyone know what this expression means? My father loaded trucks in the 1950s with a guy who said this.  The only explanation I ever got was that it was some kind of gay slur. But for the life of me I can't figure out how.


texts: "Study/Investigate the Possibility": Which One and Why?

texts:
I just changed a sentence from "Further, we study the possibility that ..." to "we investigate the possibility", and I'm not sure why it seems better that way.

Is it because, in this context, "study" sounds more like "memorize", while "investigate" here carries more a meaning of "examine, look into and/or consider"? Or is it just a case of collocation and common usage? Or, alternatively, am I just mistaken that one is more preferable than the other?


texts: Which one can be named or acknowledged as the elder brother (sister) between twins who was born earlier and later in UK and America?

texts:
There is the following sentence in Jeffery Archer’s detective story False Impression:

  Arabella was so wise and sensible. If only her beloved twin had been born a few minutes earlier rather than a few minutes later, then she (Arabella) would have inherited the estate (of Earl of Wentworth titled in 1815) and undoubtedly handled the problem with considerably more panache.

From the above sentence, I speculate that the twin who was born later than the other is acknowledged as the elder sibling and the first heir of the parental estate in order in U.K.
If my guess is right, what is the reason, base or provenance for giving priority to the “late comer to the world,” not the “first comer’ in the family order?

In Japan, we had the same custom of acknowledging “the born-later” as the elder sibling before the Meiji era (up to late 19 century), but today’s Family Register Law provides the “earlier-born” to be the elder of the twins.

Update with more context

I have added the previous paragraph which makes this sentence Victoria's point of view about Arabella.

  Victoria looked steadfastly ahead as she climbed the wide marble
  staircase to her bedroom on the first floor. She felt unable to look
  into the eyes of her ancestors, brought to life by Romney, Lawrence,
  Reynolds, Lely and Kneller, conscious of having let them all down.
  Victoria accepted that before she retired to bed she must finally
  write to her sister and let her know the decision she had come to.

  Arabella was so wise and sensible. If only her beloved twin had been
  born a few minutes earlier rather than a few minutes later, then she
  would have inherited the estate, and undoubtedly handled the problem
  with considerably more panache. And worse, when Arabella learned the
  news, she would neither complain nor remonstrate, just continue to
  display the family's stiff upper lip.


texts: word for trading for an item you do not want

texts:
I am writing a poster listing:

in the first column: items I have to offer
in the middle column: items I want
in a third (rightmost) column: items I know my friends want

The header of the first column is 'Offering', the middle header is 'Seeking'.

Is there a nice concise word for buying an item for future resale I can use for the third column?


texts: When should hyphens be used to make text clearer

texts:
In an earlier post - Phonetic understanding of tongue twisters - a comment was made that "hyphens ...(are) ...not needed in speech, so they must be extraneous".  The phrase prompting this assertion was 'state of the art'.

What does it mean to say that hyphens are not needed in speech?  No one would say state hyphen of hyphen the hyphen art, of course.  But when I say "This is a state of the art paper on tongue twisters" I make a point of saying the words 'state of the art' as a group and slightly apart from the run of the words on either side.  If I didn't, and spoke the words in the same rhythm as the rest of the phrase, the meaning can easily be lost (and the sentence is certainly harder to read meaningfully at first sight).

There is good reason to use hyphens, or some other notational device, in such cases, isn't there ?

This is a state-of-the-art paper on tongue twisters
This is a 'state of the art' paper on tongue twisters
This is a state of the art paper on tongue twisters


texts: Are there any famous English poems that every British-raised or American-raised person knows?

texts:
In the Chinese language, there is a poem named Quiet Night Thoughts(Jing Ye Si) by Li Bai, which is known by everyone that is native to China (from little kids to very old people, even if they are illiterate). I'm wondering, in terms of poems, are there any counterparts in the English speaking world?

I asked a similar question on Quora, but it didn't gather enough attention. I need to collect enough information to write an article on this topic.


texts: How do I define "by" versus "through" to my students?

texts: Over the past five years, my high school students have stopped using "through" as a preposition and use "by" almost exclusively.  For example, they might write, "they will do this by a detailed research project".  I have looked up the answer and I can't figure out a way to explain the difference to them, and I almost think that I just need to let it go.  Does anyone know why these two words have become virtually interchangeable?


texts:
1.if he were my brother,i would have helped him.

2.if he had been my brother,i would have helped him.

Are both of them correct?
What speaker wants to convey is unreal past condition and past result.ao for that we should use 3rd conditional.but first sentence is written in my textbook.
So now, I am confused.


texts: Why are "some" letters silent in English?

texts: There are many such words that we all know about, but please explain why the makers of the English language made up words with silent letters?


texts: Expression for describing something that stopped working suddenly, without a clear explanation

texts:
In French we have an informal, but common expression to describe stuff that suddenly breaks (software programs, machines, etc.) without a clear explanation or warning: "tombé en marche", literaly "fell while running".

Is there something equivalent in spirit, in English?


texts: what do you call a book containing questions?

texts: what do you call a book that only contains questions and answers, no other stuff. Maybe "questionnaire" is one but I think questionnaires only contain questions.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “I feel bad for you” versus “I feel badly for you”

Which of the following is more grammatically correct?

  I feel bad for her.

or

  I feel badly for her.


texts: What's the proper plural for file extensions?

texts:
I have one .msi. Then I get another. Do I now have:

  two .msis

or

  two .msi's

or

  two '.msi's

or something else?


texts: More confusion with relative pronoun ambiguity

texts:
What does the relative pronoun refer to in this sentence?

  It was probably on the darker/smoother side of things, compared to, say, the Sony ZX-1, which I prefer.

To me, his preference isn’t clear. It can be inferred in context, but on its own, I think it is ambiguous.


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "common humanity"?

texts:
What is common humanity as Dickens uses it?

  “You will excuse me,” said the gentleman contemptuously, “if I am too much in advance of common humanity to trouble myself at all about it. I have passed the night — as indeed I pass the whole of my time now — in spiritual intercourse.”


texts: What is the opposite of the "sub" prefix?

texts:
The term subcategories refers to lower level categories.

Which term should I use to refer to higher level categories?

Does supercategories sound right?


texts: Expressing the concept of "spreading oneself shallowly" in English

texts:
The words in bold in the quote below are meant to express something that I don't know how to put in English. The main idea is that someone is spending too much energy in many different areas thinking that he is going to achieve some considerable progress in all of them while in fact he is only going to enjoy a small amount of success (if any) in all those areas due to the enormous scale of area.

  Jack: So what project did you choose for this semester?

  Linda: The children illiteracy in in-land towns in Uganda, The
  correlation between humans' eating habits and their behavioral
  patterns, The possibility of practical application of the Poincaré
  conjecture solution in the nearest future, The affect of globing
  warming on blue whales migratory patterns...

  Jack: Wow! Isn't it too many? Why not focus on only one project and
  research it thoroughly instead? I suggest that you should not
  shallowly spread yourself on so many projects.


texts:
Quite a few web resources claims that sister is an antonyms to word brother. I can agree with this in some way, but  how correctly it is.
So let say “relative” is synonymous for word brother.
In the same time “relative” is synonymous for word sister.
It seems like sister and brother in this sense are synonymous.
Sure, if we take into account just sex (gender) it’s opposite things.
But it looks like depends on perspective relationship between two words mentioned above can be either synonymous or antonyms, which is becoming really confusing.

Appreciate if someone shed a light on it.


texts: "I'm debating" instead of "I'm in a dilemma"

texts:
I have noticed many people say "I'm debating" when they mean they are in a dilemma between two choices.  I always thought that to debate means discussing different view points between two individuals, not within the head of a single person, therefore debating here seems like an incorrect usage of the term but I am not sure.

Can somebody please clarify?


texts: Please help me figure out the meaning of "corporate landscape"

texts:
May it mean the whole picture of an organization?

I came across this phrase in an article headline of The Economist called "The creep of consolidation across the America's corporate landscape."


texts: "I'm migrating to Australia" or "I'm immigrating to Australia"?

texts:
I am confused as to which is the correct way of saying

  I am migrating to Australia
  OR
  I am immigrating to Australia

Which one is appropriate?


texts: Proper use of pauses: semicolons or commas

texts:
Am I using the proper phrasing in the following sentence?

  In times like these, the first thing we run out of is time; and since
  none of us can create more of it, the only solution we have is to
  optimize our use of it.


texts: Which preposition should follow facilitate?

texts:
Students should be facilitated to access on-line support.

Students should be facilitated in accessing on-line support.

Staff should facilitate students to access on-line support.


texts:
Googling "speaking of which", i got some results defining the meaning of the phrase. But googling "saying of which" there are no relevant results. However, in a movie clip (star wars I), i did hear the phrase "saying of which".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fchC0Dscm9I&t=10

Just wondering if this is a valid phrase or just something made up by the movie makers.


texts: Does the word "situation" collocate with the word "main"?

texts:
Is it right to say "the main situation"?

I associate "main" with "problem".


texts: "Hit the ground running" - other short ways to say it?

texts:
I have found the perfect expression but I can't use it!

Is there any other way to say the same thing as:

  hit the ground running?

I need to describe a tool that helps you learn stuff super fast, think Matrix and kung fu, when neo loads kung fu skill to his brain instantly


texts: Does this sentence require the addition of the word "that" between "hope" and "the patient"?

texts:
Should the following sentence be altered to say "in the hope THAT the patient would still be alive"?

  He would then have to ride many hours, maybe changing to a fresh horse at some farm, in the hope the patient would still be alive by the time he arrived.


texts: Is there such a thing as an idiom thesaurus that delivers synonymous phrases?

texts: Is there a resource that anyone knows of that is a searchable idiom list that can provide synonymous phrases for idioms. For example, I saw on your site:  step-by-step, day-by-day, inch-by-inch, and bit-by-bit.  When I Google a phrase, I most often get a one-word synonym, but I'm looking specifically for additional synonymous phrases instead. In other words, is there something that can find synonyms and antonyms for idioms that are also idioms? If so, please provide a link to it. Thanks!


texts: What is the closest alternative to "rubbish" in American English?

texts: What is the replacement for "rubbish" in American English? I would think "crappy" but it seems a bit stronger than needed.


texts: Calculation by, by means of, through, from

texts:
Which of the following sentences regarding the calculation of something should be preferred?

The calculation of the result by this equation...
The calculation of the result by means of this equation...
The calculation of the result through this equation...
The calculation of the result from this equation...

Moreover, is any of them particularly incorrect?


texts: What verb form should be used in 'that' clauses after words expressing personal reactions and judgments? Subjunctive or modal?

texts:
In British English it's probably most natural to use should:

  It's surprising that he should say that to you.
  I'm sorry you should forget my birthday.

But I'm not sure about the American way of saying the same sentences. I know in commands, demands, suggestions, and statements of necessity they tend to use the subjunctive mood. But what about personal reactions and judgments?  Should the subjunctive mood be used? :

  It's surprising that he say that to you.

Or should it be like:

  I'm sorry you forgot my birthday.

Or:

  I'm sorry you would forget my birthday.

Or what?


texts: Is this expression correct: "It is A and B who [verb]"?

texts:
I have no problem with the following sentence:

  In this book, [it] is the father who tries to murder her

However, what if I want to substitute a plural noun (or two names) for father? Are the following sentences correct? If not, how should I change them?

  In this book, [it] is the father and John who try to murder her

  In this book, [it] is her parents who try to murder her

I am struggling with associating [it] is with a plural noun. Even if I add [it] is [...] *who* the sentence sounds wobbly.

PS. I am not reviewing a book, in case you are wondering.


texts: "Having you feel that way makes me feel hopeless" or Having you feeling that way makes me feel hopeless"?

texts: Which sentence is grammatically correct and WHY?


texts: Is it grammatically wrong to say, "I don't know where she is traveling"?

texts:
This is a question related to interrogative (or indirect question) clause.
I thought that it is incorrect to have a preposition stranded at the end of the sentence like:

  I know where she lives in.

This is also applied to the sentence containing adverbial relative clause such as:

  I like the place where they live.

right?

However, I found a sentence:

  I don't know where she is travelling to/ from.

This makes me confused because of the stranded preposition. Isn't it acceptable to say:

  I don't know where she is travelling?

Or are both sentences acceptable depending on the context?


texts: "You are kindly asked to..." Is this new or just plain wrong?

texts:
I often hear or see things like

  "You are kindly asked to put your dishes in the dishwasher, not on top
  of it."

To me this sounds incredibly clumsy and wrong, as though someone has translated it literally from another language. I would have said "Please put you dishes etc."

Is this wrong or have I lost touch? Do Brits (or any other group) really say this?

(I am a native English speaker, in Germany for the last 30 years.)

edit: I have seen it many times in Germany, and recently also in France.


texts: What is the ‘art’ mentioned in: “Art is long, and time is fleeting”?

texts:
What does art refer to in the poem: A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?

  Art is long and time is fleeting

My book says Art refers to the “art of living” but this doesn't convince me and I did not get any reasonable explanation on the Internet. The article on Wikipedia doesn't mention anything on the meaning of art, instead it says the poem “is meant to inspire its readers to live actively, and neither to lament the past nor to take the future for granted.”

What does art mean in this line?

  Art is long and time is fleeting
  And our hearts though stout and brave.
  Still like muffled drums are beating
  Funeral marches to the grave


texts: Do I need to put “the” before “most” in this sentence?

texts:
Is putting “the” before “most” in this sentence compulsory, optional, or a mistake?

  Fascination with language and
  attention to particular regions and
  communities in America are the most common
  themes for which Coen brothers’ works
  are appraised.

If it is purely optional, how does its presence or lack change the tone of the sentence, in case it does?


texts: What is a word for someone who loves eating?

texts: (I'm looking specifically for 'Bilbo Baggins' in The Hobbit)


texts: I am currently programming an application, and as it turns out the term "Does not exist" is commonly shortened to "Not exists". I was curious which would be the more proper term because to me "Not exist" seems more fitting since the missing "s" is added to the "do" rather than "exist".


texts: When spelling, when to say 'double xx' and when 'x x'

texts:
This is something I have been wondering for a long time. When you spell (out loud) words that have some consonants doubled, you can say those as "double-X", or not (e.g. Allan: "Ay double-ell ay en" vs. "Ay ell ell ay en").

What interests me is, is there any sort of rule as to when to use the "double-X" and when to simply pronounce the letter twice?

This question also creates a personal dilemma: how to spell my own last name.  :) It is a Balkans name, "Bolla", and I personally always used spelling: "bee oh double-ell ay". No one ever told me it was bad, yet is it better than: "bee oh ell ell ay"?

Thanks in advance, i do not know any native speakers and I don't get to speak English that often to find answer anywhere but on the internet. :)


texts:
Consider the following:

  Not only you should be able to speak but also able to write.
  You should be able to not only speak but also write.
  You should not only be able to speak but also be able to write.

Which is right to use? If there's an even better one, please suggest.


texts: What is a single-word adjective for relating /pertaining to physical addictiveness?

texts:
I need an adjective which means roughly 'of a tendency to cause physical dependence' that can be applied to drugs. 'Addictive' or the like won't work because it doesn't distinguish between physical and psychological dependence. I need an adjective that relates specifically to the quality of a chemical substance to produce physical dependence.

I checked thesaurus.com, which cites Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus third edition. It did not offer many choices. The only alternatives it were had obsessive, enslaving or hooking and habit-forming, but these do not specifically relate to physical dependence.

Update: I have gotten some fantastic answers, and I appreciate the assistance, but they are not quite what I see. I need an adjective, rather than a noun or any other type of semantic unit. While I prefer the adjective to be a single word, it does not have to be, but I require an adjective for this context. The two of the prior responses have each been nouns or noun phrases.

The intended context is something along the lines of the following:

Drugs such as heroin are … , meaning that they demonstrate a high potential for physical dependence.


texts:
I've just found these two examples about the use of the verb to afford:

I would like to be able to afford a new car next year, so I won't be going away for the holidays.
With the salary I earn, I can't imagine ever being able to afford to buy my own house.

In the first sentence, the writter used only the verb to afford, but in the second one, he uses to afford to buy.
Is it relevant for the meaning of the second sentence to add the verb to buy? Would he convey the same message using only to afford?
Thanks in advance.


texts: Looking for a word to describe a feeling

texts:
I am looking for a word that describes the shared emotional aura that’s around a group of people.

For example, if you were to hang out with friends, even though you might not feel great, the combined aura of everybody being glad to see each other makes them happier, even if it’s only while they are there.

Another example would be the feeling of authority when entering the office of a person of higher power.


texts:
Is this sentence an imperative sentence, or does it have conditional meaning?

  You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it’ll rub off on you.


texts: fitting something large inside something small

texts:
In a document I am writing I want to use some imagery to attack the logic of inverting a particular technical procedure. The procedure makes sense in its original sense because it injects a set of concepts into something larger. However the inverse is like...

fitting a mountain through the needle of an eye?
fitting a boulder in a teacup?
fitting Mount Fuji through the Strait of Gibraltar?
hopefully anything better?


texts: Is there an English word or idiom that describes a person who's blissfully unaware or oblivious to their surroundings? I always thought this word was "aloof," but "aloof" seems to hold a rather negative connotation, whereas the word I'm looking would almost connote a positive, like "living in a fairy tale" - or something along these lines. Is there a word for this, or is "oblivious" as close as we get?


texts: I have heard both repetitive and repetitious used in everyday speech to describe something that repeats, and I'm wondering what the real difference between the words is. Does one have a different connotation than the other? Do they describe different things?


texts:
Is there a word that means scheme or conspiracy, but slightly stronger than that? Like a word you would use to describe an evil murder plot/plan.

Context: Macbeth plans to kill Duncan for throne


texts:
I have been using ' for pounds and " for ounces for quite a while now,but it was pointed out to me today that my pet cat weighs 6 feet 9 inches.(l wrote 6'9" to a vet). Are these acceptable abbreviations/short forms?
And are those the descriptive words I want? Id est, is " a short form?Abbreviation? What would you call the use of punctuation as a representative mark for a measurement?


texts: What does "a cross between the Parthenon and the Reichstag" mean?

texts:
In Gerard Durrell's The Whispering Land I ran into the sentence below:

  At that precise moment we were heading towards the massive building that looked like a cross between the Parthenon and the Reichstag in whose interior lurked the most formidable enemy of sanity and liberty in Argentina: the Aduana, or Customs.

May I ask what "cross between Parthenon and the Reichstag" means here? I guess there might be some cultural implication behind this but I cannot find anything after searching extensively.


texts: what is the etymology of the term "gag" for a joke

texts:
QUESTION: What is the etymology for a "gag" comic, e.g. Archie's "Gag bag."
More specifically, why is a gag another word for joke?  Is it supposed to be that the jokes are just so incredibly funny you can't breathe, hence the gag?  I hope that's not it.


texts:
Can someone analyse this sentence for me?

"Rex bit into his toy cat." (Yes, it's from 'Rex Barks'.)

Is 'bit into' a phrasal verb, and 'his toy cat' the Direct Object?

Or is 'into' an adverb to 'bit'?

Or, as in the book, is 'into his toy cat' an adverbial phrase, which makes 'bit' intransitive?

And how can you tell which is the correct option?


texts:
In every Trump speech, almost every sentence is a run-on sentence. Here is a quote from one of his speeches last year

  Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s true!—but when you're a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.
  [Source: Slate magazine]

I understand a run-on sentence is usually just something like:

  It will be dark soon we can't be home before nightfall.

Is Trump's typical speech habit considered multiple run-on sentences? Or what would the term be. And being a speech, is this an error in English language in general, a grammatical error on his part, something else, or no errors at all?

EDIT: Since I have received negative comments over the quotation, I would like to clarify: I don't care about the quotation, I googled an example of a Trump speech to use for reference and found this. Since I apparently found a bad quote, or maybe something he never actually said, here is a different quote for reference. Note that I felt it would be inappropriate to replace the main quotation since this question has already been answered and I feel altering it would be unfair:

  And in 19 — and I will tell you this, and I said it very strongly, years ago, I said — and I love the military, and I want to have the strongest military that we’ve ever had, and we need it more now than ever.
  [Source: The Wall Street Journal]

Similar to the (bad example) speech above, this quote has Trump starting off with one thought, going to the next, interrupting himself to mention his love for the military, and then closing without finishing either prior thoughts. I didn't know what this was called, and was unsure if there was a term for this speaking style and whether or not it was in violation of any English rules.


texts: "Changing threat level to Magenta" (SNL) - What is the "Magenta" joke?

texts:
I was watching "Cold Opening: Homeland Security - Saturday Night Live".

I am supposed to translate the entire sketch for my next classes, but I really don't know what is the joke here. I only know that magenta is a color and that is all.

Can someone explain to me what is funny about this? I really need that.

Here is a part of the transcript where the joke is used:

  "Before we begin today's briefing, I wish to announce that, on the basis of change in the nature of Al-Qaeda chatter, we are changing the current threat level to Magenta. Let me repeat: the threat level is now.. Magenta. What is Magenta? It's a darker maroon. It's not quite an ox blood. It's more plum color than.. say.. a crimson. How serious is it? [ sighs ] I honestly don't have an answer for that."


texts: What is a word for a topic or social discourse that has been spoken about too much? Often these topics generate a lot of heat, in media and on different platforms, without making any distinct progress. Various individuals will pronounce opinions and bring out the same argument points over and over. Many examples can be found in current affairs (e.g. immigration, religious radicalism, etc.).


texts:
I know it is right to state:

  Is the teacher around ?

But is it equally right to state:

  Is the teacher about ?

I have heard native English speakers say the latter, but is it correct?


texts: Is "Show off" here in an imperative mood or something else?

texts:
In this movie clip, there's this conversation between Monkey and Beetle, starting at 50 seconds into the clip:

Monkey: What?
Beetle: Well, fast learner. Did you know you could do that?
Monkey: Show off.

The context is that while Monkey and Beetle were arguing, Kubo made a boat.
What did Monkey mean by "Show off"?
If interpreted as an imperative mood, it doesn't really make sense to me.
If it's not, what is it?


texts:
My sister married a man who treated her badly. Her husband didn't respect her at all. After one year , they split up. After hearing that news , I called my sister and said :

Don't worry. I think you'll marry the man who deserves you. I strongly believe that you did the right thing.

Is this sentence idiomatic in English?

Thank you.


texts: When playing Stone Soup I've stumbled upon a weapon which name I've never heard before. The description said, more or less, that it's a sling's big brother, with its missile pouch attached to a long stick instead of a string. I've had no use for it, so I've left it where I found it. In half an hour, I've promptly forgotten the word for it, and it bugs me now greatly. How is such a weapon called?


texts: Is forte pronounced “fort” or “for-tay”?

texts: How do you pronounce forte?  Fort or for-tay?


texts: Does adding an adjective before a noun change its article e.g. from zero article to an/a?

texts:
Does adding an adjective before a noun change its article e.g. from a/an to zero?
For example:

Rotation will cause movement of aircraft parts.

and

Rotations will cause a vertical movement of aircraft parts.

I don't know whether these sentences are correct in terms of articles, so correct me if I'm wrong.


texts:
I want to combine the following two sentences properly:

It requires writing information to an external memory.
It requires retrieving information from an external memory.

If I omit "information" in the above sentences, I would combine them into

It requires writing to and retrieving from an external memory.

But things becomes complicated when the word "information" is involved, and I don't know how to express it.


texts: A word meaning to dig land with your nails or fingers

texts:
What do you call "to dig land" with fingers? If I say “He desperately dug the soil” it sounds like the person is using a tool such as a shovel or a spade. Which verb means digging with only your fingers or fingernails?

  He desperately _______ the soil.


texts: Another idiom for not having the faintest idea

texts:
I'm looking for another idiom similar to:

  not have the faintest idea

It should be able to start a sentence. For some reason I want to use "by the stars" but I don't think this means anything, but if it did, the sentence would look something like this:

  By the stars I have no clue how he came to that conclusion.

I guess the idom would more so mean "in utter confusion" like:

  In utter confusion I have no clue how he came to that conclusion.


texts: What does Théoden’s quote “Oft evil will shall evil mar” in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings mean?

texts:
‘Yes, there can be no doubt,“ said Aragorn. ‘At last we know the link between Isengard and Mordor, and how it worked. Much is explained.’
     ‘Strange powers have our enemies, and strange weaknesses!’ said Théoden. ‘But it has long been said: oft evil will shall evil mar.’
     ‘That many times is seen,’ said Gandalf. ‘But at this time we have been strangely fortunate. Maybe, I have been saved by this hobbit from a grave blunder. […] ’

―J R R  Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Book 3, Chapter XI: ‘The Palantír’

The formulation of this phrase seems odd and I can’t pick the full meaning out of it.  He says it after Wormtongue (Gríma) has thrown the palantír out of the tower of Orthanc, which seems to be a great example of evil shooting itself in its own foot, but that doesn’t seem to be the thrust of the phrase.


texts: Is there a word for when rebellion of a system is actually just a part of the system?

texts:
It seems to be trendy for a politician to be "rogue" as part of their brand, creating the impression that they don't play the politics game. It could be argued that this is just another strategy, and therefore a very savvy way to play the politics game.

Another example is the capitalizing of punk culture, where you can now buy pre-ripped clothes held together with safety pins. Punk culture was established to be anti-consumerism, and the point of the ripped clothes with safety pins was to avoid buying new clothes in order to rebel against consumerism.

It seems that someone much smarter than me would have already noticed this phenomenon and given it a name.


texts:
Recently I found the following definition for the word "scurryfunge":

(Verb) Old English; to rush around cleaning when company is on their
way over.
Usage: I scurryfunge when I see my mother in law coming over. –definition-of.com

I was wondering if this word was recently invented by someone (recently as in, on the internet), or if the word actually has some real historical usage as suggested.


texts: What is that wooden path into the beach called?

texts: Some might call it just a wooden path or boardwalk, but I was wondering if this structure had a specific name.


texts: What do you call a word that has multiple senses or parts of speech in one sentence?

texts:
Consider the following sentence.

John used to work for the newspaper that you are reading.

(It has been collected from here.)
"Newspaper" has several well-known senses.
Newspaper could mean a company:

John used to work for the newspaper.

It could also mean the physical object:

the newspaper that you are reading.

It should be readily apparent that John never worked for that ink-on-died-wood-pulp in front of you.
It should also be clear that you are not reading a company.
In the first sentence, though, the word seems to take both senses at the same time.
@Nigelj provided another example:

I was going to dust but there wasn't any

Here, dust is first used as a verb and then as a noun—not only having a different word sense but also being a different part of speech.
I am looking for a name for this occurrence to look it up in a reference book or textbook.
It is of interest to me because it is a case that is often neglected by computational word-sense-disambiguation systems.
Terms that I have considered but are not (to my knowledge) correct for describing this:

polyseme / homonym : a word holding multiple senses at the same time can of-course only occur with words that have multiple senses in the first place. But not all uses of words with multiple senses exhibit the behavior.
Syntactic ambiguity/amphiboly/amphibology: this sentence is un-ambigious. It only has one interpretation.
Antanaclasis: the word newspaper is only used once, but with two meanings.
Pun: pun's generally rely on two different interpretations of the word, separately to give the sentence two possible meanings. Not at the same same time to give the sentence 1 meaning (also they tend to be funny)


texts:
What is the difference between relation and relationship?
Some say that relationship often refers to social connections. For instance,

She has a close relationship with her daughter.

How about the following?

the relationship between poor housing and health problems (Longman Dictionary)
the special relationship between Britain and the US (Longman Dictionary)


texts: Whence came the different varieties of the "long i" diphthong?

texts:
What is the origin of “long long i” before voiced consonants (the [ai] of wide, while, & tribe) versus “short long i” before unvoiced consonants (the [ʌi] of white, wife, & wipe)? When did this difference appear? Is it just a secondary distinction, or are there minimal pairs for these two diphthongs?

Obviously the distinction is not present in all accents—though its presence in most leads me to believe it's not a late arrival—and yet I've never found a dictionary that distinguishes them.


texts: The meaning of "surprising as it is to hear of it"

texts:
n: I'm lost.
n: Surprising as it is to hear of it.
I actually can imagine that it means "I'm surprised to hear that", but I don't understand such complex of "as it is to hear of it". I'm getting sweat of such complication. Could you decipher it?


texts: What is the meaning of “to spite the whole world"?

texts:
I found that in this text:

  recently wrote on Twitter that he was willing to revise his position
  towards ISIL and join it “to spite the whole world" if it stopped
  labeling other jihadists as apostates.


texts: A word to describe "manually" doing something — not technologically or screen-based

texts: Example, I want to say something like "manual highlighting," to differentiate between highlighting something on the screen. A word to describe the process of using an actual yellow highlighter (a physical object). Is there another word for this?


texts: The difference between medium and intermediate

texts:
I wish to know the difference between medium and intermediate.

There is an academic use for me trying to describe a physical parameter (a coupling constant of interactions) which is not too strong, but not too weak.

Should one use medium coupling or intermediate coupling?

medium strength or intermediate strength?

Many thanks.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Should one stick to American style of placing punctation marks within quotes if one uses the american spelling of words?

This may seem infantile, and it probably is a bit.

If your final line in a paragraph happens to be a quote, do you

"end it like this."

OR

"end it like this".